The Right To Die

by Tim Zeigdel

Recently one of my heroes Stephen Hawking, who has ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease said, "people with terminal illnesses should be able choose to end their lives and receive help doing so, so long as safeguards are in place."

I grew to admire Stephen Hawking's mind after reading 'A Brief History of Time', 'The Universe in A Nutshell' and a more recent book 'The Grand Design' where with the same gravity Copernicus and Galileo brought forth better understanding of the cosmos, Hawking's gravitas brought the thought that there is no need for a god in a universe that obeys the laws of physics.

I brought up this topic and others with Roy who died of ALS this past June. I was Roy's caregiver for the last year of his life though my care paled in comparison in which his family provided for him, especially his son Josh.

I asked Roy if he believed in a god. He told me at the time he was agnostic leaning towards being an atheist. I could relate. When faced with such a fate the truth of ourselves, our surroundings and our understanding of the universe tends to stick to facts not faith or fancy.

I also brought up the topic of assisted suicide and euthanasia; the latter being done by someone else as in the Latimer case and the former by your own hand with help from a doctor like Dr. Kevorkian.

Roy was going to fight it to the end and he did bravely. In the same situation I don't think I would have. Not after watching him suffer for so long while being buried alive by the cruelty and duration of the disease. And how his suffering weighed on him and his friends and family.

I'm no martyr. I believe in self determination and self deliverance--not in giving a disease or a deity or piety the last word.

I would end my life. And since assisted suicide is not legal, I would have to find a way to die before the disease took my power of movement.

In Quebec like B.C. the right to die debate has been fermenting for years. Quebec like in Washington and Oregon with their Death with Dignity Act, has an assisted suicide bill that is moving forward towards becoming law. Quebec has become the leader in Canada in so many ways these days while British Columbia's Civil Liberties Association appeals the ban on doctor assisted suicide.

It only took a few days after Gloria Taylor was diagnosed with ALS to decide she wanted someone to help her die. Sue Rodriguez also from B.C. wanted to die with help from a physician. Both were wrangled up in court cases over it while their disease slowly and sadistically destroyed them.

Many who are faced with such a fate don't want to break the law but their life like mine is their own and no one, no church or government should dictate or deny their dignity or mine the right to die.

I think we show more mercy to serial killers on death row who get euthanized peacefully. But God forbid a man or a woman should want the same mercy when faced with such a fate; as to spend the last years of your life losing your legs, then your arms, as your head sinks into your shoulders--before being a prisoner in your own body that you can't move but feel every horrible thing while your lungs slowly collapse, leaving you gasping for each breath.