Euthanasia

and in Europe. Sorry, bad pun.

A French jury has shown that common sense is not lacking among the common people, when they refused to jail, or take away the license of, a medical doctor who performed euthanasia on her patient.

I wish the interfering nannies who brought the lawsuit would mind their own wretched business. The family supported the doctor's actions, so they didn't have a problem with her administering euthanasia. The patient was terminally ill, and certainly ought to have the right to end her life as she saw fit.

I do understand that there will be unscrupulous people who will try to hurry the AgedPs along in the hope of inheriting any familial wealth, but we, as a society, must draw a line somewhere. Let us simply say, "We will teach our people the difference between right and wrong. We will create procedures and processes whereby those who commit wrongs are punished, and those who do right are rewarded. And we will trust in our citizens to know the difference and to regulate their behaviours accordingly."

Euthanasia is morally right, as anyone who has seen a family member suffer knows. Watching a terminally ill person struggle with pain is unbearable. When you can't take away the pain of the one you love, someone who depends on you for comfort and relief, your own life seems bleak and meaningless.

Many of us have had to make that fateful decision for an ill or elderly pet. Let us have the right to make it, then, for our people, as well.

Most important of all, I don't want to end up like Terri Schiavo, braindead with my husk of a mortal coil reeling in thoughtless discoordination for the pity and amusement of others. When it's time for me to go, I hope I'll have a doctor as courageous as Laurence Tramois, and I want to be the one to say "When!"

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