Euthanasia

Writer Arthur Koestler chose death when he thought that his productive life was over. He was suffering from Parkinson’s disease as well as leukaemia. He was a member of an organisation called Exit which supported people’s “right to die with dignity.” Koestler was 77 when he gulped down an overdose of barbiturate tablets. He didn’t want to continue the agony of his existence. I defend his decision to end his life with dignity.

But I don’t accept what his wife Cynthia did. She was in her 50s when she chose to die along with her husband. She loved him so much. That was the reason. Was it necessary to end her life just because her beloved man was dying? I don’t want to judge her. Maybe, she would find life unbearable without her man. She could have given it a try, I think.

I defend euthanasia with my whole heart in cases like Koestler’s. But not in those like Cynthia’s. When one is suffering from a terminal illness and it is certain that there is no chance of recovery at all, one should be given the freedom to end one’s life. There should be dignity in death too. I would hate to lie in a bed in utter helplessness and hopelessness, depending on someone else for everything. I would embrace death gladly in such a situation. I must be assisted to die with ease.

Why are we so hypocritical when it comes to euthanasia? We pretend to love life and defend it when our statistics speak quite something else.

Globally 800,000 people kill themselves every year. Half that number are killed by others.

150,000 Indians die on the roads every year. There are about 1130 accidents and 422 deaths taking place every day on the Indian roads. That is, 47 accidents and 18 deaths every hour.

WHO informs us that 3 million deaths happen every year from harmful use of alcohol.

We don’t even know how many farmers commit suicide in India now. In 2016, India erased those statistics from its records. Since the number of farmers choosing death became inconvenient for the government, the National Crime Records Bureau was asked to delete farmer suicides from its reports.

It is much easier to make euthanasia legal. Just shed hypocrisy instead of crocodile tears.

I know one evil does not mitigate or justify another. My point, however, is that allowing those who wish to put an end to their life due to valid reasons needn’t shock us in a world where deaths are taking place by the thousands every second. I know the practice of euthanasia can be misused. We can only prevent the misuses as much as possible. Isn’t alcohol misused? Do we ban alcohol because of that? Aren’t vehicles misused? Isn’t technology misused? We continue to use vehicles and technology, nevertheless.

Death is inevitable. It can be as absurd as in the case of the Greek writer Aeschylus. The great man was sitting in the open air when an eagle mistook his head for a rock and dropped the tortoise it was carrying right on to the writer’s head. The eagle’s intention was to get the tortoise shell broken. But it cost the life of one of the finest tragedians of Greece.

Death can come in any guise. There is no harm in letting people choose a dignified version of it if they prefer.

The death of Aeschylus illustrated in the 15th century Florentine Picture Chronicle by Maso Finiguerra

PS. This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023

Yesterday’s: DOGmatism

Tomorrow: Friendship