By Stephen McGinty
THE scene is the epitome of suburbia. An elderly woman with the merest hint of a blue rinse stands at the kitchen table and rolls out a clear plastic bag which the casual viewer might assume is designed to hold a chicken or turkey but is, in fact, for the human head.
The short documentary, complete with background music more suitable for a 1970s public information film on road safety, was made in Australia and details a DIY death. “It’s like an outsized oven bag,” explains the octogenarian host about the home-made “suicide hood” designed to be used in conjunction with a drug overdose. “One size fits all heads. And if you want to look nice, make sure you visit the hairdressers as it can mess up your hair.”
Watching the footage on the internet and joking about its kitsch manner is Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP who suffers from the degenerative condition, Parkinson’s Disease, and who has filmed a documentary for BBC Scotland, to be broadcast tonight. My Right To Die explores the politician’s journey from support of assisted suicide, but opposition to legalised euthanasia, to finally embracing the option of doctors helping their patients to die. The arrival of a “suicide hood” in a plain padded envelope marked “Orchid accessory” at her office in the Scottish Parliament marks one step closer to her new position. Tearing it open on air, her humour is replaced by horror at the prospect of drawing one’s last breath under its clear plastic skin.
As Margo explains, euthanasia or an assisted suicide is not a path she expects to go down; what she wants is the option, the peace of mind that comes from knowing that if her condition and health becomes intolerable, there is a way out. “It’s the prescription on the mantelpiece,” she explains. “I don’t know if I would use it, I don’t want to have to use it, but I do want the reassurance that comes from knowing that it is there.”
The law, as it currently stands, is quite clear in offering no such option. Under the Suicide Act 1961, aiding or abetting a suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment, although no-one has recently been prosecuted. Dr Michael Irwin, a GP, was struck off for admitting that he was prepared to help a friend die.
In Europe other options exist. The Dignitas clinic in Zurich offers facilities for the terminally ill to kill themselves but they must still have the motor control to raise a cup containing a fatal dose of drugs to their mouth then swallow. Over 100 people from Britain have already done so, paying GBP 3,000 to end their life, while hundreds more have made contact and plan to go in the future. Among those contemplating a visit to Dignitas is Valerie Mackay from Perth, who has a very aggressive form of MS. She tells MacDonald in the documentary how she may have to go while still not ready but able to lift a cup rather than wait until it is too late. As she said: “My son has to help me to the toilet. That just shouldn’t be. I have no privacy at all. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I’m not like a lot of people who were born disabled. I’ve had 40- odd years of a normal life. But that’s finished now. It’s over.”
Ms Mackay’s favoured option would be the system now in place in Holland. For the past eight years, euthanasia has been legal. The Dutch system involves a suffering patient being under the supervision of a doctor for at least 18 months before being allowed to end their own life. The rule is designed to ensure that no-one is allowed to end their life for no good medical reason. Since the law changed, an average of 2,000 people each year kill themselves, with a GP assisting a patient, on average, to die once every 18 months. The fact that the annual figure has not increased over the past eight years is taken by supporters as proof that the fears of opponents, of the old and ill being bullied into accepting euthanasia, are ungrounded.
Yet in Britain, there is a lack of support among the medical establishment. The BMA attracted controversy a few years ago when they moved their position from opposition to being neutral towards the idea. However, they quickly moved back to opposing euthanasia.
In the documentary, MacDonald meets Dr Sheila McGettrick at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow who argues against the idea. She said: “I deal with hundreds of dying people every year. They talk about being a burden to their families and wanting to end it all. But what they’re really looking for is an affirmation of their worth.”
It is a position supported by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, a friend of MacDonald’s distressed to hear her talking of wanting to be able to end her life. As the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh said: “I thought, ‘How can Margo think like that?’ I love and respect her so much. Life is a gift from Almighty God. If he can give it, he can take that gift from us. But we can’t say, ‘God, I am finished with it. I can’t cope with cancer or Parkinson’s’.”
Yet the politician believes the question of how our life ends will continue to be asked as our population ages.
During the investigation, she discovered that a growing number of people had tracked down and were storing the drug, Nembutal, used by vets to put down animals. While some people acquire it via the internet, the drug is also available over the counter in Mexico. Dr Michael Irwin, now a campaigner for the right to die, plans to purchase the drug and then declare the reason for its use when he arrives back in Britain.
The practice of assisted suicide has been touched upon at Holyrood, where Lib Dem MSP Jeremy Purvis failed in an attempt to bring forward a private member’s bill on the issue. A similar bid in England, with the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill (ADTI), was blocked by the Lords in 2006. Both bills proposed legalising doctor-assisted death for the terminally ill – meaning a doctor writes a prescription at the patient’s request and the patient chooses whether or not to use it.
This autumn, MacDonald plans to revisit the issue in an attempt to introduce laws similar to Holland in Scotland. She explained: “The beginning of life is a reserved matter – the issue of abortion cannot be tackled by the Scottish Parliament but they left the other end of life open.” She adds with a chuckle: “Death is devolved.”
(c) 2008 Scotsman, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Comments