ACTOR and learning disability campaigner Lord Rix has issued a plea for euthanasia to be legalised to allow him to “slip away peacefully”.
In a letter to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness D’Souza, the 92-year-old Mencap president revealed he is suffering from a terminal condition and hopes Parliament will act “as soon as possible” to make it possible for people in his situation to be assisted to die.
Lord Rix voted against an Assisted Dying Bill that came before the House of Lords in 2006 because he feared people with learning disabilities might become the unwilling victims of euthanasia.
But in his letter he told the Lord Speaker: “My position has changed. As a dying man, who has been dying now for several weeks, I am only too conscious the laws of this country make it impossible for people like me to be helped on their way, even though the family is supportive of this position and everything that needs to be done has been dealt with.
“Unhappily, my body seems to be constructed in such a way that it keeps me alive in great discomfort when all I want is to be allowed to slip into a sleep, peacefully, legally and without any threat to the medical or nursing profession. I am sure there are many others like me who having finished with life wish their life to finish.”
Lord Rix told Lady D’Souza: “I can only ask that once again the House of Lords brings the UK up to date by allowing legal euthanasia after all other avenues have been pursued.
“Please raise the question again in the House of Lords so people like me do not continue to suffer untold misery for want of a kind alternative.”
“I realise somebody in the House will have to move the question yet again and would ask that my statement is read out and acted upon as soon as possible.
“Only with a legal Euthanasia BIll on the statute books will the many people who find themselves in the same situation as me be able to slip away peacefully in their sleep instead of dreading the night.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel