The report of The Commission on Assisted Dying

We discussed euthanasia in 2009.  I had a blog article talking about various forms of voluntary dying.  I also referred to the proposal of an euthanasia court for saving lives in addition to determining the genuine euthanasia cases.  This is a complex and controversial subject which we often heard people said let us not discuss it.  But the reality is that euthanasia is being practiced in many countries.  Britain in particular is under immense pressure to have this resolved.  In 2010, the Commission on Assisted Dying was set up for conducting an in-depth inquiry on this subject.

The Commission was chaired by Lord Falconer, a barrister and former justice secretary, and included members with expertise in law, medicine, social care, mental health, palliative care, theology, disability and policing. The Commission engaged in a wide-ranging inquiry into the subject, including a public call for evidence which received over 1,200 responses, public evidence hearings, international research visits, and original and commissioned research on the issues surrounding assisted dying.

The report of the Commission was published this month.  You may wish to see the BBC news article on this.  It concludes that the current legal status of assisted suicide is inadequate and incoherent.  The current legal regime can be distressing for the people affected and their families, health and social care staff, and also on police and prosecutors.  A proposed legal framework for assisted dying is laid out in detail in the report, including strict criteria to define who might be eligible to receive assistance and robust safeguards to prevent abuse of any new law.  The Commission also considers that substantial improvements to health and social care services would be needed in parallel with changes to the law. It proposes that the role of any future assisted dying legislation must be to provide all people with access to high quality end of life care and protect potentially vulnerable people from any form of social pressure to end their lives, at the same time as providing people with greater choice and control regarding how and when they die.  If you are interested in the details, please read the full report.

It would be interesting to know what was the views of the religion sector towards this issue.  Among the 11 commissioners, only Reverend Canon Dr James Woodward disagreed with the conclusion.  The report duly carries an appendix on his statement on the inquiry.  In particular, he said "This complex and contested area of human life cannot be dealt with through the law or medicine alone. We need to engage further with the social and ethical reflections on experiences of death and dying."  Despite almost two years' inquiry and 1,200 responses, hearings and researches, he was still undecided and wanted never-ending reflections.  A better reflection of his intention continued: "There are important theological questions about suffering, personhood and the value of the vulnerable that need to inform a more open conversation about death and dying in Britain today."

Suffering is actually the central point in the whole issue.  Euthanasia is for the relief of unnecessary suffering, but there is another meaning of suffering in the theological sense.  Suffering may be good in the sense of sacrifice and repent.  Thus there is no need to end the suffering prematurely.  But there is another religious notion that dying is the passage into eternal life.  For a good person, he will pass into heaven.  The encouragement of endurance to unnecessary suffering and the delay to the passage seems to contradict this notion.  Perhaps everybody has to first go to the purgatory before going to heaven.  Suffering before dying may somehow offset the purgatory fire a little bit.

人生第三幕

在TED Women看到珍芳達講人生第三幕，很有趣味，送給退休的同事看看。



現代人很幸運，壽命比起三代前長了一半。二十世紀初，人類的平均壽命約六十歲；但現代人的壽命可達九十歲，而且不限於少數富有的人，大多數人如身體正常都可活到這個年紀。社會對退休年齡的概念追不上時代，現代的退休計劃是基於人類只可有效工作至約六十歲， 然後就要退下來等待最後時刻。但是現代人的退休生活期可以非常長，因此我們需要重新思考其位置和價值。

人們對生命周期的一般理解是一條拋物線，由零至頂點然後下降至零。新的概念是人生應是向上的階級，由低至高直至頂部。但以熱力學原理，所有系統都要回歸至熵entropy，其間不斷衰退，而人類體能亦是一樣。但人類精神卻不跟從這定律，精力隨時間下降，但精神意志卻可以上升。

人生如果像一套戲劇，會是一套三幕的劇。第一幕是開頭的二三十年，由出生至經歷少年求知階段和初出道在工作中受訓練的階段。戲劇的第一幕是介紹背景和進入角色，使觀眾心理上預備接受接下來的情節。人生第二幕是生活與工作高峰期的三十年，大約至五六十歲；所有人生的疑惑、壓力、成功、失敗、鬥爭、衝突、情慾等都在這階段發生。戲劇的第二幕都是如此處理；最甜蜜的情節，最矛盾的掙扎、最不公平的對待、最懸疑的陰謀、最熱血的惡鬥都會發生，務求令觀眾看完第二幕後坐立不安，很多疑問有待解決，希望第三幕盡快開始。

三幕劇的第三幕是大結局，雖然結局可能是完滿的或是悲慘的，但總會給你一個答案，還有可能答案會引起思考然後使你想再看下一套戲。第二幕的伏線將會一一解開，所有情節都有解釋。可能背後原因和你想像有差別，其結果亦和你的期望不同，但你會明白真相。人生的第二幕不能盡如人意，大家都希望之後會有好結局。人生有了第三幕，大家就不用在第二幕完結後就充滿疑惑的離去。人生第三幕約在退休後開始，長度不比第一二幕短，可以充份使用來將第二幕的情節解開。

珍芳達說第三幕開始時，我們因年紀漸大和經驗較豐富而變得感覺良好、較少壓力、較友善、沒有那麼焦急、會較關心和別人的共通點而非差別。第三幕是人生不可或缺的一幕，亦是最重要的一幕，和第一二幕有莫大關係。每一個人在其第三幕都有不同的任務，但總需要和之前的情節連接。我們會回顧自己所做的事，理解其真正意義和後果。在大結局的一幕，我們可以糾正以前的錯誤，完成未了的心願，將疏遠的關係修補，成為一個較為完整的人。我們可以自問，一生所為足夠保證上天堂嗎？天堂是否存在是否最後結局？答案可能就在第三幕與之前兩幕的一個理性連結，形成一個完整的圓圈，一生就完滿了。