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Heavy stuff from Terry Pratchett
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They did say he had taken the paperwork from Dignitas home with him. But I did have a start when I read the headline online which made it sound ominous.
I'm not sure how easy it is to get hold of now, but last year he gave the Richard Dimbleby lecture on the topic "Shaking Hands With Death" which covered his thoughts on assisted suicide and coping with the onset of Alzheimer's. Pretty heavy stuff alright, but a very important and heart-felt lecture for a number of reasons.
It sounds like he is making provisions to get to decide when he wants to go. Coming from one of the only states that legally allows physician-assisted suicide (Oregon), I have to say that I do know one person who has gone through the process. My philosophy professor's wife had struggled with lupus for years. The process to allow it the "legal" way is not an easy one, and seemed to focus more on the patient's mental health than physical, even. Do they know what they are asking? Is their family supportive? Is there really no other recourse?It must be devastating to receive a diagnosis for a disease that has no cure. At least, for now, Pratchett has too many projects going on to be ready. Does anyone else start wishing in these instances that some of this sci-fi stuff we're always reading, with cryogenics and cures for disease (even when those accidentally result in zombies or vampires) would happen just a little sooner?
He's taking a very very brave stand, It's heart stopping to watch but i'm grateful to him for using his public profile to bring this debate into the light. The condition that robbed me of my sight is destined to kill me eventually, but not before it's afflicted me with a profound case of dementia. So I have witnessed how adverse the public and medical establishment Is to even talking about the concept of assisted suicide. The courage he has shown in doing this is breathtaking, I don't think it will provoke the moral shift needed to make a true difference but hopefully it will reopen the conversation.
If a person wishes to die, we have no right to interfere, regardless of the reason they want to go. The laws making suicide illegal are the height of selfishness, we don't make them to help the individual, they're to make ourselves feel better. We claim we're saving their life, when we don't have anymore right to force a person to live than we do to force them to die.If a person goes into a situation where they know they will die in order to save someone else, or even an animal, we call them a hero. But someone who is dying and wants to die before things get worse, or before their family is bankrupt from medical bills trying to cure the incurable, we vilify them.
The right to die should be as important as the right to life. As long as a person has set their affairs in order, they should be allowed to die, regardless of the reason they want to go.
As someone who has a certain ideological and religious view this is a topic on which I have a clear opinion. Regardless however I do acknowledge that there are layers of complexity, which I don't think are as simplistic as notions of selfishness. Truly it is hard to say how one would feel should they be reduced to a certain state by a particular condition.
My wife is in constant pain. It is at least possible that at some point she will decide she wants to end her life. As heartbreaking as that would be, I would be utterly infuriated if someone told her she wasn't allowed to.It is, quite frankly, none of anyone's business but hers and to a lesser extent, mine.
My apologies for resurrecting a thread dead for two months. I'm sure it probably smells awful and wants to eat your brains.
@Rasputin: Sympathies. I can't begin to understand what your circumstances must be like. I pray that things may change (improve) for your wife.
The picture makes it look like they are televising HIS suicide.
Things must not be going well.