I can understand people's reservations about assisted suicide. The vast majority of people will have witnessed, probably before they reach adulthood, someone close to them dying from a terminal illness. It would seem unbearable to watch them kill themselves. However having watched the documentary which featured someone doing just that, and the following Newsnight documentary I have come to the firm conclusion that this option should be available to people in the UK.
What we saw on the documentary was a million miles away from someone killing themselves in desperation. It was also not someone being put out their misery like a dog or being coerced in anyway whatsoever. This was someone who had come to the logical conclusion that he would rather die quickly and peacefully then let the disease he had take him out piece by piece. Both he and his wife had come to a point of acceptance about this and he had no hesitation at the end.
It's important to remember two things in this debate. Firstly it was his decision all the way through, he was very calm and resolute about his wishes, he was fully aware and of sound mind and it was him that took the drug in the final act. This wasn't one person killing another, which would be an entirely different issue altogether.
The second thing to bear in mind was that the alternative to this was an extremely unpleasant and drawn out death from Motor Neurone Disease. As one of the studio guests on the Newsnight panel aptly put it: 'this isn't a choice between life and death, but between a good death and a horrible death.'
Of course this isn't going to be everyone's choice and I'm not advocating assisted suicide over a natural death in the slightest, I'm merely advocating the choice. Those who don't believe in it, don't have to do it, but who are they to enforce their set of beliefs and values onto others?
Most people would agree with the maxim 'live and let live'. Maybe we also need to 'live and let die'. Death is inevitable, it comes to us all. The only question is how and when. To force people, against their will, to see a terrible, degenerative illness through to the bitter end, says nothing about the sanctity of life and everything about moral cowardice. As the situation stands at the moment in this country, someone wishing to opt out of a miserable and painful end would either have to act completely alone or rely on the help of family or friends, making criminals of them. What does that say for our compassion as a nation? Surely a self administered dose monitored by a doctor is preferable to that? Several countries around the world and three states of the USA have recognised this. Isn't it about time we face the ultimate taboo and realise that quality of life is far more important than the duration of it?
