Letter: I strongly oppose assisted suicide

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

I strongly oppose assisted suicide. I would like to share my experience of living with a chronic illness. It has been 23 years since I was first diagnosed. The condition is managed well with medication, individuals have a normal life expectancy. However in 2022, I developed reactions to the newer brands because of toxicity levels. I wrote extensively about the newer brands and their side effects. This somehow placed me in a very precarious and unpopular position with health care providers. It seemed like I was being a bother. I have experienced situations where healthcare and advice has been withheld. I was referred to a hospice, I thought the referral was to manage symptoms with access to a community nurse, little did I know that my death warrant was in progress. I was shocked when a doctor and nurse from the hospice paid me a home visit to discuss end of life options. I very clearly told the doctor and nurse that I wanted to explore all options to prolong life. The doctor and nurse gave me a 'prescription' in their words to 'manage' my symptoms and to ease a cough I had. Little did I know that the prescription was an opioid which would have led to my death in seven days. If I did not know about opioids I would have died.

Decisions about who lives and who dies have been in play for a while especially in the cases of the vulnerable and unknowledgeable. These decisions are being made by healthcare professionals, in some instances to silence certain patients who know too much and some because of the burden and cost of long term treatment.

In my opinion passing the bill for assisted suicide is a recipe for disaster and unimaginable tragedy left in the hands of health care providers, relatives of vulnerable people and patients themselves who feel like they are a burden.

In this world there will be suffering, sickness is part of that suffering, as a Christian we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, He is our role model. He suffered the worst kind of suffering when He was crucified on the Cross. Jesus didn't have to, He could have called on angels to bear Him up, but He finished His race and His mission. Whilst on the Cross in His final moments, Jesus forgave one of the thieves that were crucified with Him. At the last minute the thief found salvation. I believe that our lives also have the ability to minister to others even in our final moments whether by the way we carry ourselves to the end, or by word of encouragement to those around us or to nurses and doctors. I believe that our lives are not over until God who is the Only Giver and Taker of life says so. He can use our life until the end to minister to others so that they too find salvation. I think it is selfish on the part of those who choose to end the lives willingly, and those who withhold treatment and advice and the lives of patients - like health care professionals because the patient is deemed a burden, or a waste of resources.

Everyone no matter gender, colour, ethnicity, creed, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect until the very end. In fact it is an honour to accompany individuals in their final moments, for others it is the only time they may experience reconciliation, with the Father and in being filled with a sense of hope.

I sincerely hope and pray those in authority will abstain from passing this bill. It truly is a recipe for disaster.

Linda Rose

If any reader is affected by this subject and would like to talk with someone - please call the Samaritans on 116 123 or CALM or 0800 58 58 58. Both are there 24 hours a day.