Not a good way to go

Lost amidst the hoopla of the G20 was the shocking admission from the founder and director of Diginitas that he was prepared to help the mentally ill die. This breaches the fundamental importance of the idea that any patient who chooses to have their life ended, and I’m dubious as to whether people should be able to choose to do this, must be of sound mind.

Jenny McCartney neatly sums up the contradictions in the Dignitas argument and just how dangerous the slippery slope that we are sliding down if we legalise euthanasia is:

“There is also a troubling contradiction at the heart of one of Mr Minelli’s arguments, that he is perfectly entitled to facilitate the suicide of the mentally unwell. On the one hand mental illness is deemed to be an unbearable source of distress that justifies an exit strategy; on the other, such people are held to be of sufficiently ordered mind to consent to assisted dying.