Many commuters who passed through the London underground railway stations in the last two weeks were surprised and shocked by seeing posters placed by an organization named Dignity in Dying. In one of those posters, a woman in a striped pink and white pajama is seen dancing in the kitchen saying, “My dying wish is my family won’t see me suffer and I won’t have to”. This advertisement features Sophie Blake, a terminally ill breast cancer patient.
These posters were part of a campaign to support the legalization of assisted dying. Dignity in Dying has clarified that their campaign has featured real people who want a change in the law on assisted dying, either because they are terminally ill and enjoy the choice, or because their loved ones wanted the option, but were denied it.
A private member’s bill on assisted death proposed by a Labour MP will be discussed in the British Parliament today. While MPs are still deciding on their position on the bill, many of the polls conducted indicate the majority in the country favoring assisted death.
This has once again brought issues around Euthanasia to global attention. Euthanasia is illegal in all 50 states of the US. But passive euthanasia wherein patients can refuse medical treatment and receive pain management, which might hasten death is legal there.
Passive euthanasia is legal in India too in certain circumstances though active euthanasia is still illegal. The Indian Supreme Court has laid down guidelines for passive euthanasia to ensure it is carried out with proper consent and oversight. Even when passive euthanasia is permitted in some countries, whether we can romanticize death through advertisements is a question many people are asking.
The Assisted Dying Bill was introduced first in 2021 in the British Parliament and was intended to legalize assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill, mentally competent adults in their final stage of life. However, some conditions are attached to this. Two independent doctors and a High Court judge should certify that the individual requesting death is over 18, terminally ill with six months or less to live, and fully mentally competent. A prescription for life-ending medication would then be granted, which the individual could take at a time and place of their choice.
The posters in the London underground at many places were covered later by activists with posters of Samaritans – an organization that works for suicide prevention. Critics feel these ad campaigns are inappropriate especially when Britain’s National Health Services and Palliative Care systems are in crisis and many youths are struggling with just minimum wages. The venue of these posters has also been found inappropriate by critics as dozens of people attempt to take their lives on the London Underground every year.
Dignity in Dying argues that up to 650 terminally ill people end their own lives every year in the UK, often in lonely and traumatic ways. Therefore, legalizing assisted death will allow them to make their choices in a legal and regulated way.
In countries where passive euthanasia is allowed, it involves a doctor prescribing life-ending medications to a patient with a terminal illness. Patients must have a terminal illness and less than six months to live. Patients should also be mentally healthy, have approval from multiple doctors, and affirm the request multiple times.
Global opinion on euthanasia has always been polarized and strong. Some believe that human life is sacred and should not be taken, except in self-defense. Most religions believe that life is a gift from God and only God should decide when to end it. Many people are concerned about the consequences when euthanasia is made legal. They think that if euthanasia is made legal, it could be abused and people who don’t want to die would be killed.
Support for both active and passive euthanasia is also huge across the globe. The supporters feel Euthanasia allows patients to die with dignity, instead of slowly deteriorating from disease. It also allows patients to have their autonomy and choice. Some patients who are already in a vegetative state often continue to receive futile treatments. Euthanasia could prevent such unnecessary treatments. It can also relieve both caregiving relatives and the health care system itself from the burden of care and free up scarce resources. Supporters also assert that death is a private matter, and the state should not interfere in it.
Elizabeth Kubler Rose who did extensive research on people who die through terminal illness favored their slow, natural death. In her book On Death and Dying she delineated the “stages” of death of a terminally ill person as denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She postulated that this is a process all dying patients must be allowed to go through till they die naturally. But supporters of assisted death argue for shortening the process of dying and allowing the patients to exit as early as they can!
Amidst debates and moral postures on whether Euthanasia is right or wrong, the new issue that has come up is whether we should romanticize assisted death. The most romantic statement on death came from the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo who is one of the most influential painters of the twentieth century. She wrote as a caption of her final drawing of a black angel – possibly death “I joyfully await the exit – and I hope never to return.” Kahlo died due to a terminal illness at the age of 47. While people wait fingers crossed for the closure of the debate on assisted suicide in the British parliament, the big question that remains is “Can we advertise, romanticize, and fast-track death?”
Kandathil Sebastian is a social scientist and author based in New Delhi
