Liverpool care Pathway – A Cause Célèbre

Brendan O'Neill says:

“It's a depressing sign of the times that the 'right to die' has become such a cause célèbre.”

Telegraph   August 30th, 2011

"Individual autonomy counts for little in a world governed by long-nosed nannies and nudgers keen to police every aspect of our lives, from what we scoff to where we smoke. Yet when it comes to the desperate act of electing to die, suddenly autonomy becomes important again. You could be forgiven for thinking that the only right our betters trust us with these days is the “right to die”

"Denied autonomy in life, we’re now only offered it when we’re knocking on death’s door. It reveals something very depressing about society that we should seek to curb the autonomy of active, ambitious, go-getting individuals yet celebrate the autonomy of those who want to exit this mortal coil.

"While other rights – from the right to free speech to the right to be let alone by the government – are held in contempt, the “right to die” is increasingly cherished by the chattering classes. It is not only the religious lobby and the caring professions that should be worried by this elevation of the “freedom” to kill oneself – so should humanists, like me, who have traditionally been far more interested in fighting for the Good Life than campaigning for a “good death”."

The ‘long-nosed nannies and nudgers keen to police every aspect of our lives’ to whom Mr. O’Neill refers are keen not merely to respect the autonomy of those who elect to choose the “right to die”, but to enforce it upon those who do not do so. This is accomplished perfectly legally through the vehicle of the ‘Pathway of the Dying’, the Liverpool Care Pathway.