Kim Leadbeater, who introduced her assisted dying bill in the Commons yesterday, has said it’s all about the safeguards. Well, no, it’s not. It’s about a clash of irreconcilable principles. On the one hand, there’s Kim’s contention that “too many people have been condemned to die in misery and pain”. In other words, we’re talking personal autonomy which is in many respects a valuable aspiration.
On the other, there’s the contention that death should not be on the list of options that we offer people with terminal illness, or, come to that, degenerative conditions or mental illness or just loneliness and pain. By opening up the possibility that suicide is one of our life choices — or rather, end of life choices — we change fundamentally and forever our relationships with each other; between parent and child, between patient and physician, the individual and society. It’s not just about you, or you. It’s about us all.
