There are strong arguments against this sort of assisted suicide, whether it takes the form of the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment or of more active measures such as the administration of lethalinjections.
Anti-death penalty activists say lethalinjections - introduced in Florida and other states as a replacement for the electric chair and other methods of execution - are just as cruel and should not be considered a more humane substitute.
Shipman was originally convicted in January 2000 of killing 15 of his patients with lethal heroin injections and was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the murders.