Assisted Dying

I wanted to pick up on something that Libertine has been discussing over at his blog – although not specifically about Terri Schiavo.

Over at the Guardian, Polly Toynbee makes a poignant case for assisted dying in the wake of her mother’s death and the more recent Terri Schiavo case. As she points out, it isn’t the drugs that see off the terminally ill, but a slow degradation caused by dehydration. Some countries; the Netherlands and Switzerland for example, allow assisted dying yet in the UK we continue to torture people to death. There were a couple of high profile cases recently where terminally ill patients indulged in euthanasia tourism to Switzerland along with their spouse to carry out the deed. In one case, the couple were frustrated initially by their council who tried to use the courts to prevent the trip. Fortunately the High Court took the view that it was not something in which they could intervene and the suicide went ahead. This was rapidly followed by another such trip. I recall the gentleman concerned giving an interview. He was suffering from a debilitating wasting disease and was devastated that his quality of life and dignity were slipping away from him. What struck me was that he did retain his dignity while those about him were unable (or unwilling) to grant him any.

Why is it that despite living wills we stop short of giving the dying the one thing they have left in life; a dignified death at the time of their choosing?

This (from Polly Toynbee’s article) is one reason why.

As the Pope rasps out his last breaths, his bishops are using his final suffering as a testament to the religious requirement to endure whatever quality of life God sends. Both C of E and Catholic archbishops here will fight any attempt to change the law. Politicians have taken their cue from the churches.