“Not a ghoul but an angel of compassion”
20 April 2011
On 17 April 2011, an article entitled “Who is to judge which lives are worth living?” written by Barbara Ellen appeared in “The Observer”. Following is what two members of DIGNITAS wrote to the editor, whereby giving permission to DIGNITAS to publish their letter:
From: G.S. Burnett & M. Svanderlik
Sent: 18 April 2011 13:24:24
To:
Subject: Letters to the Editor
Sir,
We must assume that Barbara Ellen (‘Who is to judge which lives are worth living?’) is not stupid; in which case, her thoughtless piece on assisted suicide is a disgrace to a serious newspaper and certainly no useful contribution to what is an important, contemporary debate. Ms Ellen confuses the issue by using the term, ‘euthanasia’ (literally “a good death”) which, while technically encompassing both what we would call ‘mercy killing’ and ‘assisted suicide’, is commonly understood to mean the former, the termination of the life of another, in extremis, but without consent. This is highly tendentious and pollutes the current debate, which is principally about people’s right to die when they choose, and to receive any necessary assistance to this end. To our knowledge, Terry Pratchett has never said or written anything that categorises the lives of others as “not worth living” and therefore eligible for termination. To associate his name with such a view is to vilify a wonderful writer with a fearful disease who is nobly and altruistically campaigning for the rights of others like him to end their days with dignity, at a time of their own choosing.
In imagining herself with “something nasty” (how belittling this is as a description of Alzheimer’s Disease, as if it were diarrhoea or a boil) Ms Ellen opines: “The hope is that I’ll choose.” Exactly so. That is only what all the leaders of the current campaign are seeking: an individual’s right to choose the point of his or her own death – acknowledged by the European Court of Human Rights, as recently as January this year, as an inalienable ‘human right’. No-one is crusading for the introduction of mercy killing.
And to refer, en passant, to Ludwig Minelli, the prime mover behind DIGNITAS, as a “ghoul” is to defame a gentle, elderly lawyer who has given up what should have been his years of retirement and repose, to try to help relieve the appalling suffering of others. He is not a ghoul but an angel of compassion.
Ms Ellen’s witless scaremongering has no place in The Observer; we suggest you point her in the direction of the Daily Mail or The Sun, where her ill-informed and odious posturing will seem less conspicuous.
Yours faithfully,
G.S. Burnett & M. Svanderlik
Proud, fully paid-up UK members of DIGNITAS
London
