People have been fighting for the legal “right to die” for decades now. Assisted suicide (which, in another time, perhaps another place, God Blogging thinks might have been called homicide) is now legal in Oregon and Washington and Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in September on a case that could lead to that gorgeous state becoming the third to allow assisted suicide. And as everyone knows, Switzerland is a haven for those wanting to chose the time of their own deal, being home to Dignitas in Zurich, which charges a mere $7,000 to put the terminally ill out of their misery. Or, as was the case earlier this month, put a relatively healthy elderly man to death just because he asked.

Protestor supporting assisted suicide in the Northwest; Creative Commons

Folks may not be paying attention to what happened to Sir Edward Downes, but they should, because his case further clouds the waters surrounding the murky practice of assisted suicide. Downes, 85, nearly blind and “increasingly” deaf but otherwise healthy, was allowed to hold hands with his wife, who had terminal cancer, while they each drank a “small quantity of clear liquid” that killed them both. Normally, assisted suicide, when and where it is allowed, is sanctioned only in cases of terminal illness and grave pain. Oregon, which has had the practice for a decade, has a series of stringent requirements someone must meet before being allowed a prescription for “lethal medications,” most important of which is proving they have a terminal illness that will kill them within six months. But Dignitas pushes for death on demand, believing that everyone has the right to personal autonomy. Ergo, they agreed to what was essentially a suicide pact between Downes and his wife.

Downes, a former conductor of Britain’s Royal Opera and a world-renown composer, was simply suffering – if it can be called that – the effects of old age, and, it appears, from a surfeit of fear. He did not want to live in a world that did not include his wife. Let’s unpack this a little, shall we? (more…)