The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7501 p568
10 May 2008

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• New professional body (2)
• Council election (2)
• Trimethoprim
• Restricted title
• Addiction
• Medicines use reviews
• English Pharmacy Board
• Epilepsy
• Euthanasia
• Public relations
• The Society

Letters to the Editor

Euthanasia

How can euthanasia be debated seriously?

From Miss J. E. Cronin, MRPharmS

Euthanasia is a highly emotive subject. How can I explain how passionately I believe the law ought to be changed in this area without using as an illustration the example of my dying mother? It would be nigh on impossible. It is only after having had the experience of watching my mother in her final fortnight die from cancer that I have formed an opinion.

Seeing a person dying is not something many of us have to experience and as such most of us may not fully understand the process. When my mother first knew she was terminally ill she begged me to go to Switzerland with her where assisted suicide is legal. I was against this idea, not just because it is illegal in Britain and I could have been in trouble with the law, but because I thought that if she was fit enough to fly to Switzerland, then she was fit enough to do enjoyable activities with me instead.

Eventually it reached the inevitable point where my mother was given two weeks to live. The first week was just about bearable. We talked for hours and the palliative drugs were controlling her pain, she had some quality of life.

During the second week she took a dramatic downturn. It reached a point where the opioid analgesic and sedation did not totally control her pain. She was unconscious most of the time, but when the drugs wore off, it was highly distressing for her and me. Her distress was compounded by an awareness of extreme thirst. At this point, however, she could not swallow. She could not tolerate a fluid drip either due to liver and kidney failure.

I started to pray that either the next dose of her drugs would render her unconscious quickly or kill her. I believe that when this stage is reached, and only at this stage, when there is no hope of recovery and there is only suffering, that a doctor should be able to administer life-ending drugs.

I know my letter is a difficult upsetting one to read but how can we seriously debate euthanasia without hearing stories such as these?

Julie Cronin
Birmingham

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