French star pleads for right to end her life
NewsThe wonderful singer-songwriter Francoise Hardy, 77, is suffering from lymphatic cancer and the side-effects of radition.
In an interview with Femme Actuelle she says that doctors should ‘shorten the unnecessary suffering of an incurable disease from the moment it becomes unbearable.’ She declares that ‘France is inhumane’ for not legalising euthenasia.
I suggest she think more along these lines:
“Blessed, o Lord, be Thy name forever, who hast been pleased that this trial and tribulation should come upon me.
I cannot escape it, but must of necessity fly to Thee; that Thou mayst help me, and turn it to my good.”
Nice sentiment, when you are not in abject pain and have had enough. Maybe “Ess ist Genuch” is more appropriate. Bless her. I hope she will not have to suffer much longer.
Not a “nice sentiment” in the least. It is unfeeling and unempathetic, if not completely ignorant of the human experience. May those who deny the right to euthanasia never have to experience the suffering of Ms. Hardy.
Yes, there’s absolutely nothing like being right there in the moment to understand the absolute horror of it. Doctors are able to hurry things along; that I do know.
Mayest I ask,
Have you ever walked an inch in someone else’s shoes?
Sadly, suffering has little, if any, meaning to non-believers.
How do you know?
I have no problem with religions if it helps people in difficult times. However, there’s nothing worse than a sanctimonious God squad member proselytising when you might not want it.
Some of us get along perfectly well without thank you. I didn’t marry in church, my children aren’t christened, I’ve already seen off two close family members with a secular ceremony and finally have left instructions for my own end.
Anyone like Thomas a Kempis who tries this stuff on me will find that the last bit of me to give up will be a razor-sharp tongue!
I sympathise with Ms Hardy and these things should be personal choice while they are still compos mentis.
Keep your damn religion to yourself, you arrogant twit.
Quite often I find myself disagreeing to the utmost with some comments on Slippedisc.
Rarely, unless inextinguishably incensed, do I give voice to such disagreement, let alone to its full measure.
But I do not recall any other pronouncement that would fit in the category of this present comment by ‘Thomas a Kempis’: thoroughly obscene.
Obscene in the sense of the classical Latin ‘obscenum’.
Obscenum, meaning improper; inauspicious; indecent; and above all, immoral.
To upsell another human being’s intolerable suffering as worthy, worthwhile, even a blessing in disguise, is in my book an inhumane act, rendered more obscene by the tawdry fraudulence of its compassionate guise.
Truly, nothing clouds the moral compass like belief beyond reason.
You probably also believe John Donne:
“…one short sleep past we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more;
Death thou shalt die”.
Not everybody needs religion. It can be a wonderful help to those who do, but… not everyone needs it.
When I call religion a “crutch” I no longer mean it in a derogatory way, like I did when I was a teenager. Religious people of all stripes will gladly tell you, as you gladly tell us today, that their religion is a help that they rely on — as evidenced in the final sentence of the quote you offer.
Some people can look inward, and find the strength they need in themselves.
I can but quote one of Christopher Hitchens regular sayings, “Good men do good things, evil men do evil things, but for good men to do evil things you need religion”
Crazy that people who would say such things still exist
wonderful artist and courageous and rightful statement, I remember very well it was the great tenor Mario Del Monaco handing her the prize at the eurovision songfestival when that festival still meant something. Thank you MMe Hardy for all you have given us and all strength to you
After 10 years of Parkinson’s (father) and 5 years of Alzheimer’s (mother), my parents finally took themselves off to Switizerland for assisted suicide.
The only regret we (their four children) had was that they had left it so long.
I plan to off myself (assisted or not) within a very short timeframe of any similar diagnosis.
I attended one of her concerts in Joh’burg way back when. She was so wonderful. What an artist. So sad.
A lot of suicidal ideation is due to clinical depression. It is very easy to become clinically depressed, a physiological condition, when one is in constant, chronic pain.
However, the good news is that depression and pain CAN be treated, although it may take a while to get the medication and dosages right.
Why not try that first to see if her depression lifts and that she can then feel that her life is worth living?
Suicide/euthanasia is a irreversible decision.
The process of euthanasia — at least for a friend of mine in Switzerland — is a very meticulous one and every possible professional analysis, physical and psychological, is made before a decision is finalized.
No one who proceeds in this most final choice is mistaking their situation for depression.
[No one who proceeds in this most final choice is mistaking their situation for depression.]
Why shouldn’t the dying be depressed? Moralistic crypto-christian nonsense.
“Suicide/euthanasia is a irreversible decision.”
Well yes. But.
Notice the post says she’s suffering from lymphatic cancer (lymphoma on this side of the pond, I guess?) and it’s incurable; so it’s not as if she’s going to recover if she can just hang on for awhile. An irreversible decision may be appropriate for an irreversible prognosis.
Meanwhile she’s also suffering the side effects of radiation, and it doesn’t look like those are expected to decrease. I agree that if the pain could be lessened, the wish to die might be lessened too; but I would also venture to guess that over the course of two years, she and her doctors have made one or two attempts to find a way to alleviate her pain, and (who knows) maybe even her depression.
Just a guess.
[clinically depressed, a physiological condition]
The human condition is a physiological condition. So what.