Dignity in death

His exploration of this moral maze precipitated the BBC’s controversial documentary this week on assisted suicide, a programme which showed the death of a millionaire hotelier and motor neurone disease sufferer at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. It was deeply moving as the television cameras filmed Peter Smedley taking a lethal dose of barbiturates to prematurely end his life.

The plight of dementia victims, or individuals suffering from terminal illnesses, is one reason why individuals like Bradford multiple sclerosis campaigner Debbie Purdy have gone to such extraordinary legal lengths to clarify the law on this complex issue. They do not want to suffer unduly from a prolonged death. Equally, they do not want their loved ones to suffer the emotional heartbreak that this entails – or, potentially, fall foul of the law at a later date.

Yet, as political thinking on this issue evolves, David Cameron’s government, and future administrations, will have to come to terms with the consequences of an ageing society. They cannot remain in denial about this reality.

However, the debate should not just revolve around the issue of assisted death. It should be remembered that Britain’s hospices, and carers, do unheralded work to help the terminally ill.

In the interests of balance and perspective, this needs to be recognised – perhaps with a debate about whether it is morally right, in spite of the coalition’s spending cuts, for the hospice movement to be so financially dependent on public donations rather than state funding.