(Editor’s note: The following is by distinguished guest author Derek Humphry, author of Final Exit and several other books on the right to die, and co-founder of both Final Exit Network and its predecessor, The Hemlock Society. — KTB)
It’s fashionable to use euphemisms for elderly suicide, self-deliverance and doctor-assisted suicide. Old-age self-killing is now called completed life. The arguments for and against are already laid out in dozens of articles and books, almost entirely by academics and physicians. Thus, I will summarize mine here as a 90-year-old lay person.
For a person over 70 who has declining health and scant happiness, it is logical to end their life if they so wish. Each person must decide for themselves, not go with a trend or somebody else’s persuasion.
Suicide in not a crime, nor is it such a disgrace as it was in older times, provided there is a reason. I do not think completed life should be a reason that is sanctioned or advocated by right-to-die organizations.
Life is a personal responsibility, thus whether a person hangs on to the inevitable end depends on individual medical circumstances, personal ethics and each person’s values regarding quality of life. But to have that choice in what I call self-deliverance requires thinking and planning ahead. Many persons do not do so until it is too late or they are trapped in a nursing home or hospital.
Over my 40 years of personal and lawful involvement in the movement for choices in dying, scores of people have begged me for help to die and I had no alternative in their particular circumstances but to say, “Sorry, but you’ve left it too late.” Too many people want to lean on you instead of deciding for themselves in advance.
Nowadays we have broad public acceptance of assisted dying for those who are end-stage terminally ill and the hopelessly degeneratively ill – provided it is their rational choice.
In my opinion, it is a step too far to offer assisted dying to the elderly or mentally ill. Outsiders cannot see into the minds of such requesters. What is their motive? Is their thinking balanced? What does their family think? What is the true state of their finances and their financial legacy? Especially in such a litigious country as America, potential legal problems abound.
If an elderly person simply no longer wishes to live, then they must end it themselves, preferably by planning ahead and advising close family and friends of their intentions so as to reduce the shock when it occurs.
Recently my 82 year old sister committed suicide with a plastic bag. She was close to being dependent on others in order to live and she apparently told family members who lived near her (I don’t) that if she ever got to where her choice was a nursing home she would kill herself. And when she reached that point in her mind she ended her life. It’s a loss and a shame but I totally respect her decision.
Here is a chapter on the same subject:
Completed Life or Premature Death?
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark—freelibrary-3puxk/CY-CLPD.html
Derek,
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts on the “completed life” issue. As always, your frank , direct expression of your opinion is a welcomed stimulus for our consideration of this key topic in the end-of-life movement. I expect that it will provoke lots of lively discussion and lead to healthy give and take.