''Martin''

The big 'S'.


SUICIDE. Or specifically in this case, assisted suicide.


Such a controversial topic, there are many opinions and many factors to consider. Now, I am only referring to assisted suicide in the case where a health professional aids a terminally ill patient in speeding up their death. Here in England this is of course illegal.


The big question on everyone's mind nowadays is not the arguments for or against assisted suicide, but it's the arguments for or against the law on this being interfered with due to special cases. One of the biggest 'grey' areas surrounding this matter is the ability of these patients and their families to travel to places such as Switzerland (where assisted suicide is legal) without being prosecuted.


Let's talk about ''Martin''. Now ''Martin'' is a man who suffers from the locked-in syndrome. This is a syndrome that strips a person from their ability to move their limbs so movement sometimes is limited to simple eye movement and/or limited speech. Essentially you are 'locked' in your body, and in the case of England you are forced to stay that way until death creeps up upon you naturally. A heart-breaking condition.


Now ''Martin'' is a man who would have liked to have the power to chose when to end his life and would have gone to any means to do so, even if it meant travelling abroad to Switzerland, Dignitas (assisted suicide centre). As I said before the law states that assisted side is illegal, however the question is how does it affect family members who somewhat aid these patients in travelling to such places? To sort this out ''Martin'' did in fact 'manage to persuade two of three appeal court judges that the law on assisted suicide needs further clarification'. The Supreme Court is now being looked at for final clarity surrounding this topic.


One of the most powerful statements I have heard on this topic is 'This is not about denying people the right to take their own lives, but about making legal the act of taking someone else's'.

This is a new way of looking at it and it's made me thing of the criteria of a murderer. Now in the eyes of the law euthanasia provided by a doctor e.g. active euthanasia (for instance deliberately injecting a patient with lethal drugs) is seen as manslaughter.

So my question to you is, is assisted suicide then manslaughter?

Is relieving your mother/father/daughter etc from endless pain and suffering by helping them in ending their life manslaughter?


Let me know what you all think. Comment below or e-mail me. Thanks for reading!

Food for thought:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23520391

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/nov/18/assisted-suicide-dignitas-house

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22198464

Saving Lewisham

It's been announced! The high court has 'quashed' the decisions made by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to cut services such as the maternity and A&E departments at Lewisham hospital. 

Many believe that this idea was proposed by Hunt in order to save costs with a neighbouring south London trust - which Lewisham aren't even part of. This is the main reason why so many are furious with this proposal, and who could blame them? A lot of people have also said that Lewisham is a well performing hospital and believe that it would be simply unlawful to carry out any further with Hunt's idea (as stated by the High court judge himself).

Under political pressures Hunt was found to be 'acting outside his powers' in the sense that he was essentially making Lewisham pay for the financial crisis it's neighbours were in. 

What I find strange is the idea of closing the A&E as it would mean that patients would have to travel to other hospitals, and as we all know A&E departments have been struggling with meeting waiting deadlines and this would just make matters worse. It would jeopardise the health of patients, and after all isn't the patient the priority?  

...But anyway, the good news is this idea has been dismissed! 

From the help of local organisations such as 'Save Lewisham' awareness has been spread to the public which has led to many of them campaigning against Hunt's idea for the past year. Today marks a significant day for many residents of South London, and after their months of protesting they can be proud that their community-led campaigns have triumphed. 

I'd love to here your take on this story. Comment, e-mail, whatever - go for it! :)

Here are some interesting articles on the topic:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/jeremy-hunt-lewisham-hospital-unlawful

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/08/plans-dissolve-nhs-trust-anger-hospital

http://www.savelewishamhospital.com/latest-news/victory-for-lewisham-hospital-as-high-court-quashes-jeremy-hunts-decision/

Let Me Introduce Myself.

So... My first post.

Hello.
I've had this blog set up for a while actually, but I never really used it much and so I decided to turn it into something useful (which it hopefully will be). I'm a sixth former and I'm applying for medicine for the 2014 entry (fingers crossed). I hope to blog about anything and everything that crosses my path on my way to med school.

I've always enjoyed writing and medicine is something I'd love to spend my life doing. I've found out so far that there's SO many opportunities and experiences to be learnt from so I figured, hey, why not write about it? There's so many stories to be told and this is where I will share them.

I hope you all enjoy reading my blog as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy writing it.