RITA JANE writes:

People who are advocates of euthanasia ignore something fundamental: those of us who are in pain hear a lot that our lives have no value. I have lost count of how many times people have told me that in my situation (chronic, intractable pain), they’d just kill themselves. Of course, before I got sick, I’d have thought the same thing. We humans are woefully incapable of imagining lives other than our own. And yet, despite my illness, I have a good life. My husband adores me; I’m close to family and friends, and I do interesting and socially productive work within my limitations, even if I’m never going to be fit enough to make a huge impact on society.

And yet people, including medical personnel, regularly tell me my life isn’t worth living, or that seeking incremental improvements in my condition isn’t worthwhile, since we’ll never eliminate the condition. Nobody makes the decision to commit suicide in a vacuum, and it takes a resilient person to withstand this nonsense, particularly when it comes from people you care about. And if I were obviously deformed, or more severely ill or deteriorating, that attitude would be even more felt.

This goes doubly for children. When I became sick in my teens, it was a huge financial and emotional strain on my parents, which was quite obvious to me. It was a huge burden on my brother too, who missed out on a lot of parenting and shouldered much of the burden of household chores which I should have shared. This isn’t to criticize them; they all accepted this with good grace. But I shudder to think that a suffering child, eager to please and feeling guilty, will tick the “not to be” box, particularly if the surrounding culture or her own parents affirm that this is good and reasonable.

Please follow and like us: