Posted on 10/20/2014 10:50:40 AM PDT by wagglebee
A long-term pro-euthanasia campaigner has starved herself to death over five weeks because she could not have her life ended legally.
Jean Davies, 86, did not suffer from a terminal illness but said her life had become ‘intolerable’ after a series of fainting spells. She died at home in Oxford on 1 October after giving an extensive interview to the Sunday Times.
Mrs Davies became involved in the right-to-die campaign as far back as the 1970s and was president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies from 1990 to 1992 and was chair of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society UK (now Dignity in Dying).
In 1997, her book Choice in Dying argued for British law to allow doctors to end their patients’ lives. According to her daughter she died peacefully and was ‘smiling at everyone’ the day before.
I was asked to comment on this story by the Sunday Times and my comments have been picked up in several follow up accounts in other papers (eg. Times, Express, Guardian, Daily Mail).
Essentially here, we have a long-time euthanasia campaigner attempting to use her own death to further the cause she has championed throughout her life.
Ironically her own daughter said in an interview that her case proves those who want to die already have power to take their own lives and that the law therefore does not need to be changed.
Her GP, a Christian who does not believe in assisted dying, told the Sunday Times he had treated her symptoms after consulting his defence union.
The full quote I gave the Sunday Times is below. They chose to major on the part about ‘emotional blackmail’ and not to include the reference to Helga Kuhse. But Kuhse’s comments deserve wider circulation:
‘It is not illegal to starve and dehydrate oneself to death but neither is it right. My fear is that this unusual and tragic case will be seized upon by the pro-euthanasia lobby to further their agenda of legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.
It is the same technique used by Helga Kuhse, then President of the World Federation of Societies for the Right to Die at their 5th Biennial Congress on the Right to Die held in Nice, France, September 1984 when she said, ’If we can get people to accept the removal of all treatment and care – especially the removal of all food and fluids – they will see what a painful way this is to die and then, in the patient’s best interests, they will accept the lethal injection.’
We should recognise this ploy for what it is and reject it. However we might sympathise with this woman’s condition, by deliberating choosing to go public with it she is adopting a campaigning stance in the footsteps of Kuhse. It is, if you like, a subtle form of emotional blackmail aimed at softening opposition to a change in the law to allow assisted suicide or euthanasia.
There are good reasons for keeping the law as it is. Any change in the law to allow assisted suicide or euthanasia would place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden upon others. This would especially affect people who are disabled, elderly, sick or depressed.
The present law making assisted suicide and euthanasia illegal is clear and right and does not need changing. The penalties it holds in reserve act as a strong deterrent to exploitation and abuse whilst giving discretion to prosecutors and judges in hard cases.
Persistent requests for euthanasia are extremely rare if people are properly cared for so our priority must be to ensure that good care addressing people’s physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs is accessible to all.’
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Peter Saunders is a doctor and the CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a British organization with 4,500 doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. This article originally appeared on his blog. He is also associated with the Care Not Killing Alliance in the UK.
Exactly, and having the power to do something, DOES NOT constitute a God-given right.
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Sounds like she proved there is no need for doctor assisted suicide.
Problem seems to have solved itself?
In her case at least.
![](http://i47.tinypic.com/15mn2hx.jpg";;)
86? Sounds like she wanted OTHER people to go first.
What a sick thing to do to yourself.
At least she practiced what she preached. I always tell advocates of “assisted suicide”, and those who just want to reduce the human population, to lead by example. She did that; and now I have to admit — lead any way you want; I’m still not following you.
Something for everyone in the wellness-crowd to look forward too. Being thin, having clear lungs and liver only increases the chance you’ll have an extended life of decrepitude.
Apparently she was a procrastinator...
Gotta give her credit for sticking to what she claimed she believed, which is far more than most liberals who want to kill everyone else.
And that’s the best thing I can say about the situation.
I guess she showed them!
I’m sorry she had nothing she felt worth living for. For an atheist, that’s where close family and friends would have come in handy, helping her to focus on each moment, vs staring at a flat, sterile, lonely horizon, where there seems to be no place for you, no need for you. Think smaller.
FORMER “Activist”
Not as “active” as she used to be.
Yup. Pass the beer nuts, pour me another, and let me borrow your lighter.
I notice a lot of people are killing themselves ever since The One became POTUS, and I’m not kidding. For some reason the suicide rate seems to have skyrocketed.
One less idiot. Maybe some others will follow her lead.
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