Voluntary Euthanasia - Live & Let Die

I find myself thinking about death a lot and in light of the recent elections to take place in Australia I was indeed surprised to find Dr Philip Nitschke running for candidate for the recently registered Voluntary Euthanasia Party. Interestingly enough, of all places in Australia he will be running for candidacy it will be my former hometown - why do I always seem to miss out on all the fun?

While I wouldn't exactly call myself an active admirer I do, for the most part, at least appreciate a lot of Dr Nitschke's work in (previously?) assisting people with their ambition to die by their own terms. I absolutely believe in the right for a person to be able to take their own life if they so wish, particularly in cases where they are terminally ill or of old age.

It has always been perplexing to me that when a beloved pet is very sick, the distraught owners are generally faced with the reality that their loved one will be euthanised as per the recommendation of the vetenarian, and nobody blinks an eye over this. The dying animal is put down out of compassion so it no longer has to live its live in pain and suffering - seems logical, right? And yet it boggles the mind that a human is for some reason denied this same courtesy and people have had to resort to travelling to as far as Switzerland in order to achieve their goal.

Furthermore, people seem completely okay with executing murderers and rapists, at least in some states of America and other parts of the world, and yet put on their moral top-hat when it comes to euthanasia/assisted suicide. Why do the two topics have to be mutually exclusive from one another? It still involves legally terminating a persons existence, does it not? Why is there so much stigma associated with euthanasia, if not for reasons that our laws are outdated and that people generally tend to avoid the issue.

A Parliament is supposed to "represent the conscience of a nation" so I would strongly suggest they start acting the part and listen to the increasing demand that is growing by activists across the globe. What about all the poor sods who are unable or cannot afford to travel to Switzerland? The fact that these people are living in agony and depression every day, shitting in their pants and deprived of any sense of self-respect and dignity is okay on your conscience so long as you know that you didn't contribute to their much desired death?

This is a profoundly sensitive decision that should absolutely not be taken lightly, and as per the current locations where it is legal (Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) it should be very carefully regulated and administered. After watching several of these videos on Youtube I remain only further convinced that all of the people who euthanised themselves were not under any sort of duress or influence and appear to have carefully thought out their decision - and were even happy about it. The beautiful aspect about these cases is that their family was able to make preparations in advance, and oftentimes they had some kind of ceremonial farwell. What is so wrong about that? How is this in any way a bad thing?

Take for example a recent case in England where a man suffering from 'locked-in' syndrome (basically paralyzed from the neck down) who had appealed to the courts and was sadly denied, in the end he had to resort to starving himself.

Regarding this particular topic, I honestly don't believe governments are deliberately sabotaging us and our rights, I just think we need to re-examine our priorities and current laws to make some changes. After watching all of these videos and reading articles of how much these people suffered and how much anguish they went through I am left feeling absolutely exhausted, both mentally and physically, though at least I possess the right to curl into the fetal position and stare at the wall until sleep hopefully takes me.