Posted on 04/10/2011 10:07:02 AM PDT by wagglebee
A SCOTTISH pro-euthanasia group’s involvement in the death of a pensioner—who ended her life despite not being terminally ill—was exposed this week in a case pro-life campaigners said showed the true nature of the pro-euthanasia agenda.
Nan Maitland, an active member of Glasgow-based Friends at the End (Fate), had campaigned for change in the law over doctor-assisted death for years before travelling to a Swiss suicide clinic and ending her life last month.
Controversial decision
The 84-year-old had long been living with arthritis, and in a letter to friends, said she chose to escape the ‘long period of decline, sometimes called ‘prolonged dwindling,’ that so many people unfortunately experience before they die.’
Two members of Fate—Liz Nichols and Dr Michael Irwin—accompanied Londoner Mrs Maitland on her final journey. In a goodbye message released by Fate, Mrs Maitland, who died on March 1, wrote: “By the time you read this, with the help of Fate and the good Swiss, I will have gone to sleep, never to wake. I have a great feeling of relief that I will have no further need to struggle through each day in dread of what further horrors may lie in wait.”
The mother-of-three was an occupational therapist and also founded a charity that offers accommodation to older people in exchange for help with household chores. She added: “Please be happy for me that I have been able to escape from this, for me, unbearable future.”
Shameful episode
Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of the pro-life Care Not Killing group said Nan Maitland’s death was a shameful episode.
“This case, involving an elderly woman with arthritis who was actively assisted by fellow campaigners to kill herself, yet again exposes the real agenda of the pro euthanasia lobby,” he said. “They claim that the law should be changed to help only those in the last days or weeks of a terminal illness, whilst actively pursuing much broader goals.
“All the talk about demonstrating how assisted suicide and euthanasia could be legalised with ‘safeguards’ is simply a front for an agenda of incremental extension. The true aim of those campaigning for a change in the law, as we have seen today, is to allow anyone who requests it, regardless of their age or health, to be helped to end their lives.”
He added that all the evidence shows that any change in the law would ‘place pressure on vulnerable people, especially those who are elderly, depressed or disabled, to end their lives so as not to be a burden on loved ones, carers, or the state.’
“This pressure will be much more acutely felt at a time of economic recession when health budgets are being cut and many families are feeling the financial pinch,” Dr Saunders said. “The current law, which has been debated on numerous occasions in parliament in recent years, is clear and ensures that the lives of vulnerable people are not exploited or abused. It provides a strong deterrent to abuse through the penalties that it holds in reserve. It does not need changing.”
Fate in Glasgow
Dr Libby Wilson founded Fate, which is based in Glasgow’s west end, in 2000. The group promotes end-of-life choices and campaigns for a change in the law relating to assisted suicide and euthanasia. In 2009 Dr Wilson was arrested by Surrey police after the suicide of 43-year-old Woking academic Cari Loder, who was terminally ill with multiple sclerosis. Questioned by police, Dr Wilson admitted advising Ms Loder on how to kill herself by administering helium.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that no charges would be brought against her, as it was not ‘in the public interest.’
He couldn't be more right and it's a tragedy that more people can't see it for what it is.
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Assisted suicide will get more tempting with every day as the leftist vermin continue to destroy everything.
I’m ready to request it this very minute.
The criminality that will come about from this “fad” is sufficient in and off itself to avoid “assisted suicide.” I would suggest everyone read the law cases on undue influence to famiiarize themselves with how vulnerable old people are. These “assisted suicide” outfits are death lovers and possibly even murder cults. Check to see who are the beneficiaries under the decedents will.
Pro-life bump
This is so horribly sad and wrong. Didn’t this woman deserve better in her old age? How she must have felt, knowing that others were happy to kill her.
Hang in there, FRiend.
Well said.
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