Sorry, folks, but I have to come clean - I support assisted suicide for adults
(Colin's recent post about children has me very concerned though). I do not
EVER want to live in a way that leaves me dependent on others for long periods
of time, whether that is due to physical incapacity or something like dementia,
and I want the law to allow someone that I trust to enable me to be killed if I
cannot do it for myself. I am not on my own in this - there are a lot of us.
That does not make us cowards, uncaring, or barbarous - we merely have a
different concept of dignity from those who think that life is to fought for
until the very end. It is a matter of choice - I respect the choice of those
that want to keep going until the body gives up, but I expect the same respect
to be given to my choices. Of course, the default position must be to continue
life if there is no indication that assisted death or refusal of life-saving
treatment is desired by the incapacitated individual, and if there is any
doubt, then independent arbiters are required.
Where does the fear come from in the disabled community? Is it from the idea
that people with different abilities will be compulsorily killed? That makes no
sense at all - this is not Nazi Germany. Is it that some people might be
persuaded to die who might not really want to? Well, that is a possibility,
that must be guarded against, but, on the other side, what about those who will
be persuaded to live past the point that life has become truly hateful due to
pain or indignity by friends or relatives too afraid to face death? It is time
that the "lessons" of a particularly disfunctional political experiment
two-thirds of a century ago were put into perspective, instead of distorting
views long after the whole thing collapsed.
The disabled community is based on dignity and choice, so why, when it comes to
deciding that a person wishes to die at a time and in a way that s/he feels
dignified, do so many people whose views I hold in great esteem get so
paternalistic? By all means, identify where any such law could go wrong so that
safeguards can be put in place, but please don't try to stop me and people like
me having a choice. Life CAN sometimes be genuinely not worth living.
--
Jeremy Wickins,
PhD Researcher,
School of Law,
University of Sheffield,
Bartolome House,
Sheffield. S3 7ND
UK.
Quoting Colin REvell <[log in to unmask]>:
> Wednesday, December 10, 2008 The Scots: Let’s Allow Assisted Suicide For
> CHILDREN It’s coming thick and fast now, folks. Killing people, that is,
> especially in the UK If you’re going to be an overachieving country, it might
> as well be in the realm of assisted suicide.Dan James. Valerie Grosvenor
> Myer. And tonight’s Sky Real Lives channel airing of the filmed assisted
> suicide of Craig Ewert.Remember, in all these cases, part of the pro-killing
> argument was that it wasn’t the act of assisted suicide that was bad; it was
> those pesky laws in the UK that prevented it. So, aided and abetted by the
> largely uncritical media, the clarion call came from the seat of the former
> Empire: We need to change the law.Not wanting to be seen as retrograde
> neanderthals to their English cousins, the Scots have stepped in to take the
> lead. Scotland’s The Herald reports today that a Scottish MP, Margo
> MacDonald, is planning to introduce legislation that would legalize assisted
> suicide for children.No, I’m not kidding. Wish I were. Here’s MacDonald’s
> rationale: In Scotland, when parents divorce, and the children are 12 or
> older, the court takes into consideration the child’s choice as to which
> parent they wish to live with. Under some circumstances, the living choice is
> offered to younger children. So, goes MacDonald, why not give the same legal
> status for choices about living or dying?Get a load of the proposed
> legislation’s slimy rationale: The outlined proposal would allow patients
> with degenerative, irreversible conditions to approach a doctor who would be
> specially registered to help terminate life at the patient's request. OK,
> that’s standard let’s-kill-you-when-you-have-a-bad-disease language.But,
> listen to this: Assisted suicide would also be possible for patients who
> unexpectedly became incapacitated to an "intolerable" degree, or who simply
> find their life "intolerable" - although the latter case would require the
> doctor to seek a second opinion from another health professional. So, now, if
> you think any “incapacitation” you have is a drag, or even if you think your
> life is just yucky, you have a way out. Remember, because we don't want to be
> too hasty, for this aspect of the legislation you’ll have to find not one,
> but two doctors who agree you should be done in. (Shouldn’t be difficult with
> a little doctor-shopping for medicos who share the pro-killing view of the
> world). And now, potentially, in Scotland, you don’t even have to wait until
> you’re legally an adult.Children have rights too, you know.Above taken from
> Dr Mark Mostert disability/bioethics blog at Disability Matters:-
> http://disabilitymatters.blogspot.com"Nazi's All Over Again?"; It's here at
> Useless Eaters:- http://www.regent.edu/acad/schedu/uselesseaters Colin Revell
>
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