LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE LIMITS OF EUTHANASIA.
[TO THE EDITOR OF Ins " SPECTATOR:]
SIR, —Most of the subjects on which I venture to differ from the article on me in your last number lie beyond the compass of a short letter, but there is one point on which I wish to say a few words. You express a doubt whether I advocate merely the patient's right to abridge his own sufferings, or the right of others to abridge them for him. I tried to make it clear that I disapproved of such relief ever being given without the dying man's express consent ; but I proposed that the doctors should furnish the means, which he would not possess himself ; in fact, he might be said facere per alium. But it is said that all my reasoning would apply to cases like lingering paralysis, where the sufferer might be speechless. I think not. It is open to me to hold that if certain solemn processes were gone through—such as the formal examination of the sufferer by a public officer before witnesses, and an affidavit signed by them to the effect that the dying man's consent was given, without external pressure—Euthanasia would be no more liable to abuse or fraud—there certainly would not be a stronger motive—than in the case of a will, and no more demoralising than capital punishment. But it may be quite consistently held that, where these safeguards cannot be obtained, the sufferer must be allowed to linger on. Half a loaf, says the proverb, is better than no bread ; one may be anxious to relieve what suffering one can, even though the conditions necessary for the relief of other (and perhaps worse) suffering may not exist ; just as, in a shipwreck, the captain will fill the lifeboat with passengers, though he may de- spair of saving the rest. I have stated my meaning thus fully, because I believe it is a common misunderstanding of Euthanasia, that it must needs involve some such proceedings as the late Mr. Charles Buxton advocated (not perhaps quite seriously),—namely, the summary extinction of idiots and of persons in their dotage. Hoping that you will kindly allow me to remove this misappre-
Previous page
