Wednesday 6 August 2014

EuthoNOsia No to giving this word legal status

On Sunday, walking down towards the gate, I looked carefully at  the old chestnut trees which are diseased and getting weaker each year.  In the past I have walked past them thinking that maybe we should chop them down and replant with new trees but this Sunday with the sun filtering through them I saw just how beautiful they still were.
It made me wonder if we are giving enough thought to the debate about euthanasia and if we are about to let this word become a law which means it is a live option.  Euthanasia would be on the menu….discussions with the family doctor would include it, this treatment or that treatment or have you considered euthanasia Mr Jones?
Once upon a time we didn't know what salt and pepper squid was but once it was on the menu, it became a tasty option and euthanasia could be like that if it became legal, it could be an idea to roll around in the mind and wonder if it would be best for me or him or this Granny or that.

Well, let me say now that if the option was there, we might stop being careful with our bodies, we might not continue to polish our shoes and turn ourselves out bravely, we might just say, on a bad day, 'bring on the pills and the plastic bag and let's end it'.  But now there is good palliative care which means that to the very last breath we should be able to keep as comfortable as possible. But if euthanasia becomes an active option, that idea of proper palliative care could be downgraded.
Is there anyone out there who would help to start  a No to legalising Euthanasia campaign, a EuthaNOsia campaign because if there is, I would love your help.  I would like us to share the good that we have known through looking after someone right to the very last breath, right to the fall of the very last leaf.

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