All Hail Hayley

Hayley comes a cropper

There isn’t another story this week.

Is there?

Hayley took control.

You’ve got to hand it to Corrie. They took on the unexplored T of LGBT… usually only presented in a Priscilla Queen of the Desert kind of way.

And now Corrie fave Hayley Cropper brought us the Right to Die issue.

I hope a touch of soap helps broaden the debate as Lord Falconer’s Bill edges its way up the agenda.

So that makes two big YES votes this year for me. (It doesn’t mean I don’t love you all, my English friends.)

And I’m not the only one feeling positive. 90.9% of the people who voted on our Assisted Dying poll said a definite yes to having the right to die. Not a single one opted for ‘probably yes’. 9 out of 10 went for a definite yes. And only 1 in 10 thought ‘probably not’. Not a single ‘definitely not’.

That’s promising.

Keep voting as the year goes on.

Juicy debate: assisted dying

An apple isn’t a watermelon, just because it’s a fruit and has seeds, says Dr David Clive.

The argument isn’t about fruit. It’s about having the right to die. The apple-watermelon analogy is to compare the emotive use of ‘assisted suicide’ rather than his preferred ‘assisted dying’ in the debate.

A guy who jumps off a bridge ends up dead, so the outcome is the same, he suggests, but they are not the same thing.

For someone with a life limiting condition their quality of life may be constantly spiralling – maybe plummeting – downwards.

It doesn’t seem too much to me to afford ourselves choice.

When my dad had his second stroke he asked me if I’d “take him to Switzerland” if things got worse. I said I would. This is a monumental decision to consider – the choice itself is one thing. The stresses for a frail person having to ask for help to physically get there and potentially putting that helper at risk is quite another.

Massachusetts voters will be asked on Tuesday to vote on the “death with dignity” initiative, formally known as Question 2: Prescribing Medication to End Life on the Massachusetts general election ballot.

Hear Dr David Clive, professor of medicine, support the vote in this short film:

I’d like to think we were a mature enough society to make the right choice about this issue and support assisted dying.

What do you think?

Consider the facts – check out A Matter of Facts, an excellent report from Dignity in Dying, on Final Fling. Vote in our poll.

Losing The Will To Live

Tony Nicklinson died this week. Tragic. Just as tragic was the courts denying his right to choose the where, when and how of his death.

Tony Nicklinson

Tony had locked-in syndrome. His quality of life was so diminished that he wanted to go. He didn’t want his family to have to take him to Switzerland. He couldn’t see why, in a civilised society, he couldn’t exercise choice.

It wasn’t an impulse thing. He’d been sure about his choice for 6 years. But it turns out a grown-up of sound mind can’t make these choices. Only people in wigs are allowed.

By all accounts, after the ruling came through, he lost the fight in all ways. Or did he? I suspect he made the bravest of last stands, refusing sustenance to help him on his onward journey.

For those of still able to make personal choices, I really urge, take out an Advance Decision (Advance Directive in Scotland). It gives you some ability to leave instructions and preferences about medical treatment. It’s the closest you get to being in control at a time when you might not otherwise be. Fill it in, print it out, deposit a copy with your GP. Take control.

Barbara @ Final Fling