05.01.12
Dying with dignity?
A year-long inquiry into assisted suicide has reported that there is a strong case for legalisation, and that a strict set of rules could ensure there was no abuse of the practice.
However it is this set of rules that produces the most problems with such a contentious issue.
The criteria recommended include requiring the patient to be over 18, of sound mind and within 12 months of death, as well as able to take the medication themselves, instead of being administered by a doctor.
This means that most patients with dementia, locked-in syndrome and those lacking the mobility to self-medicate – the groups it could be argued are most at need of assisted suicide – would not be eligible.
It is a complicated problem. Obviously requiring someone to have full mental capabilities would help to ensure that coercion into suicide was avoided. Setting rules in the first place presupposes that someone has the right to decide who may die and who must continue to live.
At the moment, even with such a large amount of evidence and consideration, the tangled ethics of assisted suicide continue to block any legislative change.
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