Suicide - is it painless?

There was a TV show in the eighties called MASH the theme tune of which was a song called “suicide is painless “ Actually it is anything but, particularly for the families and friend left behind and of course anyone unfortunate enough to witness the event.

So tonight on SKY TV we are about to shown a man who will commit suicide.
It is a controversial subject and one I have very clear views on and some understand off.
I think suicide is a selfish act, It has to be, because someone deciding to take their lives (and I am not talking about people who do it for attention) really must conclude that ending their life is a rational move, the only option.

Often of course it isn’t but your mental health state blocks the natural human instinct to survive and dismisses the understanding of the effect of people near to you. Concluding that if anything, you are a burden to all and removal of you is the right decision.

But although it is true that tonight we will have the opportunity to observe a suicide. It was not carried out by someone who was, as far as we know, suffering from the same mental distress common with people who attempt suicide in our every day life’s.
For this was a man who was dying and whom had decided that he wanting to be in control of when and how it should happen.

At this point I want to tell you that I have some experience of death having watched both my Dad and more recently, my Mum die. For my father it was an awful experience as he fought for every breath taking three long days and nights before the painkilling drugs and brain tumour won. My mum simply drifted away whilst my sister and I held her hands. For both Suicide was not an option. But if they had asked I would have agreed , without hesitation.

Moreover listening to my father rasp away his last hours in discomfort and some pain (it was the seventies and painkillers were not always that effective) whilst his young family watched on (he died at home) I would have been happy to give him a fatal dose to end the pain earlier. Not just for him but for us waiting to grieve.

Now I know there are many arguments on religious grounds for not allowing suicide in this country and such a system should be fraught with problems as we would need to be sure and suicide is not the result of pressure from others.

But I think we need to have a serious debate on the subject not just in parliament but in every home. What we have now is not sustainable or acceptable. How can it be right that we can put a pet down who is pain, but not a human?

All I ask is tonight, if you can, watch with an open mind. For I know, having had professional experiences of all kinds of people in all sorts of difficult situations that one solution rarely fits all and maybe for a few, suicide is, the least painful solution.