I want the right, dammit

13 March 2012

I've been reading this case from the BBC.

The man has "locked-in syndrome" and wants to have the option to die when it gets unbearable.

I sympathise with him. Totally. As a matter of fact, he not only has my full sympathy but my heart-felt wishes that he gets what he wants. And I dream of the day when I have this option as well.

No, I won't be dying by my own hand anytime soon *wry grin* But I firmly believe that just as I have the right to live, I should have the right to die. On my own terms, as it were.

Singapore is by far and away a very conservative place.... laws are put into place to appease a rabidly conservative and vocal minority. The rest of us? We just shrug and go on doing what we were doing. Seriously. It's a pet gripe of mine. There are dozens of laws that are published prominently but never enforced. It's a fact of life that any sane, democratically elected government will always do what it's adoring electorate wants, right? So. We live around all the bullshit.

Also, as an Asian, religious and conservative society - people want to live. To speak of death is in very bad taste for some segments of the population. Just speaking the word is to "attract" and "wish" it upon yourself.

That is soooo not me.

I signed my Advanced Medical Directive back in March 2009. I have no regrets. And 3 years on, I am more firmly entrenched than ever in the belief that this is an important right.

I am not talking about frivolously discussing/enacting this. I am talking about life and living it. And death, and when it should come. 

If I had a fully functioning brain and consciousness, but a body that cannot be the vehicle to that mind? If I had to lay there, with someone feeding me, cleaning me, moving me, dressing me? When the urge to live dies in the face of unending and unceasing frustration? I shudder at the thought!

But the best I can hope for is my AMD. All it gives is that no one can use extraordinary measures to prolong my life. I still can't have the choice to die. But at least I can still live in some sort of dignity.

In the interim period, this woman will continue to dream....