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Forwarding an interesting article from Ms. Cheryl Eckstein of CHN International.

Subject:

MP: I was prepared to help my friend to die

From:

"chn@intergate.ca" <chn@intergate.ca>

Date:

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:37:00 -0700

To:

(Recipient list suppressed)

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15767158&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=mp--i-was-prepared-to-help-my-friend-to-die-name_page.html
MP: I was prepared to help my friend to die

Jul 22 2005

Exclusive By Robert Merrick, Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE MP Frank Field has told how he was ready to help a terminally ill friend end her life, even though he would face possible prosecution.

The Labour MP for Birkenhead described how he visited the elderly woman in hospital, expecting to be asked to obtain drugs that would put a stop to her suffering.

In doing so, he would have left himself open to a charge of contravening the 1971 Suicide Act, an offence which carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence. But in the end, the friend, who was called Barbara Wootton and was a member of a pro-euthanasia group called EXIT, did not ask Mr Field to help her die.

Mr Field said: "I had made up my mind that, although I disagreed with the approach, my great friend had every right to end her life in the way that she wished.

"Even though I would be guilty of such an offence that, if the matter became public knowledge, I would lose my seat, I believe that she had that right."

However, Mr Field added: "What struck me was that she never once asked for those knock-out pills and that she struggled right to the end."

Mr Field made his comments during a Commons debate he sponsored, entitled "End-of-life Care", to discuss how people and their relatives could better prepare for death.

It followed the recent death of the MP's mother, which made him realise how unprepared he was for the loss of a loved one.

Ironically, Mr Field recently tabled a Parliamentary motion urging the Government to "oppose any Bills aimed to legalise physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia" as it would put pressure on the elderly to agree to hasten their deaths.

And he has criticised the introduction of so-called "living wills", allowing patients to declare they did not wish to be treated should they become mentally incapacitated.

During the debate, Mr Field warned that such legallybinding directives would mean the withdrawal of food and liquid as well as medical support, resulting in a "horrible death".

He told MPs: "If medics are bound by a living will, they may not have the choice of looking after someone and giving them a good death in the way that we would all welcome."

Mr Field also raised fears that older people increasingly "talked about the process of dying in terms of wanting to die without being too much of a burden on other people".

He warned: "If we are not careful, we could build up a culture that leads old people to feel that they are such a burden that they ought to take the opt-out clause earlier rather than later. The body has a right to die in its own time and in its own way."

Mr Field's motion praised a recent vote by the Church of England's General Synod rejecting the legalisation of either euthanasia or assisted suicide.

It followed a claim by Crosby MP Claire Curtis-Thomas that the BMA's vote to abandon its opposition to euthanasia was "fixed".

Speaking after the debate, Mr Field reiterated that, even though he was against legalised euthanasia, that did not mean he would refuse to provide pills to a friend in pain, even if that act of relieving suffering killed that person.

Mr Field added: "If somebody wants to commit suicide, they have a right to. It is not for me to police the world."

Cheryl Eckstein
Founder President Compassionate Healthcare Network (CHN)
CHN is a not for profit organization, formed 1990.
CHN - 11563 Bailey Cres., Surrey, B.C.
V3V 2V4 Canada
Phone - 604 582 3844
Visit us at www.chninternational.com
QUOTES
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". . . We would hope that doctors anywhere at anytime that doctors should be on the side of the patient, not on the side of the state. " ElieWiesel

Ping to three topics above brought up by Cheryl Ford

8mm

(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, v.7-10-05)

Mr Field added: "If somebody wants to commit suicide, they have a right to. It is not for me to police the world."

That's not what I learned in suicide prevention class the other day. We have every obligation to stop a suicidal person from committing suicide.

Furthermore, a person who is terminal needs more effective comfort care, not a lethal dose of pills to free up the bed sooner.