Euthanasia.

Euthanasia - or the right to decide when you want to die - hits the headlines from time to time.   Suicide is perfectly legal these days - provided nobody helps you end your life.  If they do, they commit a crime and they could end up before a court and receive a prison sentence as punishment.

That very word - Euthanasia - makes politicians jittery and sends the churches into tirades of apoplexy.  They claim sole rights to be the moral administrators of the " dieing business " and in many cases have a " make them suffer until their last breath " attitude.    In some cases, breathing your last in a church run hospital could be a very painful end.

In recent times we have tolerated  marvellous institutions called a " Hospice " or " Palliative care ".   It is usually housed in a state run medical facility, and it is intended as a humane place for the terminally ill to end their days.  The medical people who run them are dedicated to stopping pain, even if this means administering pain killing drugs that will shorten our life span by days, hours - or even minutes.   This is a subject that the legal fraternity dodges like the plague.   Nobody wants to tackle the fine line between easing a human over the line between a dignified, humane death and the awful pain that a disease like cancer can inflict in it's final stages.

The problem is that not every person with a terminal illness is able to access one of these helpful facilities.  You simply can not walk in the door and announce that you want to die.   Access is controlled by the medical profession, and here the religion of the attending doctor can have a big influence on how you are treated.   Those who are simply tired of living are usually given the " bum's rush " !

We have had dedicated proponents of Euthanasia put a case to make help in ending life legal and they have usually been vilified by both church and state.  The names Jack Kevorkian and Philip Nitschke come to mind.    Both have devised methods which allow those who believe they have the right to decide their end of life to carry out this function by their own hands, without putting friends and family at risk by the necessity of assistance.   Unfortunately, that is of little help to those with physical limitations.

Some countries have bitten the bullet and enacted legislation that allows the medical profession to help those seeking to end their life.   In each case, participating is a personal decision by the doctor involved and usually he or she will not grant that help to all seekers.    The applicant would need to present a compelling case.  In particular, the easing of pain is usually the deciding factor.

So - we in Australia have a sort of defacto Euthanasia system that is totally ignored by the police, courts and government.   Kindly doctors increase pain killing drugs to the old and feeble in the full knowledge that these will shorten their lives, and in the government run palliative care units the administration scrupulously looks the other way as ending pain takes precedence over longevity.

Every now and then some case attracts media attention because of claims made in respect of inherited estate or a moral objection emerges and the whole subject gets a thorough airing.    There are calls for the law to be made clearer - and the politicians run for cover and the churches beat their chests and claim the moral high ground.

When the dust settles - back to " business as usual ".    It seems that the " dieing business " is a matter of luck.    Hopefully, you end up in the hands of compassionate people - but unfortunately not everybody has that good fortune.