Showing posts with label Euthanasia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euthanasia. Show all posts

20 June 2012

Who owns YOUR life?

It's a question libertarians pose from time to time, because it is rather fundamental.

It seems silly to most people, for most people consider they are in charge.

Most of the time, in most ways you are.

Indeed, most people in Western liberal democracies accept that adults can choose how they live their lives, in most ways.  That includes freedom of choice of religion (or no religion), and so to live one's life within whatever teachings they wish, as long as it does not involve infringing upon the rights of others.

So why do so many deny voluntary euthanasia?

Is it fear that people will make decisions they will regret?  Well, maybe.  However, surely if a person demands to end his life time and time again, and is absolutely distraught with the indignity and frustration of his life, is the validity of that no longer worth arguing?  Besides.  Who are YOU to say whether someone would regret a decision?  It is, of course, impossible to regret anything when you are dead.

Is it a belief that life is "sacred"? Yes, often.  However, that is a religious belief.  A deeply held one no doubt.  Yet should this apply to the person whose life is actually is?  To whom is it more sacred than the person living the life?  The religious would say "God", but if the person concerned does not believe that, how can this view be forced upon him?

I know religious conservatives have deeply held beliefs, and are not swayed by being confronted by those who want to die, those who have spent months and years day in day out suffering, enduring a life that they despise - in part because, unlike most who seek suicide, they do not have the means to actually end their life painlessly.

However, I'm posting this tragic story because Tony Nicklinson knows only too well who owns his life.  Not him.  

In this interview by the UK's Channel 4 news, he pleads for the right to permit someone else to take his life.  

He has "Locked in Syndrome".  He cannot physically move anything except his eyes.  This man is a father, a husband, once a rugby player, who has had enough after seven years of existing as he does.

Yes, those making such a request should not be those pressured to do so.  Yes those making such a request should not be able to do so on a whim.  Yes those making such a request should have counselling and there be clarity that they are not mentally ill (be careful in how you define that too).  

However, once you get through such safeguards, then get out of the way.

Don't impose your religious beliefs on others.

You do not own their life.

You do not speak for "God" or whatever deity you wish to plead the case for.

Let a peaceful adult who knows what he wants, who declares how much he suffers with his existence, to end his life.

and yes.  This also means opposing the force feeding of an adult with anorexia who wants to die.  The alternative, after all, is the state assaulting an innocent adult.  

You see, those who oppose assisted suicide are not only willing to get in the way of those who haven't the means to take their lives, but also to inflict force upon those who do, as long as the person who does is "ill".  

It comes down to the belief that the state not only should protect people from others, but protect them from themselves - even to use restraint and invasive intimate physical force to do so - even if protection causes them constant and persistent pain and suffering.

Now how can one believe that is right to inflict choices on adults that involve such pain and suffering that if a private citizen initiated it, he or she would face a criminal charge and likely lengthy prison sentence?

Moreover, if you do resist allowing people to take their own lives, when they are consenting intelligent adults, in obvious ongoing chronic distress, why do you think it is your right to do so? 

For if you simply got out of the way, then all these people would be guilty of is offending you and possibly, your conception of a deity.

You do not have a right to not be offended, and certainly you do not have the right to prevent the offence of a deity.

So what would YOU say to Mr Nicklinson as he sits only able to communicate by the movement of his eyeballs, weeping?  If YOU think his life is worth more than he does, what will YOU do to prove it?  Will you spend day after day, week after week, month after month, sitting with him, with his existence, unable to walk, talk, gesticulate, move, manage your ablutions, wash yourself, dress yourself, change the channel on the TV, itch, scratch, hug or kiss your loved ones?   Will you tell him every day as he looks into your eyes that he ought to keep going on like this, whereas those with the physical means can choose to terminate their lives?

Go on - prove your compassion isn't just words.  Share in his life in a way that will make a difference, or leave this peaceful suffering man alone to make his own choices.

He's not asking you to kill him, he's just asking you to let him choose to die when and how he wants.

It's his life, not yours - and as he does not (and cannot) own your life, then stop trying to own his for your conscience or because of your own belief system. 

27 October 2008

Times calls for review of euthanasia laws

It's always one of those difficult issues. On the one hand, the assertion that you own your life, including the right to terminate it when you choose to do so. On the other hand, the fear that putting that decision in the hands of others creates, however small, the risk that you really didn't want to do it at that point. After all, the decision is irreversible.

Few argue for open slather, after all those who do what is asked of them want legal protection from accusations of murder. However, whilst many defend the status quo I find that morally reprehensible as well.

This is where I think of values. Objectivists value life, but also that you own your life. This means that nobody else can tell you how to live it, or even to live it. Assuming you are sane, there should be no legal barrier to you ending you life, and being able to express that. This is not just about pain, for many who suffer terminal illness also suffer in great agony, or with great despair about what they have lost in dignity and independence.

The Times on Saturday contains a short editorial asking that Parliament reconsider a Bill on death with dignity. This is due to the growing number who go through the effort to be "assisted suicide tourists" to Switzerland.

In New Zealand, of the political leaders, Helen Clark, John Key, Winston Peters, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Tariana Turia and Rodney Hide all voted for the Death with Dignity Bill, Peter Brown's only political moment I give him credit for. Jim Anderton and Peter Dunne were the leaders who voted against it. However, only NZ First and ACT all voted in favour. (Sue Kedgley was opposed, presumably because it wasn't banning anything).

It is a worthy issue to debate, across parties, because this should be about balancing the right to own your life, and the right to terminate it under clear and consistent guidelines. There are legitimate fears about misuse of such a law, but let us not close our eyes to the agony doing nothing creates. Regardless of the political, religious or personal views you may have about it, and how it may apply to those you love, you cannot - ever - have the right to decide what another person does in these circumstances. I know if someone I loved had clearly expressed a will to die under circumstances of great pain, indignity and with no hope for recovery, I would do what I could to end that person's agony.

12 May 2008

Censors allow suicide but not those obscene boobs


It is positive that, according to the Dominion Post, the Chief Censor has allowed the New Zealand distribution of the book by Philip Nitschke's The Peaceful Pill Handbook - which is about voluntary euthanasia. It is rated R18. Jim Anderton, who to be fair has close personal experience of the tragedy of suicide, is concerned it will encourage young people to be suicidal. However according to Chief Censor Bill Hastings the law limits what can be done:

"when grading material that depicts or expresses suicide, or any activity which could cause harm if imitated, censors could only restrict material. They could not ban it."

The book is aimed at the elderly or those with terminal illnesses, it is only fair and right that this well intentioned publication be allowed to circulate. Let's not forget that one of the most widely circulated books in society has as its central theme human sacrifice.

Meanwhile the Dominion Post reports the Australian Classification Board is concerned about magazine Rushh Australia which apparently has topless photos of a 16yo New Zealand girl called Zippora Seven (above) (if you dare you can see one of the topless shots here and it is hardly pornographic) in the magazine.
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Although the girl could legally go to any private premises she likes and bare her boobs for the hell of it (and can consent to letting people do as they wish with them), apparently she is a "minor" for censorship purposes as nudity of anyone under 18 is banned. The legal status of the magazine will be interesting, if it is deemed objectionable then it would be a serious criminal charge for the magazine, and everyone who sold it and everyone who bought it as producing, distributing and possessing an objectionable publication is a strict liability offence. You don't need to know whether an image is objectionable to be convicted of possessing it.
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It's always been a curiosity of Angl0-Saxon culture that womens' breasts are obscene. This restriction is no doubt caught up in concern about child pornography, of which the real stuff is so far removed from this case to indicate that the law has been drafted to apply the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. Of course, anyone arguing any different would be deemed a "pervert" because "who wants to see a 16yo girl's breasts". I'd argue that those getting so worked up about the exposure of a young woman of legal age perhaps need to look in the mirror, and perhaps ought to consider that there are probably more young women doing this online by choice with webcams (and umpteen websites dedicated to this) than ever any legitimate magazines. Remember if this law is meant to protect them, then you'd wonder why it is ok to let men of any age fondle any willing 16yo girl's breasts, but not ok to buy a magazine that depicts them. Oh and if you're concerned about the sexualisation of young girls (nobody is ever too fussed about boys which is an issue in itself), then looking at 16 year olds is not the place to start, you might look at Bratz dolls instead for those half that age!

17 March 2008

So who owns your life?

David Farrar has posted a tragic story of a French women suffering intolerable agony and loss of dignity due to esthesioneuroblastoma.
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I challenge anyone to dare think for a moment that anyone BUT that woman has the right to decide when and how she should die. Who owns YOUR life?
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Few points of freedom are more important than asserting that we all have the right to control not only our life but our own death. The last attempt to grant New Zealanders this right was in 2003, with the Death With Dignity Bill proposed by NZ First list MP Peter Brown - his proudest Parliamentary move in my book.
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It was defeated 60 to 58, with one abstention and one no vote. The defeat wasn't even at the final reading, it was on the FIRST reading. It wasn't even allowed to go to Select Committee for submissions and for further work. That in itself tells you what those who voted against it thought. They don't even want to entertain that adults should decide when to terminate their lives when they become insufferable. It is worth remembering, of those in Parliament today, which MPs believe you own your life, and which ones think THEY do. You may be surprised. Of interest, Don Brash voted for the Bill.
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Those who voted FOR considering the Death with Dignity Bill (who are still in Parliament today):
Tim Barnett (Lab)
David Benson-Pope (Lab)
Sue Bradford (Greens)
Peter Brown (NZ First)
Mark Burton (Lab)
Chris Carter (Lab)
Steve Chadwick (Lab)
Helen Clark (Lab)
David Cunliffe (Lab)
Ruth Dyson (Lab)
Russell Fairbrother (Lab)
Jeanette Fitzsimons (Greens)
Phil Goff (Lab)
George Hawkins (Lab)
Dave Hereora (Lab)
Rodney Hide (Act)
Marian Hobbs (Lab)
Pete Hodgson (Lab)
John Key (Nat)
Winnie Laban (Lab)
Keith Locke (Greens)
Moana Mackey (Labour)
Steve Maharey (Lab)
Murray McCully (Nat)
Mahara Okeroa (Lab)
Pita Paraone (NZ First)
Winston Peters (NZ First)
Lynne Pillay (Lab)
Heather Roy (Act)
Dover Samuels (Lab)
Lockwood Smith (Nat)
Barbara Stewart (NZ First)
Nandor Tanczos (Greens)
Georgina te Heuheu (Nat)
Judith Tizard (Lab)
Metiria Turei (Greens)
Tariana Turia (then Labour now Maori)
Maurice Williamson (Nat)
Pansy Wong (Nat)
Doug Woolerton (NZ First)
Those who voted AGAINST the Bill (and remain in Parliament):
Jim Anderton (Prog C)
Shane Ardern (Nat)
Rick Barker (Lab)
Gerry Brownlee (Nat)
David Carter (Nat)
John Carter (Nat)
Ashraf Choudhary (Lab)
Judith Collins (Nat)
Brian Connell (Nat)
Gordon Copeland (UF now independent)
Clayton Cosgrove (Lab)
Michael Cullen (Lab)
Lianne Dalziel (Lab)
Peter Dunne (UF)
Harry Duynhoven (Lab)
Bill English (Nat)
Taito Phillip Field (Lab now independent)
Martin Gallagher (Lab)
Mark Gosche (Lab)
Sandra Goudie (Nat)
Phil Heatley (Nat)
Parekura Horomia (Lab)
Darren Hughes (Lab)
Paul Hutchison (Nat)
Sue Kedgley (Greens) (big surprise, yeah right!)
Annette King (Lab)
Nanaia Mahuta (Lab)
Trevor Mallard (Lab)
Wayne Mapp (Nat)
Ron Mark (NZ First)
Damien O'Connor (Lab)
David Parker (Lab)
Jill Pettis (Lab)
Simon Power (Nat)
Katherine Rich (Nat)
Mita Ririnui (Lab)
Ross Robertson (Lab)
Tony Ryall (Nat)
Clem Simich (Nat)
Nick Smith (Nat)
Paul Swain (Lab)
Lindsay Tisch (Nat)
Judy Turner (UF)
Margaret Wilson (Lab)
Richard Worth (Nat)
Dianne Yates (Lab)
ACT's caucus (today) voted for it, as did John Key and Helen Clark. Any hope of this being resurrected after the next election, or will we have the usual swathe of conservative National MPs who think they know best?

13 February 2007

Who owns YOUR life?

The book launched by Lindsay Perigo is timely, given the case of Kelly Taylor of Bristol in the UK. This case saddens and enrages me. Quite simply, how fucking DARE anyone of you tell this woman that she should endure what she must go through, when she is sane and certain that she wants her own suffering to end. The so called compassion showed by those opposing this is completely empty, and frankly NO ONE has the right to say she should not end her life voluntarily.
You see, Kelly Taylor has the heart and lung condition Eisenmenger's syndrome, and the spinal condition Klippel-Feil syndrome. She is in constant pain because doctors have been unable to find a combination of drugs suitable given her allergies. Her condition is terminal and degenerative, she wants to die with a high dose of morphine. Let her. Her life is NOT yours, you do not experience her suffering, and should not prolong it by interfering.
She has already tried to starve herself to death, but was in some much pain she stopped.
She has said:
“I have made the decision because enough is enough. I don’t want to suffer any more ...My consultant has told me that he does not expect me to live for another year. In that time I will deteriorate and that deterioration will become quite undignified. I want to avoid that.”
"I don't want to be looked after any more. I want to assert my own independence....I don't really understand why I'm here. I go from day to day just making it through the day. I don't want to be here."
She is too frail to fly easily and wants to die at home, so refuses to attempt to travel to a more enlightened jurisdiction like Switzerland. "I am in constant pain, suffer from breathlessness and have bed sores. I do not want to have to leave the UK in order to die".
Hear hear.
Try defending it, try worming your way out of allowing this sane adult woman to end her own suffering, try defending why YOU know best for her, and if you think you do - try arguing why I can't know best for you about any aspect of your life? After all, if you can't decide when and how to end your own life -do you really own your life and your body? If not, who does and why are they better equipped to know what is best for you? Who knows best for them?
Don't mention God - religion isn't compulsory - let your ghost worshipping determine your own life, not anyone elses.