The best name for any organisation in the world is ‘Dignitas’. Its just right. Perfect. Doesn’t say a lot yet speaks volumes. Other Swiss names are less noble, less dignified, less succinct. Like Sepp Blatter, for example. That says: bumbling buffoon, old git, stupid, stubborn moron. Whereas Dignitas is so neat. Yet they don’t advertise, they don’t employ a Twitter/Facebook campaign to increase sales, they don’t do excessive marketing of any description. Yet they are known by the world. As the place to go to get yourself dead.

And, unlike FIFA, Dignitas are trusted implicitly by everyone. You can’t just turn up and ask them to murder you, they wouldn’t do it. Oddly, FIFA probably would, but it would cost a fortune in bribes. But if you are a genuine, terminal case with a proven and tested irreversible medical degenerative condition, Dignitas will assist you in committing suicide in a clean, painless and yes, dignified manner, at a time of your choosing.

AT A TIME OF YOUR CHOOSING.

There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. Wow. That’s sooooo true, yet such a worthless truism. Doesn’t help you one bit. And we do have fears. Not necessarily of dying but of pain, suffering, incontinence, inability to breathe, to swallow, tubes sticking out of every orifice, of dying in a manner that is not just subjectively horrendous, but that is agony for all around. We don’t like to watch suffering in our loved ones, its horrible.

So this week a man of 52 took himself (and his family) to Zurich for Dignitas to help him to die. Because his tumour had worsened to the point that he could not longer use his legs and his hands were failing too, breathing, swallowing, all starting to fail. So HE made the decision that it was ‘time’. He didn’t want to reach the point where he was hospitalised, bed-bound, intubated and in constant pain. So he pre-empted it with a trip to the Alps. Because if you can’t swallow, you can’t take the suicide pills and its too late.

And I simply cannot understand why here in Britain we are so keen to prevent such a wonderfully humane and kind and helpful situation as choosing your own death so that its a ‘good one’ as opposed to agony for everyone.

Assisted suicide here is called ‘murder’. You go to court. They probably won’t, if the circumstances are as above, put you in jail, but you’ll go through the whole process and be dependent on a jury of your peers (not necessarily bright or enlightened ones) for continued freedom.

Yet oddly, the general consensus among regular people is to allow assisted suicide to take place here. Because that’s what should happen in a civilised fucking country. You shouldn’t have to be rich enough to go to Switzerland just to die peacefully and kindly.

So if the people want it, why are the politicians so unbelievably resistant and negative, throwing up non-existent moral arguments that no-one particularly cares about? Its not their place to do that. They are there to act for us in what we want. And they’re failing. Have failed. Still failing.

There must be checks, obviously. You can’t just get hold of a perfectly healthy but quite rich old spinster aunt and drag her screaming to her noble and peaceful end, that wouldn’t be right.

But to choose when to die; its the mark of civilisation and humanity.

Happy morbid Friday

A xxxx