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| 'It's only a matter of time before people control time and manner of their death' | 'It's only a matter of time before people control time and manner of their death' |
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| It is only a matter of time before people in the UK have control over the moment and the manner of their death, according to a leading British medical ethicist, who says neither the medical profession nor the state has a right to block that choice. | It is only a matter of time before people in the UK have control over the moment and the manner of their death, according to a leading British medical ethicist, who says neither the medical profession nor the state has a right to block that choice. |
| Related: Four in 10 hospitals told to improve care for the dying | Related: Four in 10 hospitals told to improve care for the dying |
| Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University, says there will always be people who cannot be deemed mentally competent to make the choice to end their life. “But that shouldn’t stop us having assisted dying where people are sitting upright, fully competent, with all the lights on and saying ‘this is intolerable – I want to die’. That is quite a different kind of case. | Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University, says there will always be people who cannot be deemed mentally competent to make the choice to end their life. “But that shouldn’t stop us having assisted dying where people are sitting upright, fully competent, with all the lights on and saying ‘this is intolerable – I want to die’. That is quite a different kind of case. |
| “I think it’s only a matter of time before people have control over the time and manner in which they die. Other countries in Europe are legalising assisted suicide and Britain, which had very progressive policies, is still stuck in the ethics of the 19th century,” he added. | “I think it’s only a matter of time before people have control over the time and manner in which they die. Other countries in Europe are legalising assisted suicide and Britain, which had very progressive policies, is still stuck in the ethics of the 19th century,” he added. |
| “It is quite shameful that the British Medical Association and the medical profession have resisted this for so long and certainly obstructed it. We should be able to decide when and how we die. It is not a doctor’s decision nor a state decision.” | “It is quite shameful that the British Medical Association and the medical profession have resisted this for so long and certainly obstructed it. We should be able to decide when and how we die. It is not a doctor’s decision nor a state decision.” |
| Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have assisted dying and an increasing number of states in the US are adopting it, he says. The strongest argument against is that frail people who do not want to die may be coerced into it. | |
| “It is a concern not unique to assistance in dying,” Savulescu says. “Harold Shipman without euthanasia was running around killing people. It is wrong to single out assisted dying legislation as vulnerable to that problem.” | |
| Related: At my father's bedside, I learned what death looks like | Related: At my father's bedside, I learned what death looks like |
| There is a way that even those who are paralysed, such as Tony Nicklinson, who failed in his appeal to the high court to be allowed an assisted death, can end their life, says Savulescu. They can stop eating and drinking. If they are considered competent to make the decision, they cannot be force-fed and will die – although it would not be an easy death. | There is a way that even those who are paralysed, such as Tony Nicklinson, who failed in his appeal to the high court to be allowed an assisted death, can end their life, says Savulescu. They can stop eating and drinking. If they are considered competent to make the decision, they cannot be force-fed and will die – although it would not be an easy death. |
| Savulescu believes doctors should give them care to allow what he calls “voluntary palliated starvation”. Where somebody is so determined to die that they refuse food and water and it is clear that death is inevitable, doctors should give them painkillers and sedation to make them more comfortable, he says. | Savulescu believes doctors should give them care to allow what he calls “voluntary palliated starvation”. Where somebody is so determined to die that they refuse food and water and it is clear that death is inevitable, doctors should give them painkillers and sedation to make them more comfortable, he says. |
| “You can choose the time and mode of your death by refusing food and fluid. People should be entitled to palliative care during that process,” he says. | “You can choose the time and mode of your death by refusing food and fluid. People should be entitled to palliative care during that process,” he says. |