Hello guys,
Now as you may be able to tell from the title, I'm going to be talking about something that's wreaked contention and has been swept under the carpet of taboo in society for many years; the right to die or as some refer to it, dying with dignity.
The issue of the 'right to die' has polarised many communities and I have no doubt that this post will do the same. But I don't really give a damn about what people will think of my opinion or about the fact I'm writing about this issue because while I do have a very strong opinion on this, I do at the same time realise, and want others to realise, that this issue is so very important and so relevant and something that should not be simply swept under the carpet and never spoken about. I agree wholeheartedly with a person having the right to die. I think it comes under the bracket of a basic human right and I think to deny someone of this right is fundamentally wrong. In every conceivable way. There you go, I said it. Feel free to click away now because if you don't agree with this then this post isn't going to be nice to read.
The Declaration of Human Rights is something that was conceived in 1948 by United Nations and it listed the various rights that every human being had the right to. Here are a couple of articles from this declaration:
-All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
-Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Among this list is the right to life. Every human on the planet is automatically entitled to this right from birth (and many others would also argue from conception) and from this very moment, your life is yours. Yes, while you are a child it's slightly different; your parents are much more involved in your life choices, but from the age of 18 you have the right to do whatever you wish with your life. You want a new car? Ok. You want to go travelling? Sure thing! You want to get married? Congratulations! You get a debilitating or terminal illness and want to end your life? Oh....wait. No. Now excuse my French here but how the fuck is that fair? In what mindset is that even feasible? What world are we now living in where we will happily exclaim from the rooftops that we're 'pro-choice' but then fall short at that hurdle. If you have the right to live your life without worry or prejudice and indeed plan it to the nth degree, then why can't that same right be extended to death? Why can you not choose to die with dignity? We're not talking of people that wake up depressed one day and decide they can't carry on, we're talking about terminally ill people and people with a debilitating illness here. People that would've lived with their condition for years or know how bad their condition will get and are choosing to die while they can, before their condition gets worse. These people haven't taken their decision to want to die lightly and in fact their bravery to go to court and fight for their right to die is testament in itself to how strong, how passionate and resolute they are to their decision. In most of the cases that go to court, the person has already made a plan and just want that decision affirmed for their peace of mind. So they can go on knowing that when they felt their time had come, they had that option to die with dignity.
Many of you may have heard of Dignitas. Their mantra is "to live with dignity, to die with dignity". They are an organisation that align themselves in accordance to Swiss law. They believe in the idea of dignity in death. They believe in counselling for all issues involving life and death for patients and will respect and carry out their wishes without the patient feeling fear of judgment. All this happens in cooperation with other doctors and physicians. Dignitas is more than a place to go and pop a pill, it encompasses all of the life and death processes and complexities, and patients always have the freedom of choice at all points right up to the final and definitive decision. This is such a great organisation and one whose ideas and concepts will one day be embraced in every country. It's unbearable for me to think of a vulnerable person having to fly at their own expense and risk to another country to a clinic in order to have their wish granted. It's disgraceful. What if these vulnerable people are unfit to fly? What happens then? They shut up and get on with it? This concept to me is so upsetting and it's a circumstance I hope will change in the future so that nobody suffers unnecessarily and in an undignified manner.
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| (credit; BBC) |
When I was watching the news about Noel Conway,the terminally ill man fighting the courts for his right to die, I was not only deeply saddened by his situation, but I felt anger too. Anger that this basic right was still having to be fought for to this extent- in 2017! We've come such a long way in many aspects of living freedoms in society, but for some reason, we've been stuck at this vital issue for many years now and again and again, many terminally ill have been turned away without their right to die. While I feel strongly for this right, I heard others in interviews that thought the law to allow people the right to die was the wrong decision. To me, this seems a barbaric stance to have but I listened to their points and tried to see things from their point of view. Until I heard this old chestnut- it'd be a right that'd get abused. Ok, some people; some very sick, ill minded individuals may want to try this but may I offer a realistic counter-argument to that (I'm trying to stay calm here)...
I myself work in the NHS. The NHS as a whole is constantly and heavily scrutinised, especially given the countless budget cuts, social care crises and strikes. As a result of this constant scrutiny and to help keep the risk of more scandals at bay, we are heavily audited. Everything we do as an organisation and as an institution is monitored, documented and analysed. Everything. And this is for patients under regular circumstances. This isn't even taking into consideration seriously ill patients or more complex patient cases. These patients' records and episodes of care are if anything, more documented, more scrutinised and more cooperatively managed than others. If we even sneeze without warning, it needs to be documented, cleaned up and apologies given. The more the media and other outside organisations pry and investigate the NHS, the more that red tape gets tightened. With that in mind, to think that an issue of assisted dying would just be allowed for everyone who merely asked for it without so much as an extensive consultation or guidance, is very naive. Yes, social care and end of life care will no doubt need a revision, but to think that people would be allowed to bump off their elderly grannies without so much as a question or a safe-guarding concern is simply ridiculous. Cases would go under review and patients would get counselling and advice before their wish would be granted. This law is not one that would be implemented lightly, nor should it be.
As it stands currently, if any doctor was to help Noel Conway or any others like him, they would face up to 14 years in prison. All Noel wants is to be able to choose when he dies. To be able to say when enough is enough. He is suffering from motor neurone disease; a debilitating disease that affects the nerves in the body eventually leading to muscles stiffness, weakness and muscle wastage. For Noel, being allowed to choose when he dies is so important to him. It's time critical. While he is not at the late stages just yet, he wants to at least know that when he does deteriorate, he has the assurance that he can choose to say goodbye in the same spirit in which he lived his life; with freedom and without judgement. Wouldn't that be a brilliant and beautiful thing? He'd be spared the extra stress of his end of life arrangements and would be able to live the remainder of his life with the security of knowing that while he may lose control of his body, he still will have full control of his life and indeed his death.
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| (credit:Telegraph) |
Another heartbreaking case is that of Tony Nicklinson. He was left with locked-in syndrome after a massive stroke in 2005. He has since passed but watching his case really touched me, and the video of him and wife Jane's reaction to the news that his case had not been successful is quite hard to watch. You can see his distress as his wife tells the journalist what the judge had ruled and started crying when Jane listed his only remaining options. I didn't say how he died earlier, but he starved himself to death. This fact was even harder for me to come to terms with. This vulnerable, terminally ill man was driven to starvation. Just think about that for a second. He was denied the right to end his own life- one of which was marred with various disabilities- in a dignified way, so saw little option but to starve himself to death in order to achieve some final peace from his condition. I refer again to one of the articles from the Declaration of Human Rights; all humans are born free and equal in dignity. Dignity. That's all this poor man wanted, and is indeed all everyone fighting for their right to die wants. We wouldn't watch an animal suffer, we take it to the vets and get it euthanised as it's the "kinder" thing to do. Yes, animals aren't humans, but the notion of kindness is one that surely all species are entitled to.
This issue is so close to me as I saw my dad fight everyday against the debilitating illness, Parkinsons. I'm not saying at all that he wanted to die; he never said anything of the sort but the day that he did die, I saw something in his eyes that I'd never seen before in the 15 years I'd known him, he looked tired. He looked defeated. This was so upsetting to see in a man that'd always been so strong, stubborn and so funny. Having seen this, I struggle when I see people with debilitating or terminal illnesses being forced to fight for something that should be a basic human right. I hate to think of someone with that pain in their eyes, everyday wishing that they could get a release through death without their doctors or relatives facing prosecution or without having to fly to a foreign country.
The issue of euthanasia is a very tough one to think about; it's never nice to think of yours or someone else's demise, but this is not just about death; it's about dignity and having that security of knowing you can choose the death you want. For many, it's another top story on the news but for people like Noel Conway, it means everything.
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