The assisted-dying lobby has already won Emotive arguments rule our secular age

Apr 3, 2024 by Jill

by Kathleen Stock, UnHerd:

Emotive arguments rule our secular age.

What counts as a “dignified death”? On Monday, we got an intimation of what one looks like for Guardian readers, as journalist Renate van der Zee wrote about her elderly mother’s “completely calm, almost cheerful” legal demise at the hands of a visiting doctor in the Netherlands in 2022. After a speech to her three daughters about “how it was important to take care of the Earth wisely, to recycle as much as possible and to look after one another”, Jannèt drank the potion handed to her, and 15 minutes later reportedly met a peaceful and painless death.

In stark contrast to this beatific moment, the 90-year-old’s life before her exit had been “long and tormented”, according to her daughter. Factors that led to her decision to end things included “deafness, incontinence and many other conditions”, as well as a “lack of mental resilience” to cope with the suffering. One wonders what the deceased would have felt about such frank disclosures. While dignity in death supposedly now requires control over the precise timing of your demise, a discreet silence from relatives about the embarrassing details beforehand seems to have become optional.

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