In a newly-produced short film, Philip Nitschke argues for a non-medical model to replace the medical model for a self-controlled death. His argument is compelling. If we have a right to a self-controlled death, we should not have to ask permission from doctors to honor that right. As he has said, “You don’t have to be a doctor to understand dying.”
A recent article in the Washington Post produced by Kaiser Health News and written by Melissa Bailey asserts that openly discussing a self-controlled death, no matter how rational the discussion, is viewed by some people as “subversive” or, at least, out of the ordinary or suspect.
Asunción Álvarez del Río, PhD, a FEN member in Mexico City, reports on the status of aid in dying in Spain.
Recently, Derek Humphry wrote about the words we use to discuss end-of-life concerns in the US, focusing on the appropriateness of the term “suicide.” He did so, in part, to stimulate a discussion about the words we use. Like Humphry, I have no personal problem with the use of the term suicide–it accurately describes death by our own hand–but I resist it for several reasons.
