MS suffers writes diary for Sunday Herald charting his journey toward suicide in Swiss clinic
So the countdown to the morning of Thursday June 15 has begun.
That will be the day that hopefully I will be at the Lifecircle clinic in Basel, Switzerland to voluntarily end my life.
Already one week has passed since I spoke from Switzerland with Sunday Herald journalist Helen McArdle bringing my case to public attention. The primary progressive multiple sclerosis I have is now in what I call ‘turbo’ mode. That means for me that reaching June 15 is like a marathon with the ‘finishing line’ being in Switzerland. The past week for me has been extremely busy as there is a huge amount of media interest in the legalisation of voluntary assisted suicide in Britain. Hopefully the Scottish parliament will prove to be more compassionate and enlightened than the Westminster parliament. As a man from Inverness, I want one simple thing: the right to die with dignity in my own country. That will only happen if our parliamentarians accept the majority of people want the choice of voluntary assisted suicide to be available in the event of developing a progressive and incurable neurological disease. Highlighted this week has been the plight of Omid a British Iranian man afflicted by multiple system atrophy (MSA).
Omid is confined to bed with loss of use of his legs and hands. His speech is becoming increasingly slurred and he requires his food to be liquidised and given to him by a nurse. Omid is aged 54 but realises he cannot do anything of value to him so he wants to die.
Much of this week has also meant me explaining that voluntary assisted suicide is not a ‘slippery slope’ to ending the lives of elderly or vulnerable people. The safeguards, in the new draft bill, ensure it is impossible to request a voluntary suicide for yourself if you do not ‘have capacity’ to make an informed judgement. Likewise it is impossible to request a voluntary assisted suicide for someone else.
Applications must include photographic identity and date of birth of the applicant. Medical history must be provided that is current. An outline of life history is also required to assist the doctors in making a decision. It is also essential that people realise the doctors do not administer the life ending prescription. It is only the patient who does so. And after death there has to be a formal identification of the deceased. It will be done by a family member or close friend who will make the identification. Thereafter the funeral arrangements will begin.
A regular question to me from the media is how I am coping and what I am doing to occupy my time.
My humorous answer is being used by some journalists. I liken myself to being a condemned man in his cell on death row. I now add to this that I need some company so am on the lookout for a little mouse that I can befriend.
Fortunately though I am not self-obsessed so enjoy being part of the campaign that will give hope to the many people whose lives have become dreadful as a result of incurable illness.
Many reading this article may be hobbyist musicians like me who can happily spend hours each day practicing or improving their ability with the musical instrument of their choice. Similarly as I have found out with the journalists who have interviewed me we all love some form of music.
If they hadn’t had to go to their next assignment we could have talked for many hours about music.
And there was even time for a ‘sing song’ with one writer. The idea was 'what was the first song we had memories of'. The result was us together singing ‘Chirpy, chirpy, cheep, cheep’ by Scottish band ‘Middle of the Road’. We talked of how wonderful it is to have all our legally purchased favourite songs on our mobile devices.
So looking ahead to the next week there is guaranteed to be further enquiries from individuals or the media and my biggest challenge may be not falling down the flight of stairs in my flat.
Stairs have always been a big part of my life so I fondly look back to a company I worked for. Our office was on the 15th floor so a great chance to keep fit. Most people used the lift but my colleague Andy liked to take on a challenge.
I offered him a race up the fifteen flights of stairs concluding with fifty push ups. Management soon put an end to our fun by prohibiting our races.
They assured us employment law prohibited an employer from allowing dangerous activities on its premises. Most employers do not want their employees to die at the place where they work.
But the issue of stairs access becomes very relevant for those whose lives have become blighted by illness. Too often there is little consideration of wheelchair users. So to prevent infirm people further losing their independence the law now requires wheelchair access in public areas as well as shops and restaurants and low kerbs on pavements. Believe me, such simple improvements can reduce the prospect of people wanting to have voluntary assisted suicide.
Colin has asked that anyone wishing to help donate to the MS Society. To do so please visit https://www.mssociety.org.uk/
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