There cannot be a human freedom so personal as ordering the circumstances of one’s death. Yet Britain is instinctively collectivist, enveloped in prejudice, religion, taboo and prohibition. We are told how to die by the state, with no consideration for individual choice.
So says Simon Jenkins in today’s Guardian. In a hard-hitting attack on those who oppose a change in the law that would allow euthanasia and assisted suicide, Jenkins declares:
Only the most warped collectivist could argue that individuals must be kept alive against their will. One anti-euthanasia lobby last week even insisted that assisted suicide ‘would deprive the disabled of the benefit of suicide prevention’. To honour this spurious benefit, those wishing to die – and their relatives – must endure unbearable suffering at the bidding of others ‘for the good of society as a whole’.
I wonder what kind of society that is. Perhaps it is one that used to ban pain relief in childbirth, banned abortion, and held homosexuality a sin. That this should be supported by such prominent churchmen as the archbishop of Canterbury, the archbishop of Westminster and the chief rabbi is astonishing. In years to come, their attitude will seem not just illiberal but cruel.
Jenkins’ anger was triggered by the case of Daniel James, a 23-year-old rugby player crippled in a training accident. last month his parents accompanied him to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, where his suicide was facilitated. Now the Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether to prosecute and possibly imprison James’ parents.
Daniel James, of Nuneaton Rugby Club, who was paralysed in a training accident and travelled to Switzerland to end his life
Says Jenkins:
He [Daniel James] asserted his desire to do something perfectly legal, to take his own life, but was impeded by his disability from doing so. His parents freed him from that impediment. To prosecute them would be an outrage.
And he points out:
Social reform in Britain occurs not when legislators feel it appropriate but when a heart-rending case achieves mass publicity and good people launch a campaign for change. Such has been the case with laws on homosexuality, prostitution, abortion and self-defence – and perhaps one day will apply to recreational drugs. Westminster inertia always holds sway until it is overcome by an infuriated public.
Jenkins’ call for a change in the law follows a similar plea by Baroness Warnock, one of Britain’s leading moral philosophers, and comes just days after an hotel in Eastbourne cancelled a suicide workshop.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
In Canada, I am a member of Dying With Dignity that is also trying to amend euthanasia laws here.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
We regularly decide when animals are suffering or terminally ill and end thier lives. Why can we not afford the same kindness to human beings?
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I read Jenkins’ excellent piece. He’s right – the real humanitarians are the pro-euthanasia folk. We will all die, and it’s the quality of the life we lead before it happens that matters. Religious people are scared of death to the point of irrationality and this poisons their view of the issue. They just can’t think straight.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I as a nurse have been with many people dying. Quite long drawn out, painful and disgusting. Also I have seen medics making decision up pain medication or to withdraw care (food and water) to let a person die – to free up a bed.
I therefore had great synapthy for helping a person die and be honest about the decisions already being made. I went as a representative to Holland 1995 to find out about their nursing care including assisted suicide. My concern was that a lot of assited suicides were for temporary conditions and transitional conditions. Assisted suiced for mental health patiens went up in 3 years from 500pa – 3000pa. That made me say “Woa!!” Also assisted suicides were given to child abuse victims and people going through normal grief and bereavement. The most important factor is that the reason for wanting to die rather than live was because of the “care” rather than the illness or abuse. ie a child abuse victim holds out and struggles and hopes for a better life. They go to get help and the help totally distroyes their resolve and belief in themselves and their hope. That is when they give up and desire suicide.
Lot of factors. Total sympathy for people suffering to be able to descibe who and where they are and not have anyone esle prescribe how they should feel (What arrogance) Not sure about the rapid uptake. Also peripetetic second opinions doctors travelling around getting fee for second opinion to support the assisted suicide.
Lot to talk about. But people should really stop telling people how they should think or feel if they are not going throug it or never have. Pain is totally individual.
June
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I remember reading a while back that doctors are so scared of being accused of murdering a patient in the wake of Harold Shipman that British patients actually received much less painkillers in Britain than other countries on average. It was getting so bad relatives where buying heroin off drug dealers to smuggle in and give to the patients