''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