There has to be a way of allowing individuals to have a humane death instead of enforcing human life at all costs. We seem to have become a society unable to deal with death leaving those who suffer extreme pain, anguish, distress, and no prospect of any improvement a miserable life and a miserable death. There is a time to live and a time to die and yet we can’t accept that or that the person experiencing this distress may be in the best position to know when it is their time to die. The Forum on the Unitarian Internet Fellowship (NUF) has been discussing this issue for some while and there is a poll included there. We are also including items on this issue in the NUF Newsletter and hope that more members will register on the Forum, add their thoughts and eventually take part in the poll. Framing new laws is, I recognise, complex. That Unitarians have been given a year to address the issue seems only right. I can’t be alone in appreciating the opportunity we are having to learn more from those, who have experienced the sensitive, complex and traumatic issues first hand, either as a loved one has died or as a hospice or health-care provider.
Joan
Unitarian Debate 