Famous roadcaster supports assisted dying
SIR DAVID Attenborough supports assisted suicide and would take his own life if it became too “wretched”, he revealed.
The broadcaster, 89, argued this week, that those who are in pain and want to end their lives should be allowed to do so.
“When you see poor people, poor in the sense of having some wretched disease, pleading for their lives to be brought to an end… It’s difficult to think that they don’t deserve to have that right,” he said.
Attenborough’s comments come amid debate over whether the right to die should be enshrined in UK law. He has aligned himself against the political establishment, given that in September MPs voted against allowing assisted dying.
However, Attenborough shares common ground with Professor Stephen Hawking, 73, who recently said keeping someone alive against their will is “the ultimate indignity”.
The physicist, who has motor neurone disease, said he would consider taking his own life if he had “nothing more to contribute”.
Attenborough’s remarks have prompted reaction from those on both sides of the debate, with some calling them “sad” and others saying they are “in line with the overwhelming majority of the British public”.
The broadcaster made the comments while raising concerns on the world’s growing population and its impact on climate change on Tuesday.
The discussion also saw him argue that families should stop having “excessive” numbers of children – and he branded the Catholic church’s stance against contraception an “extraordinary blind spot”.
Asked if he supported the right to die, Attenborough told Radio 4’s Costing the Earth programme: “I suppose I do really, but (only) if you could solve all the problems of dealing with the misuse of such a right.”
Asked if he would ever consider ending his life, he said: “I think if I was compos mentis and I was really having a wretched life.”
A spokesman for pressure group Care, Not Killing, said: “I think it’s sad that such a much-loved figure would make comments like that, but he has clearly recognised that there are very real dangers with changing the laws around assisted suicide and euthanasia.”
But Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: “Sir David Attenborough’s support is in line with the overwhelming majority of the British public who want to see a change in the law on assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent people. We should no longer force people to suffer against their wishes or travel abroad to have the death that they want.” – Daily Mail