“Dying in dignity”: assisted suicide or homicide?

Very often we hear people say that life is too short but there others who will go to great lengths to make it even shorter! Is there ever a right time, or reason, for that matter, to end one’s life? And, should people have the right to be assisted to die if they choose to? Buying death for USD 4000! Hundreds of people travel from all over Europe, in what critics call “Death tourism”, to “buy their death” at the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland. It is reported that 137 people including 3 couples have travelled from the United Kingdom to the clinic over the last few years. The Dignitas clinic prescribes a special dose, to those wishing to end their lives, putting them to sleep never to wake up! It charges a premium for this special service: USD 4,000 is what it costs to die! The clinic apparently operates legally according to Swiss law which allows any person who is of a reasonably sound mind to be assisted to die as long as the person so assisting them does not stand to benefit from the death! This is supposedly meant to protect people with permanent incapacity or terminal illnesses from being killed by those who stand to inherit their estate! Freedom of choice Assisted suicide is currently outlawed in the UK by the Suicide Act but the increase in the number of people making the trip to die in Switzerland has added impetus to the on-going debate on whether or not it should be legalized. Of course the law does not stop those who wish to commit suicide from doing so but it makes anyone who prescribes the fatal doses or, in any way, facilitates a suicide criminally liable! Supporters of assisted suicide want individuals to be allowed, (or be supported?), should they choose to end their own life. Mature, willing individuals of sound mind generally have a freedom of choice: freedom to enter contractual obligations; freedom to choose their career; freedom to acquire and dispose of property; freedom to marry and divorce; freedom to choose whether or not to have children. Besides, it is argued, nothing can be done to stop the many people who commit suicide whether by hanging themselves, blowing their heads off with a gun, drowning or simply taking deadly poisonous substances. Shouldn’t those people who decide to, and actually do, end their lives be allowed to do so “honourably”? On the other hand, the state and law as the custodian and enforcer of morals in our society, is notoriously proud to limit our freedom to choose what we do if it is considered morally wrong or at least generally not good for society. Taking life away is considered morally wrong, even if it’s own life. But is ever there a time when it is better to die than to live? At only 21 years of age, a student with a promising career as a professional rugby player, life couldn’t have promised more for Daniel James. Until one sad day, that is, when an unfortunate training ground accident turned fatal leaving him with a spinal cord injury. Six operations in eighteen months could not save him and he was left permanently paralyzed. With his career ended and his dreams shattered, at only 23 Daniel was devastated by the prospect of living the rest of his life as a helpless person in a wheelchair. He asked his parents one final favour: take him to Switzerland to the controversial Dignitas clinic to end what he called “a life too miserable to bear”! An elderly couple of celebrity pensioners, Sir Edward Thomas Downes, CBE, 85 and his wife of 54 years, Joan, 74, are the latest to add to the statistic of people that have travelled to the Dignitas death clinic. Knighted for his legendary contribution to opera as Orchestra director, Sir Edward lived what family and close friends described as a happy, rewarding and fulfilling life with his wife who also acted as his Personal Assistant, following him wherever he went to perform. But at 85 years, half-blind and increasingly deaf (according to their children), his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. The couple decided their lives weren’t worth living anymore. Incredibly, Sir Edward decided he couldn’t, and wasn’t going to, live without his beloved wife! They lived happily together and were going to die together. So they travelled to Switzerland and were put to sleep forever, together!! To some extent it can be understandable! In a society where the family is increasingly disintegrating and mainly limited to husband and wife with probably their young children (it is not uncommon for adolescent children between 16 and 19 to be thrown out by their parents to go fend for themselves!), caring for the elderly and disabled is often left to the state and privately-run nursing homes. Although funding care for the elderly and disabled can be quite costly, to many it is not unaffordable. But for someone who lived a better than average life, nursing homes are not the best way to live your last days. It is a fact that many people do and will continue to commit suicide; some in more brutal ways than others. But for anyone to decide to end their own life, whether by paying whatever amount of money, hanging themselves, blowing their brains out or heads off with a gun, drowning or taking deadly poisonous substances, life must have become unbearable. Something‘s become too much for them to feel that they can’t take anymore! But I believe that every person has someone to live for; family, friends, colleagues, etc! And whatever the cost of life or death, whenever someone dies, they leave behind a vacuum that can never be filled and an emotional scar that never heals. Often we hear people say “reka yigendere, araruhutse!”, but all the time we grieve and mourn our dead! It is a sign of how much we treasure life and, any death whether natural, accidental, or induced, is a loss that can never be recovered however much we try to live with it! Ends