Britain: I have a right to end my life with dignity

Description: [of the article from This Is Exeter]

A former pilot given just three months to live is planning to die with the help of Swiss assisted-dying clinic Dignitas. Andrew Barnes said his quality of life was deteriorating quickly because of a failing liver and an enlarged heart. He regularly suffers pulmonary edema - fluid on the lungs - and takes a cocktail of drugs to control his illnesses.

Mr Barnes, 54, by his own admission a heavy drinker, was told three years ago that unless he reduced his alcohol intake, he faced life-threatening disease. He was given his recent prognosis during treatment at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital last week, where he spent ten days having fluid drained from his lungs. Mr Barnes, who lives in a flat in Altamira, Topsham, hopes that by publicising his situation, he will raise the issues of human euthanasia.

He said that after seeing his father die of cancer in a hospice, he wanted a "quick and clean" death. On being told of his short life expectancy, the father-of-three said: "It is one of those situations you see in the movies but no one expects to be in. "I've told my GP private arrangements have been made with Dignitas in Geneva for when my life falls below a certain level."

[There are other related stories in the Links: section below.]

Links:

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  • http://tinyurl.com/34qsjp7

  • http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/right-end-life-dignity/article-2095419-detail/article.html

    Also see:

  • Ottawa: Ease me from world [The Ottawa Citizen]
    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Ease+from+world/2987140/story.html
    An extract from Ann Hanrahan's letter:

    During more than 40 years' experience as a registered nurse, I have seen things that are much worse than death. I am thinking of the person who has become demented, unable to speak or recognize anyone, needing to be fed and have diapers changed, having absolutely no quality of life, but he or she is being kept alive for years.

    If this were me, please ease me out of this world. Don't allow this terrible loss of dignity and the suffering of my family. How can this be humane? We ease animals out of this world instead of letting them linger and suffer, but we hesitate to even think of doing the same for humans.

  • Euthanasia and the Culture of Death [Pravda.Ru]
    http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/05-05-2010/113265-euthanasia-0
    Pravda Online from Russia prints an OpEd from Paul Kokoski, who clearly states a position often put forward by palliative care practitioners, with an explicit religious view:

    According to Christian teaching, however, suffering, especially suffering during the final moments of life, has a special place in God's saving plan; it is in fact a sharing in Christ's passion. True compassion leads to sharing anothers pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. The pleas of the gravely ill who sometimes request death should not be understood as implying a true desire for euthanasia; in fact, it is almost always a case of an anguished plea for help and love. Most people regard life as something sacred _ a gift of God's love - which they are called upon, not to dispose of at will, but to preserve and make fruitful.

    [Note: Pravda Online is not to be confused with the old news organ of the Communist Party, though some of the employees worked for that paper. Wikipedia says that the "web-based, tabloid-style newspaper often takes a nationalist and sensationalist approach."]

  • Assisted suicide: should adults have the right to die? [The Lantern]
    http://www.thelantern.com/opinion/assisted-suicide-should-adults-have-the-right-to-die-1.1469844
    An extract from an opinion in The Lantern:
    But let's take it a step further. Why should there be any restrictions to assisted suicide? Why must people, terminally ill or not, be forced to live against their will? Many opponents fear the abuse of euthanasia. Abuse? I think not! True abuse would be to force those who cannot bear the physical, emotional and mental pain to live the rest of their lives in despair. Why not let the depressed or cancer-ridden individual die with dignity intact? Why should the person with untreatable depression be forced to live in pain and despair? Why should people be forced to live when they did not ask to be born?

    I'm not saying that we should allow moody teenagers or the mentally incapacitated to euthanize themselves. What I am saying is that all adults, no matter what circumstances, should be afforded the opportunity to end their lives in the most dignified manner possible.

  • "The Whispers of Strangers," or How I Got Myself Into This Mess [Secondhand Smoke, Wesley J. Smith]
    http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/05/04/the-whispers-of-strangers-or-how-i-got-myself-into-this-mess/
    Wesley J. Smith, anti-euthanasia campaigner, tells the story of how he came to be involved in the fight against euthanasia.

Source:

"I have a right to end my life with dignity". This is Exeter.co.uk. Saturday, May 01, 2010, 11:01. <www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/right-end-life-dignity/article-2095419-detail/article.html>. www.thisisexeter.co.uk is a site operated by Northcliffe Media Ltd ("We"). We are a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 272225 and have our registered office at 2 Derry St, London W8 5TT. Our main trading address is 2 Derry St, London W8 5TT.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • assisted suicide

  • euthanasia

  • Dignitas

  • Britain

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid201005051228.
Mailed: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 14:41:53 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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