Voluntary Euthanasia / Assisted Dying

 I have read numerous articles and comments regarding the introduction of the Voluntary Euthanasia Bill into SA Parliament recently.

This discussion is very close to my heart as back in 1983 my Father passed away from the then little known disease Motor Neuron Disease.  Put simply MND is one of the most cruel diseases that us humans can suffer from.  The key word here is suffer.

My Father was only 40 when he passed away.  He was a strong and vibrant man who loved teaching, classical music, photography and trains.  This bastard of a disease reduced him to nothing.  We all watched helplessly over a period of 18 months waste away.

At first the symptoms made him look and sound as if he were drunk, but quickly the disease took hold and he lost the ability to speak and look after himself.  After nearly 12 months from diagnosis he was reduced to being totally bedridden, fed liquid food only, unable to communicate, loss of bodily functions.  Then there is the mental torment, I leave that up to you to imagine.  How would your mental state be if it were you going through this?

I am sure, that if it were offered to him my Father would have leapt at the opportunity to be euthanised.  From the time he lost the ability to communicate and look after himself he longer was living a life but just existing.

There are thousands of examples of people suffering at the hands of numerous diseases.  Many suffer in excruciating pain right until the bitter end.  Again, this is not life, this is just existing.  Furthermore, each and everyone of us would be taken to court and fined heavily if we treated our pets and other animals this way.  It hurts when as a family we make the decision to put one our pets to sleep to stop their suffering, but we know it is the humane thing to do, yet many people will then go home allowing a terminally ill family member to suffer until the Grim Reaper knocks at the door.

Let's not be hypocrites.  If you or a loved one is SUFFERING from a terminal illness it should be THEIR right to be euthanised.  How dare anyone force another person to suffer, often in agony because of an ideology.