You know …
I think I’ve just seen one of the more moving pieces of TV I’ve seen in a long time.
Hmmm …
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Now, you’ve guessed — after regularly following this blog — that I’m a Terry Pratchett fan.
You probably couldn’t miss the fact, could you … ?
And, like many who’ve followed his work, I’m very aware that, a couple of years ago, Sir Terry was diagnosed with a form of Early-onset Alzheimers, called Post-Corterior Atrophy.
Definitely an upsetting thing to see.
Not only is Sir Terry a favourite writer — and one I feel I’ve come to know and love, after first reading The Colour Of Magic, all those years ago — but he’s also been diagnosed with a version of a disease I’d seen kill a much loved grandmother.
Alzheimer’s.
I was gutted.
I still pretty much feel the same way.
His announcement, a few years ago, that he was seriously keen on what’s been variously called ‘Assisted Death’, euthanasia or just plain Assisted suicide … ?
Was definitely one that shook me.
It still does.
Very much so.
You see, I am very scared of death.
I don’t think I know that many people who aren’t, to be frank.
And, unlike one or two more devoutly religious people I know, I’ve no particular faith — not even a political one, or philosophical position, on the lines of Buddhism or Secular Humanism — to reassure me of a hereafter to help ease that fear of mine.
So …
Well, I think it’s understandable that I’m uncertain of how I’d be in Sir Terry’s shoes: suffering a condition I know — from having seen how it affected Grandma Smith — is capable of robbing me of all that I am.
Even given that various people I’ve known have been able to argue convincingly both for and against.
Believe me, I’m sympathetic, trust me.
Boy, I’m sympathetic.
I’m just still not convinced that an assisted death — or even a Do Not Resuscitate order on my medical notes — is something I’d like.
I may not have much of a life, at the moment.
But I think I’d prefer it, to being dead, frankly, whatever condition.
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However … ?
There’s a reason this messy and controversial subject has reared its head, though …
You see, Sir Terry has just been in a documentary, on BBC 2, called Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die.
He’s followed two people — Peter, a Motor Neurone sufferer and Andrew*, a young MS patient — as they mad the decision to go to Switzerland, to make use of the Dignitas assisted death clinic, in Schwerzenbach.
And I’ve got to admit …
This is a tricky one to write, I’m hoping you’ll be patient with me, here … !
I’ve got to admit, seeing the mother of Andrew, the MS sufferer, admitting that she respected her son’s decision to die the way he had was extremely moving: and watching her anger that this was not something they could have done here in Britain was …
Well …
Not a revelation, per se.
Moving, yes …
But not revelatory.
And something that made sense.
Equally as moving … ?
Possibly even more so … ?
Was the death of Peter, the Motor Neurone sufferer, recorded — with he and his wife’s permission — and broadcast, with Sir Terry following them all the way through, from the initial visits by the Dignitas doctor to his death, in the presence of Peter’s wife, Sir Terry, the two escorts from Dignitas.
And you.
And me.
And everyone else watching, tonight.
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Hang on, let me just make a cuppa …
And take a very deep breath.
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These were …
Moving.
Definitely moving.
In both the simplicity of Peter and Andrew’s decisions: and both the strength of them.
And the bravery in making them.
Not something I think I could do.
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Those decisions, to make that trip to Switzerland … ?
With all that that implies … ?
I’m thinking that those two mens decisions to make that trip to Switzerland, are decisions I think have to be respected, even though it’s a decision I don’t think I could make for myself.
Or want to make for myself.
And it’s also one that leaves me asking a question.
Why on Earth is that Swiss journey necessary … ?
Oh, I’m not asking why we can’t cure things like MS or Motor Neurone Disease, or properly eliminate other conditions, like them, and Alzheimer’s.
No.
While I may not wish to make that decision for myself, or see any of my family make it …
I also believe it’s one that people should be able to make.
And not have to make things worse for their families …
By having to travel abroad to die at a time of their own choosing.
The one thing I did discover … ?
Is that, in Belgium, assisted death is legal for Belgian nationals: and Belgian nationals, only.
Given the amount of grief travelling abroad does to surviving families facing a loved one’s wish to die like this — I saw that, in this documentary — why the HELL is it not legal for British citizens to die, by their own hands, and in a time of their own choosing, at home … ?
* Radically young, in fact: he was my age, when he died … That is scary …
