No one has the moral right to take a life
THE emotive responses to my letter against assisted suicide (B Merriott and B J Connell), only confirm that hard cases make bad law and the issue of killing, or helping to kill other human beings, needs to be discussed calmly, objectively, ethically and morally.
Whether your correspondents like it or not, history proves that once a right to kill, for whatever reason, is made legal, then society progresses down a slippery slope and safeguards become redundant because that basic moral Rubicon has been crossed and the law slowly becomes liberalised. This has been seen with the Abortion Law in this country and with euthanasia in Holland.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg last year, ruled that while there is a "Human Right" to suicide, the state has no obligation to provide citizens with the means to commit suicide. Grégor Puppinck, the director of the European Centre for Law and Justice explained, "The Court notes that the vast majority of member States place more weight on the protection of an individual's life than on the right to end one's life and concludes that the States have a broad margin of appreciation in that respect."
Assisted suicide involves someone else, such as a close relative, doctor or nurse, helping a person take their life. In the case of euthanasia, it means someone else actually having to perform the deadly deed. This is a dreadful responsibility to put on the shoulders of someone else. Those asking for assisted suicide will not be the ones left with the pangs of conscience and guilt over what they misguidedly felt obliged to do under pressure from another.
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I do not live in a bubble. My father died last Saturday at the age of 97. He had dementia, heart disease and pneumonia. In close collaboration with his GP and care assistants in the residential home, my dad was kept comfortable until the very end when he died peacefully with his family around him. This is called palliative care and is a universal right which will be undermined by legalising assisted suicide. (Unlike this country, there are very few hospices in Holland). I understand that both of the correspondents on this issue were motivated to spare relatives pain at the end of life, but palliative care is the answer until they die naturally, not assisted killing.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) definition is thus: "Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness. Management of pain and other symptoms and provision of psychological, social and spiritual support is paramount. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families. "If families feel that their relatives are not receiving such care then they must demand it for them."
I think that B J Connell, in stating that we should not have the presumption to act like God, undermines his own argument. No one has the right or moral authority to take, or help take, an innocent life. That is the prerogative of God alone.
CHRISTINE HUDSON
Plymouth
Comments
by jabbathebutt
Monday, October 08 2012, 11:18PM
“@ trudi2010 .... no one asks for "murder" or the state deciding that someone should die because they are past their sell by date . So dont be stupid . All that is asked ( and you know it ) is that when we know ourselves as adults that we are beyond any real hope of release of pain or a complete vegatative state we can be put to rest. No one involved should be gaining monetary value .
As for the "religion" side..... which one of hundreds should we be following ?”
by niugnepyzarc
Monday, October 08 2012, 6:38PM
“crazypenguin, at least I'm not alone, you obviously didn't read my comment either, I said Blogtodi was the one who belittled illnesses,
Really trudie because your exact comment was "Oh Christine, I wish I had a bet on that that Blogtodi and the crazypenguin would belittle Alzheimers, as he did with depression
Sure sounds like your talking about both of us love otherwise why put my name there?”
by CharlieDodd
Monday, October 08 2012, 4:06PM
“..Christine said- 'No one has the moral right to take a life'..
Sez who? If somebody's suffering of course we have the right to be good samaritans and end their misery!
If god didn't want us to end suffering he wouldn't have given us the medical knowledge to make pills and potions to ease somebody's passing!”
by 9ab3jdr622l
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:57PM
“Trudie2010
The law is an ass,go pick up a newspaper and you can read the evidence on a daily basis.
I respect the opinion you hold but i don't share it,Ms. Hudson uses fine words to put her point across but there are no mention of words such as love and compassion.
If someone i truly loved asked me to end their life because their suffering was intolerable then i would,the legalities of my actions would not deter me from doing so.
Please don't use Alzheimers to add weight to your argument,having nursed my mother through it for several years the only ones who suffered were myself and the rest of the family who watched a fine lady deteriorate to someone who didn't know who she was or where she was.
Although heartbreaking to end a life in this way my feelings would never come before theirs.”
by trudie2010
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:51PM
“I'm sorry Blogtodi, but if something is changed in law, it should apply to everyone equally, physically or mentally damaged. I just do not agree with putting someone down, but I'm perfectly happy for someone to do it to themselves if they feel that desperate. As regards to the depression, you said you had had it, got treatment and got over it, and that I should get a grip because it isn't a terminal illness. I would argue that without anti-depressants I would have taken my own life long ago, so why isn't the suffering of a mental disease as bad as a physical one. And why should they be treated any differently.”
by blogtodi
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:39PM
“Having suffered from depression myself, trudie, I never at any time would belittle the illness. It was a terrible time for me and my family. But now you have twice brought up illnesses that have no bearing on assisted dying.
Please try to keep your arguments and comments within the context of the subject otherwise you will lose credibility.
Nobody's trying to belittle you; you're doing quite well on your own as it is.”
by imalady
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:37PM
“You say that only God has the right to take a life. Then how come my father with dementia was still alive a year after my husband, young & healthy died suddenly. Then I say God has got it wrong very wrong. God has not right to take a healthy person & leave a sick person. With no explanation.”
by imalady
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:30PM
“I disagree it would not open flood gates I think we should sign up to this when were young & have our faculties. If we havent then nothing can be done. But i have my faculties I have left a 'living will' but ive also done my own print out signed to say I DO NOT wish to be kept alive, if i lose my marbles then i wish to end my days. I nursed my father with dementia, I would not wish that on my worst enemy & neither would he have. I dont wish my family to look after me & ive seen first hand they are not looked after well either in hospital or nursing homes. In hospital my father was treated like a naughty child & ignored even when calling for help. I would never ever want that. Hes better off dead & so would i be.”
by trudie2010
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:14PM
“Is Euthanasia legal then, because if it isn't, then it's still murder or manslaughter in the eyes of the law.”
by trudie2010
Monday, October 08 2012, 3:11PM
“crazypenguin, at least I'm not alone, you obviously didn't read my comment either, I said Blogtodi was the one who belittled illnesses, you are just a self-opinionated person, of no particular interest to anyone, who, when anyone disagrees with you, you simply say something along the lines of "you're example is meaningless" We all know by now that your opinion and Blogtodi of course, are the only correct and moral ones, but all of us poor white trash have the right to say what we think too.”