Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

We grant our pets a merciful death so why block euthanasia for humans whose lives aren’t worth living?

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FOR weeks my husband and I have been agonising over whether to make a call that would end a life of a cherished companion. But today I finally seized the phone and called our vet and asked her to euthanise Fifi, above.

We adopted the mini-Pinscher a decade ago after she was found traumatised in a caravan in which the owner had died, and she was destined for a killing station. We also took on a second dog, a Patterdale terrier, who was also found at the same location. He died during the Covid lockdown in Spain.

Fifi, aged around 15, started showing signs of canine dementia a few months ago, but in the past few weeks began driving us crazy with bouts of barking, howling and crying, and it became clear that, for our own sanity, and that of our neighbours, action needed to be taken.

Did I weep when I handed Fifi over to Natalia Diaz Tejon, who runs a mobile veterinary clinic in Benidorm? You bet I did.

But my real sorrow lies in the fact it that we can let out pets die with dignity, but in many countries we are prevented by law to help humans, whose lives are no longer viable, to die in the same manner.

So I was gratified when a progressive, socialist goverment in Spain, passed a law in 2021 to legalise euthanasia, becoming the fourth country in Europe to allow people to end their own life under certain circumstances.

The Spanish law allows adults with “serious and incurable” diseases that cause “unbearable suffering” to choose to end their lives.

Before the law’s passage, helping somebody to die in Spain was potentially punishable by a jail term of up to 10 years.

There was a lot of whinging, as one would expect, from the Catholic Church, but mercifully Spain no longer tolerates religious interference in its political and social affairs, unlike the UK.

On a personal note, when I was still living in the UK, I vigorously campaigned for voluntary euthanasia, as well as for the decriminalisation of drugs.

Image via YouTube. Hear Alson argue against euthansia here.

But despite the fact that two-thirds of the UK public support legalising assisted dying the situation, 14 years on, remains unchanged. And for that we have to thank religious extremists such as Catholic Lord Alton of Liverpool, above.

In 2012 he said:

The introduction of euthanasia will be cloaked in words like dignity, mercy, compassion and autonomy … doctors will be required in future to kill patients; disabled people encouraged to believe they would be better off dead; patient safety compromised; and politicians using the new law as a pretext to withdraw resources from the care of the sick.

The so-called right to die will soon become a duty to die – and to die quickly.

When I posted the imbecile’s words on The Freethinker website before I was sacked as editor a few years ago, one reader commented:

Only someone who has never seen a person die of a terminal illness could say something so breathtakingly cruel. It does not surprise me that someone with that attitude would be a forced-birther.

The “forced-birther” remark was prompted by the fact that David Alton is also fanatically opposed to abortion.

Compassion, bodily autonomy and dignity are concepts completely alien to religious zealots such as Alton, and it is high time that he and his ilk are hounded out of positions of influence.

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5 responses to “We grant our pets a merciful death so why block euthanasia for humans whose lives aren’t worth living?”

  1. deniswatkins1 Avatar
    deniswatkins1

    I feel passionate about assisted dying and do so from experience. We have always arranged for our dogs (much loved Labradors) to die when they began to suffer. And yes, every time I wept and grieved. Then my aged mother who lived with us began to suffer. Every evening she said with longing, “Maybe I will die in the night” and first thought in the morning was “Maybe it will be today.”

    She pleaded with the visiting GP to end her suffering. But nothing could be done. I feel contempt for religious bigots who think they have the right to deny the mercy of death to those whose remaining time is spent in agony.

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    1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
      malcolmjdodd

      Denis. I have felt so passionately about assisted dying that Dignity in Dying has, since its foundation in 2010, been the main charity that I support in every way.
      The chances of getting it through parliament in a free (not secret) vote is diminished by the 96% of Conservative MPs who swear allegiance to a religion, a figure that indicates a likely high degree of dishonesty – ‽due to a perceived need to appease their ageing religious right support‽
      As I write this, I am listening to ‘Sunday’ on BBC Radio 4 (described by Warren Mitchell as the best comedy programme on radio), one of the items discussed is from RTE who have shown, in a film, that the average age, in the Republic of Ireland, is 70 for priests and 80 for nuns (available on RTE International).
      It is worth listening to today’s (14th January) ‘Sunday’ broadcast, available on BBC Sounds, about the RTE item, to be reminded of a brilliant joke.

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    2. barriejohn Avatar
      barriejohn

      Similar experience here. My mother died of dementia, in a care home, at Christmas, 2017. A dear old lady who was loved by all who knew her literally starved to death, angry and confused, and because of the holiday was not even sedated. It was an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and the memories of it now haunt me.

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  2. deniswatkins1 Avatar
    deniswatkins1

    Malcolm. Thanks. I will listen to the Sunday programme. I usually listen to early morning Radio 4 programme during the week. I avoid the Sunday programmes as their content is so full of what is obviously unbelievable. I suppose those preaching the nonsense are paid from the license fees which the listeners have to pay. I

    I continue to wonder how the BBC gets away with it. I think one way is that most people listening let the words wash over them and don’t consider what they mean. This has become an ingrained habit with religious programmes. Hear the words but don’t examine what they mean.

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  3. barriejohn Avatar
    barriejohn

    Deepest sympathy, Barry. Most of us have known the pain of losing a dearly-loved pet, often euthanised out of compassion. They give us so much, and ask very little in return.

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