A Triumph for Dignity: UK Parliament Votes for Assisted Dying

The UK Parliament has spoken. In a somber yet transformative decision, lawmakers have embraced assisted dying - a right that honors choice over unending pain. For those trapped in unbearable conditions, this decision is not just progressive; it is humane. It ends a long denial of dignity at the most vulnerable stage of life.  

I’ve long believed in this inevitability. Ten years ago, as my mothers health started to go into serious decline, I remember telling my wife that assisted dying would one day become a global reality, within the next two decades. The logic was simple but stark: if we can choose how to live, why should the choice of when to leave be withheld? A society that demands retirement from professions or other walks of life but denies retreat from life’s suffering reeks quite simply of hypocrisy.  

This belief is rooted in personal tragedy I mentioned. My mother, a dynamic and commanding presence during her time, endured a slow, harrowing descent into a vegetative state. For the last five excruciating years, she lay confined, her body ravaged by sores, her mind tormented by hallucinations, fed through a tube, nil by mouth. Dignity—her hallmark—was stripped away. 

My father, refusing professional care, bore her suffering alone, believing he was preserving her life. Instead, he prolonged her agony, destroying himself in the process.  Now, at 82, He lives unaware of his own existence. Once a formidable man, he resides in a state of oblivion, his body unrecognizable, suffering from no less than 4 other illnesses in addition to his dementia, his life reduced to a pathetic existence. Each month, I visit him in an exceptional facility, where he often lies in his own filth, unaware until cleaned by strangers. The indignity is unbearable—this, for a man who once outmatched me in strength even at 55.  

For centuries, our ancestors retreated to forests to find dignified ends. Today, modern society selfishly clings to the elderly, denying their suffering for our comfort.  

This historic decision by the UK Parliament honors life by recognizing its limits. It grants the ultimate act of grace - allowing individuals to bid farewell with dignity. I hope the world see's this as a beginning, not an end. Every life deserves dignity and peace, especially in death.