From the BBC News Magazine:

Noel Martin, a British construction worker who was paralyzed from the neck down after being attacked by neo-Nazis near Berlin 12 years ago, says he is planning a trip to Switzerland to commit suicide. Broadcaster Liz Carr interviews Martin for a BBC report (included here), then follows up with an open letter urging him to reconsider. Carr herself has a disability and uses a wheelchair.

An excerpt:

Worn down, feeling like a burden and with their needs unmet, it’s perhaps understandable why people like yourself might choose death. But surely before we even consider assisting people to die, we need to assist them to live.

One of the main problems I have with assisted suicide stories like yours, Noel, is that the media perpetuates the idea that to be disabled or ill must be the greatest tragedy of all. Disability inevitability equals no quality of life.

…I just think it’s too easy for a society to promote assisted suicide as a right rather than work to overcome the barriers to supporting older, ill and disabled people to live fulfilled and valuable lives. Forget the right to die, isn’t it more urgent that we campaign for the right not to be killed?

(Liz Carr and Noel Martin, BBC photo)

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 5:11 pm and is filed under assisted suicide, first-person, international. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post