Dead Serious

I blame the Nazis for giving euthanasia such a bad name. I mean, if only it wasn't associated with genocide then it would be so much easier for proponents of assisted suicide to get the law changed. If it wasn't for those goose-stepping bastards offing anyone they thought might be a burden to good Aryan society - the sick, the mentally ill, Gypsies, Jews, communists, etc - then it wouldn't be such an uphill struggle to persuade the public that it is actually a good idea to allow doctors to assist terminally ill patients in topping themselves and walk away scot-free. After all, not all doctors are like Dr Mengele, or Dr Harold Shipman, or Dr Crippen, for that matter. At least, that's what Lord Falconer and the other members of the Commission on Assisted Dying seem to think, with their recently published report calling for a change in the law on assisted dying, to allow it as an option for some terminally ill patients. Indeed, their report seems very reasonable, until you realise that it isn't an independent report, but rather something commissioned by the pressure group Dignity in Dying, which clearly has a vested interest in the issue.

Whilst I'm well aware that it is grossly unfair of me to draw a comparison between the concept of assisted dying and Nazi euthanasia programmes, I'm afraid that any attempts - no matter how well meaning - to legalise the killing of other human beings, makes me very uneasy. The trouble is that it sets a precedent: you start off by saying it is OK to help the terminally ill die, with their consent, but where does it end? Once people get used to that idea, it is a small step for some unscrupulous future government or group to persuade public opinion that it wouldn't be so different if you allowed the termination of, say, people in long-term comas, with just the consent of their families - it would save health resources and free up organs for transplants, after all, they would doubtless argue. There have to be some moral absolutes in any civilised society. As I said earlier, I know that advocates of this sort of thing are well-meaning, but I'm afraid that they are misguided. Indeed, the name of the pressure group tells me that - the whole concept of 'dignity in death' is off centre. The sad reality is that death is rarely dignified, for many of us it could me expiring of a heart attack in the canned fish aisle at Tesco, or choking on our own vomit after a drinking session. The circumstances, I'm afraid, are something that few of us will have any choice over - by allowing a tiny minority a supposedly dignified death won't change this sad fact.