UK (ChattahBox) – Sir Terry Pratchett, the author of the Discworld series and other bestselling novels, has stepped forward in favor of assisted suicide laws.
Pratchett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and has spoken about the need for assisted suicide for the chronically ill before.
In a keynote speech titled “Shaking Hands With Death”, the writer called for the set up of tribunals that would help to determine if someone with a fatal illness was of sound mind, and then helping them to end their lives with a doctor’s aid.
“At the moment if someone assists someone else to commit suicide in this country or elsewhere they become suspect to murder until the police decide otherwise,” he said in a recent interview with the BBC.
“I think it would be rather better if a person wishes to die, they could go see the tribunal with friends and relatives and present their case – at least if it happens, it happens with, as it were, authority.
“It seems sensible to me that we should look to the medical profession, that over the centuries has helped us to live longer and healthier lives, to help us die peacefully among our loved ones in our own home without a long stay in God’s waiting room.”
from: http://chattahbox.com/entertainment/2010/02/01/terry-pratchett-makes-move-for-assisted-suicide-rights/
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