Saturday 30/12/06

Still not feeling the mae west, so I thought it was not a great idea to try and brave the crowds in this freezing weather.Browsing the net, I read a story which infuriated me, an italian man who had muscular dystrophy and who had spent years battling for the right to die, (probably better to say right not to be kept artificially alive) finally got help on sunday, when a doctor removed his respirator thereby allowing him to die. Now the church has refused him a funeral, and is asking for the doctor to face murder charges. I have just posted this responce on a yahoo blog site;

"I am motivated to write by a couple of recent events. One is the assisted death of Piergiorgio Welby in Rome on Dec 24th, who had been forcefully kept alive for nine years, and the other is the execution of Saddam Hussein this morning. Both men have died, but I can’t see any religious sect, demanding the executioners of Mr Hussein, the men that prepared him and ensured that he died, to be treated as murderers (there are calls for the doctor who assisted Mr Welby to be charged with murder).

Which person has been treated with more dignity, the dictator who wrought havoc on so many, or the man paralysed by muscular dystrophy, who had lapsed into a coma in 1997 and had been forcefully and artificially kept alive since then? It is cases like this, which sadly reveal just how much we are still shackled by the dreary beliefs of religious cults, whose powerful influence is far from gone.

Put people back in control of their own lives, with the knowledge and certainty, that the buck stops with them on all accounts, and that they do not have to act like the puppets of life, but rather with the poise of a scriptwriter.Sometimes you have to ask yourself what kind of a society we live in ! A society with mixed up beliefs and misplaced values, that debatedly treats animals with more respect, dignity and compassion than any of us mere humans whose bodies are going to pot, and looking on the bright side can only get worse!

Recently I spent a morning in a meeting with the local doctor, various nurses, occupational therapist and reps from the irish wheelchair association and health board. Myself and my youngest brother have the great fortune of having the progressively debilitating disease Friedreich's ataxia, which slowly robs you of all independence and dignity, so today at 31 I was asked if I have objections to going into a nursing home for a period of time while my mother is alive, to give her a respite break, and longterm if she kicks the bucket in the morning ! This question didn't faze me in the slightest. It's a nightmare reality which I have been anticipating since I was 15.

I am at the stage now where I view death as the inevitable companion of life, but it annoys me so much that the country is full to overflowing with nursing homes full of the "living" dead, whose primary intention is to protract life at any (and usually a debt inducing) cost. If a dog or other pet was seriously sick, the owner would be almost obliged to bring him/her to a vet, and have their suffering ended, and therein lies the crux of my problem. Now I have a lot of fight left, but its outrageous to me that someone can be stripped of their personal power, and control over their own body and destiny, in order forcibly acquiesce with a legal system which was shaped by an ideology which says suffer suffer suffer and get your reward in your eternal life. Well nuts to that, jesus himself only suffered for a few hours!

Thankfully we are begining to wake up, and realise the importance of not expecting all of us to follow the same old tired formula. I believe very much in the good in people and life, just not life at all costs!"

(apologies, I know the last bit is a rehashed previous entry, but I physically can't type for very long, but the sentiments are the same!)