A Sad End…

I have been saddened by the news that Daniel James, 23 year old paraplegic, victim of a rugby accident, decided that his life was so bad that he persuaded his parents to take him to an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland to end his life. This was after a number of suicide attempts had not worked.

It wasn’t through lack of support, it wasn’t through lack of friendship, it was through lack of will to go on in his paralysed state. He could have lived for many years, but refused to do so. He did not want to live in the prison his body had become, so reports say…

The assisted suicide legislation in Switzerland: “Swiss law does not consider suicide a crime or assisting suicide as complicity in a crime.” but there is growing concern there that many non-terminally ill patients are taking the step to end their own life, which many Swiss people did not vote for. I suppose they may be worried that these people are being pressured to end their own life (Baroness Warnock again and its no surprise she supports this! see my previous post)

Mr & Mrs James are now facing prosecution, and the debate goes on…

[polldaddy poll=1023553]

Tell me why you voted, if you want to leave a comment…

Free to Ride?

There has been controversy recently about the free Concessionary Travel that Old Age Pensioners have been granted in England recently. Local Councils have been complaining that they have had to cut front line services to make up the shortfall in the Government grant to cover the service.

Now it is true that there are more Pensioners on the bus, but it could be argued that they are out and about getting exercise, meeting people and getting on with life. Surely they are at less risk of having to use the social services which may be subject to the cuts proposed. At a very basic level for instance, an individual needs exposure to the outdoors to produce vitamin D which is vital for bone health. An older person with good bone health is less likely to suffer fractures in the case of falls. Note that I did not say that a person needs exposure to the sun – because we don’t get a lot of that in Swansea.

So I think Local Government needs to be less short-sighted about its provision, given that a happy, healthy older generation will cost less in care in the long run.