Why Assisted Dying Is a State Responsibility

 

Why Assisted Dying Is a State Responsibility

The question of assisted dying is a deeply personal and difficult one. It's an issue of autonomy and dignity in the face of suffering. In the UK Parliament's debate on this topic, a core argument emerges from a fundamental inconsistency in how the state treats personal health decisions. While getting sick or old are personal processes, the state is heavily involved in assisted healing. Therefore, the same logic dictates that the state should also be involved in assisted dying.

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The Core Inconsistency

The state already plays a massive role in our healthcare. We have a National Health Service (NHS) that provides a wide range of treatments and care, all designed to help people heal and prolong life.¹ This includes everything from simple medications to complex, life-saving surgeries. We spend billions of pounds each year on doctors, hospitals, and medical research.² This is a form of state-assisted healing, and we collectively agree that it's a necessary and moral function of government.

This state involvement is not seen as an intrusion; rather, it's a fundamental duty to support the health and well-being of citizens. We don't say that treating cancer is a personal matter and should be left to the individual and their family alone. Instead, we have a public system in place to assist.

If the state is so deeply involved in assisting people to live, why does its responsibility stop at the point where a person, facing incurable and unbearable suffering, wishes to die? The decision to end one's life under these circumstances is just as personal as the decision to seek treatment for an illness. To deny assisted dying is to say that the state can help you live but cannot help you die, even when living has become a burden that a person no longer wishes to bear. This creates a moral and ethical imbalance in our healthcare system.

Addressing Concerns

Of course, there are significant concerns about assisted dying. The risk of foul play, pressure on vulnerable individuals, and ethical issues are very real and must be addressed. However, these concerns are not insurmountable. Many countries have already implemented assisted dying laws with strict safeguards, including:

• Multiple physician approvals: Requiring more than one doctor to confirm the patient's terminal diagnosis and mental capacity.

• Waiting periods: Ensuring the decision is not made impulsively.

• Patient self-administration: In some cases, the patient must be the one to take the final dose, ensuring the act is truly voluntary.³

• Mental health evaluations: To confirm the patient is not suffering from treatable depression or other mental health conditions that may be influencing their decision.

These safeguards demonstrate that it is possible to create a system that respects individual autonomy while protecting the vulnerable. The debate should not be about whether to allow assisted dying, but how to implement it safely and compassionately.

In conclusion, if the state's role is to assist its citizens in their most vulnerable moments, then that responsibility must extend to both living and dying. To provide a public service for assisted healing but not for assisted dying is a logical and ethical contradiction that the UK Parliament should resolve.

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You Can’t Tell Me This Makes Sense

 

You Can’t Tell Me This Makes Sense

I was thinking about things you see on the news, things that just make you scratch your head. They’re always talking about capital punishment, about how we need to make sure it’s a humane death. They’ve got the lethal injection, and they’ve got it all timed out. It’s supposed to be quick, painless, dignified. We spend a lot of time and money making sure the worst person in society, the one who took a life, doesn't feel a moment of suffering on their way out. And you know, a part of you thinks, well, that's what a decent society does. But then you look around.

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You go to a hospital. A cancer ward, maybe. And you see people who have done absolutely nothing wrong. They’re lying in beds, for weeks, months, sometimes years. The pain is relentless. The medications barely touch it. They’re wasting away, hooked up to tubes, and they’re just waiting. They’re waiting for the end, and there’s no dignity to it. It’s a slow, agonizing grind. We make sure a murderer gets a peaceful exit, but we let our own loved ones endure a prolonging of their suffering. What's the deal with that? What's the logic here? It’s completely backwards.

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Maybe we need a little perspective. Maybe we should put webcams in every hospital room with a terminal patient. Real-time footage. No editing, no doctor's notes, just the truth. And then we can show it to people. We can make it mandatory viewing. Every twenty minutes, while you're binging your sci-fi or your romance movie on Netflix, a little clip pops up. A reminder of what a "humane" society looks like. A short clip of a man wincing in pain, or a woman struggling to breathe. Maybe that’s what it will take. Maybe that’s the only way to remind people of the suffering we’re just letting happen behind closed doors. You’d think we'd have better priorities.