Subject: The case for ‘Assisted dying’.

 

The debate in the House of Commons regarding Assisted Dying is about to start with parliamentarians voting on the matter soon. The question Comes to mind, who gives this discredited body of politicians the right to be the arbiters of whether I can decide what to do with my own life. We are not talking of the right to kill anyone else but the fundamental right to end your own life.
Lives are cut short in their  thousands/millions when politicians declare war and not a murmur  but if I wish to end my own life then all hell breaks out. Is due to religiosity and the sanctity of life in terms of “god giveth and only god can take away" but surely in a world where many people are atheists then religion proclamation should not be a deciding factor.
A private members bill seeks to question the idea that you are limited in how you seek death, especially if life has become intolerable because of pain and acute discomfort. My own view is that an individuals life is theirs and should not be beholden to political or religious whim so long as safeguards are in place to protect those who might be encouraged to seek to end their life because of port unary  gain and even then if the person wishes to die because they feel they have reached a point where they don't want to be a burden then that decision should be theirs.
If we can abort a foetus why not ourselves, if we can kill chickens and cows in their millions why are we so discomforted by suicide which up to 50 years ago was a criminal offence. People are living much longer these days and as they do they become prone to a range of maladies which make their lives intolerable.
End of life sanctuaries such as Hospice rely largely on charity to offer help to the dying and face difficult financial difficulties in the task of coping with an ageing population, people needing pain medication and compassion in their last days, often years of suffering. The national plan to relive hospitals of aged bed blockers by encouraging them home only works if the medical services are comparable with hospital. Little or no attention during any of the last 20 years of government has been directed at national or government funded “old peoples accommodation “. The municipalities close the existing ones down and sell the site to housing developers who then build unaffordable housing. It’s disgraceful, the closing  of social retirement homes  just when the hospitals determine that there is no space and they have to sell their only valuable asset the family home to cover the cost of accommodation in a private retirement home. The ditching of social owned assets in favour of privatisation is a middle class endeavour pursued by all governments, yet another example of the growing divide in the country.
Asian families seem to assume the mantle of responsibility by proving a place for the old mother and father in the family home, just as they would for a child and are clearly more civilised in so far as this particular aspect is concerned. Our fragmentation of family, children rushing off in their early twenties to make their own lives has a profound effect on later life support mechanism especially if the government and local authorities have, over the last decade or two washed their hands of social care.
Much depends on location and the dispersal of family is much less evident in the North of England than in the South. The push to go off and make your fortune is part of being in areas where individual success is important and the sociability of one’s surroundings much less so. Those who skedaddle off to the four corners of the globe used to cut their ties to hand written letters and an annual phone all but at least today the internet and video links make up for a great deal of the loss.  
It’s only when frailty and illness rears its head that the family is stretched by concern as to how to handle the matter. Its worst these days, my parents generation conveniently died before their needs became apparent, today’s oldies cling on well past their best and become a sorry sight of their children to behold.
A bright orange pill in a box on the mantle place with the ‘will and testimony’ and the keys to the car not far away