Having read all the current arguments for and against the introduction of assisted dying into UK law, I want to offer you some short and personal thoughts based on my own experience of death and dying.
Both my parents died after long and debilitating illnesses. My Dad died at home with palliative care and my Mum died in a nursing home with regular professional care. These were not quick deaths and involved significant suffering along the way. As a family we accompanied them both until the end. We all grieved and were also relieved when they eventually died. In that sharing of the journey of our parents my brothers and sister grew closer; we formed a circle of loving kindness around them, and we loved them to the end.
The knowledge that we shared in their final steps in life and loved them to the end remains a huge bond between us as a family, a bond that also extends into our wider family and friends. The idea of administering a lethal injection to them in their vulnerability would have been abhorrent to us as a family and would have left us guilty, depressed and fragmented into the future.
The choice for assisted dying is not an individual choice. We are woven into a mesh of life, interdependent and the sacred mystery of each life needs to be cherished, even when surrounded by suffering.
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