First, do no harm
OK, I’m not belittling Terry Pratchett, but many people have incurable conditions that end up killing them and it often takes a lot longer than his particular brand of Alzheimer’s.
Sir Terry would like to be able to petition for assisted death. I think that is an awful thing to ask someone else to do for you; even to be asked make the decision about someone else. Sir Terry is currently healthy enough to commit suicide: like almost everyone else on the planet though, he would like to delay dying as long as possible. In fact, so long, that he needs someone else to do the job for him.
I don’t think that is a reasonable thing to ask. It’s different for someone who has been hit by a car or been involved in an accident where one second they are fine and the next not. Indeed, motor neuron disease is such that you get some warning.
Last year, I was involved in a car accident caused directly by the incurable condition I have. I was exceptionally lucky in that no-one was hurt apart from me and I only got bruising. But I could have been left with someone’s death on my conscience and that hit me very hard.
There were moments in the following 48 hours I really couldn’t cope: distraught is possibly the best word for it. Something I had guarded against for such a long time had happened.
The thing that kept me vaguely together was my family. It took a lot to get back behind the wheel of a car and I’m still not confident, even though the policeman who dealt with the accident supported me and encouraged me to drive again.
Knowing what I went through, at the possibility of having end another’s life, I do not think I could ask someone to help me die.
One of the things soldiers are trained to do is kill but it has a cost. The subject is discussed in length by various detective novels: taking a life changes you forever.
No-one is asking Sir Terry Pratchett to not enjoy his life, so how can he ask another to take his away from him?
Posted: February 6th, 2010 under 42.
Comments
Comment from Sam Watkins
Time February 8, 2010 at 9:17 pm
OK, this is a trite example, but Star Trek gave a great example of this…
“His father pleaded with McCoy to release him from the pain, but McCoy could not, as he was adamant in attempting to find a cure. Seeing his father suffer so painfully, however, moved McCoy to soon acquiesce and take his father off life support.
Soon after a cure was discovered, and McCoy subsequently lived many years in regret for causing his father’s apparently needless death. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)”
Comment from Blaise F Egan
Time February 9, 2010 at 1:58 pm
That’s actually quite a good example, in my view. It’s always a question of making the best decision you can on the basis of limited information and there is always a risk of getting it wrong. In that case McCoy got it wrong, but at least he avoided the very worst outcome, which would have been for his father to have a lived a long life in great pain vainly hoping for a cure.
Comment from Sam Watkins
Time March 2, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you: it seems when ever I discuss this subject, my grandmother dies!
One of the lines of reasoning I have been following, really given Sir Terry Prachett;s decision is that it seems to be as a result of a loss of hope. That’s what Bones’ dad had and up to a point Bones’. Their decision was wrong because of the timing.
How far apart would the timing need to be to make it the right decision? Sir Terry is a difficult choice because he has brought so much joy to so many people. If you were the person to end the potential of his recovery, how much time could pass between that and a cure for you not to feel bad?
Also, if everyone with this condition is allowed to die as soon as symptoms get to a certain point, why should anyone bother to find a cure? Where’s the market?
My condition is treated indefinitely by very crude medication. I feel very lucky that I could benefit from that being at a stage where 80% of the day/week/year this is not more than an annoyance. The death resulting from untreated type one diabetes mellitus is both disabling and humiliating. If this comes to pass, would the treatment have ever been discovered?
Comment from Blaise F Egan
Time February 6, 2010 at 11:45 pm
>Sir Terry would like to be able to petition for assisted death. I think that is an awful thing to ask someone else to do for you; even to be asked make the decision about someone else.
My view is well-expressed by the British Humanist Association briefing on the subject.
“The current system sometimes also results in close relatives being faced with immensely difficult choices: whether to assist a loved one who is begging for help to put an end to their suffering knowing that it is unlawful, or to deny their loved one the death they want.”
There is no easy way out here.
I believe that people should be able to access good quality, patient-centred treatment and care at the end of life; and terminally ill, mentally competent adults should have the choice of an assisted death, within strict legal safeguards, if they feel their suffering is unbearable.