Should people be free to decide when they die?

Yesterday Compassion in Dying (CiD) launched a campaign to encourage Brits to think about and record their wishes for future medical care and treatment in case tragedy strikes and they are suddenly unable to make or communicate their own decisions.

This certainly makes perfect sense to me as I for one know I wouldn’t want to continue existing in a state where I wasn’t able to make my own decisions or enjoy a certain quality of life. In these circumstances I’d want my nearest and dearest to flick the switch or remove medical care.

So, all well and good in these circumstances and, as you would expect, CiD presented a number of excellent examples where families have suffered such tragedies and, unfortunately, because wishes had not been recorded they were not able to take the right decisions – Lu Spinney’s son Miles who, in 2005 at the age of 29, suffered a snowboarding accident and was left in a minimally-conscious state. Lindsey Briggs, 39, knew her husband Paul wouldn’t have wanted to be kept alive. Paul, a Gulf War veteran and police officer was also left in a minimally-conscious state at the age of 42 after a motorbike accident. She assumed that after 15 years as his wife she’d be able to speak for him, but without an Advance Decision she wasn’t able to take that all important decision on his behalf.

So, I’m sure we can all agree this is a very sensible and positive campaign and should be supported.

However, it doesn’t go far enough.

The fact is we should all have the choice to die with dignity. Other, more civilised countries, have already taken giant strides in this regard. In many ways Switzerland leads the way but there are many others which put us to shame.

If we decide we would prefer not to continue living it should be a basic right that we are provided with the means to die and, when necessary, be assisted to die.

Somewhere along the line the pendulum regarding the sanctity of life has swung too far in the wrong direction.

If an animal is suffering and deserves to be put out of its misery then that is exactly what we do, but we’re unable to do this for even the closest members of our family.

It’s high time a campaign was launched to change the law and put people back in charge of their own lives.

I covered an incredibly sad story about a man. He wasn’t particularly elderly, n his 60s, who was terminally ill and couldn’t bear the thought of becoming a burden on his family. But, he felt he had no choice but to jump off a multi-storey car park. On this occasion I was the first person on the scene and was able to read the note he still clutched in his hand. It’s desperately sad he didn’t feel other alternatives were available to him. Perhaps even sadder was the single bus ticket found in his pocket. Where he lived there wasn’t a suitable tall building and he realised he wouldn’t need a return.

This is obviously an extreme case but it does highlight the fact people who want to die should be given the opportunity to end their life in the best way possible.

The Argus: Denis Shapovalov

On a lighter note, the weekend was a real mixed bag for me sporting wise.

Birmingham City actually managed to win a game. In the Six Nations opener the fantastic Scots battled their way to a memorable victory over the Irish.

England then defeated Les Bleus and Great Britain secured victory in the Davis Cup after Denis Shapovalov was disqualified for smashing a ball into the eye of the umpire.

However, topping even these remarkable sporting achievements, my hockey side secured a 5-4 win. Now, I’m the first to admit I’m no angel on the pitch but in 40 years of competitive hockey, no matter how rough the game has got, I’ve never been so ungentlemanly as to refuse to shake an opponent’s hand.

You might knock lumps out of each other and exchange terrible abuse throughout the match, but once the game is over you give three cheers and shake hands. Invariably you commiserate and perhaps even admit to your misdemeanours whilst buying your nemesis a pint.

But refusing to shake hands is a low act and not one I’ve encountered in hockey before. Even the Canadian tennis player apologised for his moment of madness and shook the umpire’s hand. It would be wrong of me to identify this player here but I hope that if he thought about it that evening he felt some element of regret, I know I would have done.