Uncalled for Put-Down of Dementia Sufferers

Not much moves me to indignation these days. This did.

New Zealand has recently had a referendum on assisted suicide but only for people with a fatal illness and a few months to live. Result yet to be released.

Columnist Rosemary McLeod (Dominion post 16.10.20) used the subject as an opportunity to make a couple of snide comments about dementia sufferers.

In the middle of the article, she expresses the hope that her elderly aunt (who has dementia) will be cheerful and not drool.

Towards the end, she writes: “I can see sense in people diagnosed with dementia being able to book a quick departure (euthanasia) too.”

Thus the slippery slope of legalizing assisted dying for any reason.

I have a relative who has had vascular dementia for over ten years – a curse I would not wish on anybody.

Though sometimes bravely aware of how her brain is deteriorating she still manages to get some enjoyment out of her curtailed life.

She does not need people like McLeod to start her thinking she is a burden that should be put down like an unwanted animal.