"I don't think we should take life, mine or another's, no matter how terrible it is."
Terrible to think if I was helpless with only my mind functioning, would I opt for a swift exit from this life?
The whole issue of whether we have the right to take our life when it becomes unbearable, confronted us with the news that a retired engineer from South Shields is believed to have become the first person from the North East to end his life at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich.
For those of us fortunate enough to be enjoying a life of quality, the whole issue is merely hypothetical, one on which we can afford to ponder and pontificate.
So, I am able to say I don't think we should take life, mine or another's, no matter how terrible it is.
But I can most certainly understand people doing so.
And in all honesty would I think differently about ending my days if I were the one living a life of unbearable suffering? I don't know.
Douglas Sinclair, at 76, is understood to have chosen to take his own life after suffering from a rare debilitating disorder, multiple system atrophy for two years, which can cause sufferers to lose feeling and control of their whole body.
His assisted suicide has led to Janet Grieves, 47, a former neighbour and a 48-year-old man, both from South Shields, being released on police bail on suspicion of helping a severely disabled pensioner commit suicide.
As the law stands committing suicide is not a crime, but loved ones who help them can face a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment if they are convicted of encouraging or assisting suicide.
That's why, in February this year, multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy, from Bradford, fought to ensure her husband would not be prosecuted for helping her to end her life, if she so chose.
After Law Lords ruled in her favour, guidelines were published that a decision not to prosecute may be taken if the suspect (family member or loved one) was wholly motivated by compassion, had done their best to dissuade the victim, and it was clear the person taking their own life had "reached a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision to commit suicide".
De-criminalise the matter of life and death and we know it would open the floodgates for those motivated not by compassion, but their own personal interests, be it financial or otherwise, to bump off those who have become a burden to them.
Under guidelines published by the Director of Public Prosecutions in February, relations of terminally ill patients who travel with them to help with a mercy killing are "unlikely" to be prosecuted.
Nor should they be. Mr Sinclair, a widower, had used the new guidelines methodically to plan his own death in an attempt to avoid the prosecution of his friends.
And he had told staff at his care home in Jarrow of his intention to go to Dignitas.
Those we've seen on television saying their final farewells to their loved ones who have chosen to die in this way, have been acting from the highest motives.
And how hard is that to give your blessing to someone you love to kill themselves with a lethal drink in Switzerland?
Some may say very easy if you cannot bear to see your loved one suffering another day.
As a Christian I believe our time is in God's hands alone and it is by His grace that whatever hell we are going through we find the courage to live it out to our allotted span.
That's my prayer anyway.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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