Euthanasia - where do you stand?

I see that Tony Nicklinson, the right to die campaigner and sufferer of 'locked in syndrome', has passed away this week.

Mr Nicklinson has been in the news recently for trying to get parliament and the courts to give him permission to end his life, which he felt was degrading and useless after a debilitating and severe stroke he had five years ago left him paralysed from the neck down. Whilst fully conscious and able to hear and see, he could not talk, communicating via a computer using blinks of his eyes, and was unable to move or perform bodily functions without assistance.

I guess where you stand on this will to some degree be determined by your religious beliefs, partly by your compassion and I suppose that your views may alter depending who you were talking about. For instance, if I was talking about a complete stranger I ought to be able to look at the situation totally objectively and without emotion, if it was one of my nearest and dearest then it might be completely different.

Except it isn’t that simple; most human beings have a strong compassionate instinct, and an inbuilt abhorrence of taking the life of another living creature (unless it’s a wasp, of course!) and themselves have a fear of dying. When we are talking about another human being, that instinct becomes even stronger and very few of us can envisage what it must be like to want to welcome death with open arms. There seems to be, in most of us at least, an unspoken urge to prolong life by any means at our disposal and not extinguish it.

But surely the person best placed to determine whether their life is worth living in this sort of situation is the sufferer themselves? Particularly when they are able to communicate their wishes in a rational and considered way, which is what Mr Nicklinson has been doing, or at least trying to do, through a proper legal process. To have been an active, sporty and healthy adult as he was, successful in his job and with a growing family and then be cut down in your prime and not able to do anything which gives you pleasure or motivates you for the remainder of your days and then be told that you have to live like that is like the modern day equivalent of putting someone into purgatory, and could be seen as incredibly cruel.

What would I want if it was me? I think the same as Mr Nicklinson, to be able to live reasonably self sufficiently with self respect and a degree of independence, and to die in a humane way with dignity. So if I was in Mr Nicklinson’s situation, I would probably want to end my own life too, probably with the added thought that it would free up my loved ones to also have a life again themselves. It is interesting that his wife, who clearly adored him, also felt it would be best for him to die, as mentally he was deeply unhappy and it was tearing her apart to see it. She has aged twenty years in the last five, if her photos are anything to go by.

If it was my loved ones, well I don’t know. I am compassionate and I am very emotional (I cry easily) but I hate to see suffering and wouldn’t want anyone (or any creature) that I loved to suffer the indignities of total dependency or have no quality of life at all. You would have to weigh up medical advice and risk, and let your head rule your heart, not always easily done.

Euthanasia always divides people, but on one thing I am totally clear. It is not for anyone else to tell me how to live my life or, in certain situations, whether I should have to live my life at all. Whilst I have always believed that suicide because you have squandered your money, or can't cope with someone leaving you or for other depressing reasons is the ultimate selfish act, the ability to end your life if it has become unbearable for medical reasons should be available under strict guidelines and conditions.

I just hope that I am never in a situation where my beliefs are put to the test. And if I am, I hope I am not found wanting.