Dialoguing about dying: we can do better than assisting suicide
by Trevor Stammers, Mercator:
I recently attended a rally outside the Houses of Parliament, organised by Not Dead Yet, Care Not Killing and a variety of other groups opposed to assisted dying during a Parliamentary debate on the topic held in response to campaigning by Dignity in Dying (DiD), spearheaded by various celebrity supporters.
I spent my time engaging with some of its grassroots supporters, easily identifiable by their sweatshirts. There were a number of common themes in the main conversations I had with them, from which I learned much to help understand what motivates them.
Personal trauma
First and foremost, all the supporters I met had joined the campaign after witnessing a protracted and painful death of one or more loved ones. Each recounted in detail how traumatic it has been to watch their relative asking for their suffering to be ended and being unable to help.
They had each determined from their experience that no one else should go through what they had and felt that campaigning for assisted suicide was the best way to ensure that.
Once you have been through such a lived experience of an “undignified death”, no amount of reasoned argument about “mission creep” or others feeling a “duty to die” is going to counter the understandable visceral emotion driving support for their cause.
Societal consequences
Secondly, there is the repeated claim that all they are asking for is the “choice” for assistance in ending their lives. Those opposed don’t have to do it, but what right have we to limit their choice?
There is little recognition that medical assistance in suicide would impact the whole healthcare system for everyone.
When I mentioned the case of Christine Gauthier, the Canadian Paralympian offered euthanasia when she requested a wheelchair ramp, their immediate response was, “We think that is awful too.”
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
