Posted on 06/15/2011 6:58:15 AM PDT by Abin Sur
Three and a half years ago, Terry Pratchett, the beloved author of the Discworld series, announced that he has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now he's made an even more startling announcement.
Pratchett, who has campaigned in his native United Kingdom for the right of assisted suicide, has begun the formal process of assisted suicide in Switzerland, one of the few countries in the world to legalize euthanasia. Specifically, this would take place at Dignitas, a clinic that provides qualified doctors and nurses to assist with the patients' suicides.
Dignitas has sent Pratchett the paperwork he needs to sign to begin the assisted suicide process—but he has yet to sign it.
(Excerpt) Read more at blastr.com ...
My son and his wife are part of a group bringing a Disc World convention to Madison. They’re going to be really bummed.
Ping to your pro-life list.
This should be an interesting discussion...
Sorry if that sounds cold, but I wonder sometimes about the whole motivation for this "assisted" suicide business. I'd prefer compassionate end-of-life care over suicide. But having someone else "help you" seems, well, kind of cowardly, to be honest.
>>Very sad. Terry Pratchett has given as much reading pleasure as any author I can think of, with the possible exception of Robert A. Heinlein.<<
Let us not forget the Good Doctor (Asimov).
I need to go back and reread the Discworld books. It has been a while...
The most painless suicide is Helium. Put a blanket over your head, breathe it in, lose consciousness, it’s over.
It is extremely sad. I will repeat the words of my then 6th grade son. As we passed by an abortion clinic every morning and saw a man praying every day, my son asked “Mom why is that man there every day?” I explained that he is praying for babies whose mom’s decide not to let them be born. I went on to tell him that my view and the belief of our religion is that it is considered killing. He turned around without a blink and said “It is also stealing from God”. My eyes filled with tears from the proudness that I felt from my 6th grade boy. How come the youth can comprehend but the so-called more mature can not. Our lives belong to God not us.
Yeah, but no matter how eloquent your last words, you still sound like Mickey Mouse.
Suicide is a sin.
Honestly unless someone was a quadrapelegic, they have no need of being assisted in the taking of their own life.
Yeah, but what if it's all true that the Creator of this wonderful universe indeed designed our souls to transcend time, and He views the throwing away of His gift of life - under any circumstance - to be a horrible slap in the face?
That's Someone who it pays in the long term (the very long term) to be on the good side of. Think about it!
I think I'll tough things out with the life I got until the bitter end - and will recommend the same to the rest of y'all....
Digntis? Dr. Evil was right. There is an Evil Medical School.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Terry Pratchett’s life belongs to him and his God. His life doesn’t belong to the state, the church or busybodies on FR.
You are absolutely correct. However, as a sci-fi writer, I’ll bet dollars to donuts he’s agnostic at best, flat-out atheist at worst. I’ll further wager that he has utter contempt for the God who loves him and created him.
The vast majority of sci-fi authors, brilliant as some may be, do NOT believe in God. Suicide to someone who thinks that way is simply an ending of life on their own terms. Any thoughts of what that might mean to a God in whom they don’t believe just don’t enter the picture.
I have moral objections to someone choosing to take his own life but at the end of the day it should not be something in which the government meddles. Ending your life should be a strictly personal matter as far as government is concerned.
I agree with you that "assisted" "suicide" is a crock. It is just murder under the guise of medicine. I think the whole point of the "assisted" "suicide" movement is to mainstream the idea that people can and should be killed off because they are too much of a burden to others. In every place where this idea has been mainstreamed, it always starts out as a "humane" gesture to "help" those who are terminally ill. It then goes from being a choice on the part of the sick person to being an obligation or a duty. It always devolves into something sick and ghoulish.
He turned around without a blink and said “It is also stealing from God”. My eyes filled with tears...Ohhhhhh, how beautiful stated. And likewise; my screen's all blurry.
He writes fantasy, not science fiction.
100% agreement. Suicide isn't a choice I can imagine making, but I'm not willing to impose that on another person.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.