Terry Pratchett begins formal process to end his life

Blastr ^ | June 13, 2011 | Carol Pinchefsky

[Abin Sur]

Three and a half years ago, Terry Pratchett, the beloved author of the Discworld series, announced that he has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now he's made an even more startling announcement.

Pratchett, who has campaigned in his native United Kingdom for the right of assisted suicide, has begun the formal process of assisted suicide in Switzerland, one of the few countries in the world to legalize euthanasia. Specifically, this would take place at Dignitas, a clinic that provides qualified doctors and nurses to assist with the patients' suicides.

Dignitas has sent Pratchett the paperwork he needs to sign to begin the assisted suicide process—but he has yet to sign it.

[wagglebee]

Invalid analogy. All of those involve the initiation of force against another person. Suicide does not.

Wrong again. We ARE NOT talking about suicide, we are talking about euthanasia (yes I know they call it "assisted suicide," but that is just a euphemism to sell it) and another person is involved be design.

[Jonah Hex]

Dammit, pTerry. I love your books, but you're wrong on this. Better to heed Dylan Thomas on this:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

[mlizzy]

Thank God is right! That must have been VERY tough when that was all going on but nowhere near as tough on those who loved him (lifetime of sorrow!), if he had succeeded. Good, positive story. Thanks for posting. :)

[NewMexLurker]

one of the Big Three Golden Age science fiction writers (Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein)

That reminds me of a funny dig at Ray Bradbury, from South Park. The "giants" of science fiction were being discussed. I'm doing this from memory, but the dialog went something like this:

Character 1: "... the giants of science fiction; Asimov, Bester, Clarke ..."

Character 2: "B for Alfie Bester? Really? Why not Bradbury?"

Character 1: "Bradbury. (condescending sniff). I'm aware of his work."

[RnMomof7]

This is nothing more than the sin of pride.. He does not want to be helpless or lose his “quick mind”

How sad to be so proud of who you are and your work that you will kill yourself rather than need other people or “spoil “ your legacy

[redgolum]

I loved the Discworld books.

But not anymore.

[TheOldLady]

Tragic personal ping.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Verbal engineering always precedes social engineering. There is an agenda behind this propaganda:

We must fight to maintain a total ban on assisted suicide and euthanasia

by Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula

• Mon Jun 13, 2011 17:39 EST

  June 13, 2011 (HLI.org) - Assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal in the states of Oregon and Washington, as well as in a handful of nations worldwide. Both here and abroad, pressure is mounting to legalize both evils beyond those sad places where they have already been accepted.

  Behind a facade of objectivity, these evils are subtly promoted by many in the media in order to deform public opinion in their favor. We know their methods very well: through a selective presentation of news stories, movies and on television, they hope to slowly deform people’s emotions, moving them to see that killing the unwanted is the compassionate thing to do.

  This first method, to establish a misguided sense of compassion, is complemented by a second - to create fear that we will one day find ourselves in the same condition. We also see the verbal engineers at work, confusing hydration and feeding of the most severely disabled with an overuse of aggressive medical interventions. As we know, hydration and feeding do not cure any disease, they simply keep a person alive.

  Living in Europe where the process of legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia is regrettably far more advanced than in America, I can’t say enough how crucial it is that we strengthen our opposition to these evils. At a recent conference, I was honored to share the podium with several speakers who are working diligently to stop the slide down the slippery slope toward the wholesale destruction of all unwanted persons. The chairman of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Alex Schandenberg, who sponsored the Vancouver event last week, is to be congratulated for raising the profile of this very important issue.

  The starting point for these evils is the liberal and materialistic view that man is the owner of his life; that he is free to choose the moment and manner of his death. Those who hold this view define suicide as “the last liberty of life.” 

  Liberty of life? Yet these lies are becoming more mainstream all the time.

  Sadly, as we have seen in the case of Terri Schiavo and too many others, most euthanasia is already essentially legal. The overt legalization of assisted suicide, however, will constitute a strong step towards the full legalization of euthanasia, and a serious blow to the already precarious legal protection of the sick, the disabled and the dying. If we adopt a law holding that a person has the right to kill himself, soon we will also adopt euthanasia; because if the individual has the right to say when his life is no longer worth living, soon society will claim this right as well.

  This is the threat represented by a people whose ethics are utilitarian, and whose politics are socialist, particularly with regard to socialized medicine. The idea will soon take hold, thanks to those whom we have empowered to tell our story in the media, that it is too expensive to allow some persons to live, and since the government provides the care, the government will have to decide when their lives will end.

  The next group that will be threatened, as we have seen historically, are those whose mental faculties are greatly diminished, or who are not considered useful to society. When the economic considerations are at the forefront of government-run medical care, we will see people opening up to programs that are not very different from the ones used by the Nazis.

  We again see this form of murder defended in the supposedly “civilized”, post-Nazi Europe. In the United Kingdom, popular writer Mary Warnock espouses the view that a person that suffers from dementia has, not the right, but the duty to die. She underlines that a person in this condition is wasting away the life of his relatives, as well as the resources of the National Health System.

  The legalization of euthanasia is obviously the consequence of the decriminalization of abortion. Once society starts killing the ones that nobody sees, they begin to kill those they do see, the “unuseful” or “unfit.” If we are not careful and strong in our actions against this attack, any persons at the end of their lives or who suffer an incurable illness will end up in a situation in which they will feel constrained to express their desire to die as their last duty of good manners towards the living.

  What does tomorrow hold? Perhaps the killing of the politically incorrect - those who remind their fellow men that there is a God and everyone and everything depends on Him? Or will we be able to, by the grace of God, turn this around? Not that such an offering is on the table, and nobody wants to be a martyr, but if that is God’s will for us, let us die reminding our countrymen of their duties towards God and men.

  A total ban on assisted suicide and of any form of euthanasia is not only required morally, but is an act of social justice to protect the weak and vulnerable.

[Slings and Arrows]

Oh no.

[TheOldLady]

I’m afraid of losing it, too. But one does not barge in on G-d.

Poor man.

[Slings and Arrows]

G-d be with him in his time of need.

[null and void]

Terry Pratchett’s life belongs to him and his God. His life doesn’t belong to the state, the church or busybodies on FR.

Yeah, but we can still mourn his contemplated passing and his chosen method.

[wagglebee]

He does not want to be helpless or lose his “quick mind”

With VERY FEW exceptions, each and every one of will have times that we are helpless and need to rely on others; likewise, those of us who live long enough will experience memory loss.

As "unfair" as this may seem, we must realize that this is EXACTLY the way God created us. Had He wanted to create us like some insects with a very short and defined lifespan He certainly could have, the point is that He didn't.

[Ransomed]

I love the Discworld books, and no way I’m letting the author’s tragic decision ruin them for me.

Freegards

[Sloth]

I mean, there are plenty of tall buildings around, right? Just go up 20 to 30 floors, find an opening, and step out smartly. Same with bridges and towers. Not ambulatory? Get a hold of a shotgun or 38. Can't manipulate a gun? Take a boat out on the ocean and slip over the side. No need for "assistance".

Hopping out of a boat, maybe, although drowning is supposed to be pretty awful. The others are really inconsiderate, though, as somebody has to clean up that mess. Much better to asphyxiate or something.

[Ransomed]

“I’ve always liked Asimov, one of the Big Three Golden Age science fiction writers (Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein).”

Heinlein is the best of that grouping, early/mid Heinlein is really hard to beat. Then Clarke. Asimov would be a ways behind those two for me, but he’s definately a master. Jack Vance is at the top of my list. Anderson, Sturgeon and DeCamp are up there too, but I won’t say they are better than Heinlein.

Freegards

[redgolum]

It isn’t just that. I still like some of his earlier stuff, but he got a bit more filled with dispare in the recent books. Hard to describe, but I don’t like them as much as I used to.

[phredo53]

The most sensible post in this entire thread.

[ApplegateRanch]

Sad news, indeed.

My son and his wife are part of a group bringing a Disc World convention to Madison.

Were the economy such to permit, we'd go, if for no other reason than Pterry is GOH. Regrettably, we'll have to miss it.

Would have been fun; also a chance to visit friends, have a Rueben or hot pastrami at Ella's Deli; and pay a (probably more expensive than intended) visit to the Bavarian Sausage factory & store.

[Ransomed]

To be fair, I think you are probably right about the tone of some of the later books. Still great stuff on the whole though, at least in my opinion.

Freegards