Stephen Hawking, the well-known British cosmologist, was once opposed to the notion of assisted suicide but has now reversed his position, according to BBC News. “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives, and those who help them should be free from prosecution,” Hawking told the BBC.
So long as there are safeguards in place to assure it is the will of the person, Hawking supports the right for dying people to choose to die in a dignified manner, and for those who assist them to be able to do so without punishment, reported the huffingtonpost.com. For people that know they might develop a life-altering disease like Lou Gehrig’s disease, which destroys the central nervous system, or Alzheimer’s, which is the degeneration of the brain, I agree with Hawking in believing physician-assisted suicide could be a great option. Safeguards such as documents written before the disease destroys the brain or bodily function, while the person is still themselves, would be a safe way to know what they want after their brain deteriorates beyond repair. “Right-to-die advocates say people capable of making that decision should be allowed to die with dignity,” wrote huffingtonpost.com.
Hawking was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 1964 when he was 21 years of age and was thought to have only two to three years to live, according to BBC. ALS “is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement,” according to the National Library of Medicine, and results in muscles wasting away and eventual paralysis. Now 50 years later, Hawking is 71 years old and one of the most famous scientists in history. He works at Cambridge University and is well known for his scientific bestseller A Brief History of Time, reported ABC News. However, you may know him as the man in the wheelchair.
Hawking has been on life support for the last 23 years and is confined to his chair. He communicates with blinks and movements of his cheek muscle, which are linked to a sensor and computerized voice system, according to huffingtonpost.com. He has done extensive research on black holes in this state and, in my opinion, this makes him the most impressive scientist in history, not to mention the fact that he has lived with ALS for 48 more years (and counting) than he was expected to. The BBC reported that only five percent of people diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease survive for a decade after diagnosis, and Hawking has survived five decades so far.
The decision to end Hawking’s life was nearly made for him in the past when he suffered from pneumonia in 1985. According to huffingtonpost.com, he was put on life support and his wife was given the option to switch off the machine, but that is not what he wanted. In regards to assisted suicide, he said in a BBC article, “There must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and are not being pressurized into it or have it done without their knowledge and consent as would have been the case with me.” He once called physician-assisted dying “a great-mistake” according to ABC News, but has now changed his opinion on the matter.
“We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?” Hawking told the BBC this week. But again and again he emphasizes the necessity of safeguards to ensure it is what the individual wants. Being a person who has been on life support for 23 years, I think he is a credible person to listen to when it comes to assisted suicide. He cannot speak for all those crippled by illness and disease, but he is an extremely intelligent person who has seen both sides of the situation.
“A prominent disability group opposed to favorable laws in Oregon, Washington state and Montana, said Hawking’s words should not trump the ‘millions’ of disabled Americans who say legalized ‘suicide’ makes them more vulnerable,” wrote ABC News. The four states that have legalized physician-assisted suicide–Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Montana–have strict guidelines with which it must be carried out. I believe the sense of vulnerability felt by terminally ill people is the concern that physician-assisted suicide will be abused and their lives may be ended against their will. I believe they worry documents may be forged to say that they asked for death because their caretakers may see them as a burden.
As a veterinary intern, I see euthanasia used on animals nearly every day: animals whose lungs keep filling up with liquid making it painful to breathe, animals with vital organs so ridden with tumors it prevents correct heart function and animals who are in kidney failure and have toxins backing up into their bodies, poisoning them. The decision is made by the owner when the animal’s quality of life has no chance at improving and pain and agony is the only future they will see.
The animal hospital I work at refuses to do any “convenience euthanasias,” or, putting the animal down because it has become inconvenient for the owner for the animal to be alive. I think if physician-assisted death starts to become legal around the world, plenty of safeguards would be put into place to prevent convenience deaths, just as Hawking assured is necessary. As a brilliant man who has had plenty of time on life support to think of the option of taking himself off, I think his statement will pull a lot of weight in proponents’ and opponents’ minds alike.
Hawking came out with his support of physician-assisted death right before the release of a documentary on his life. Hawking, by Vertigo Films, was released in Britain on Sept. 20. In Britain, assisted suicide is illegal, as it is in almost all of the U.S. and elsewhere, reported huffingtonpost.com. Just watching the trailer for this documentary brought a tear to my eye; the dedication of this man to spread joy and wisdom in the world has inspired him to survive and push through the pain every day. The documentary is narrated by Hawking himself, which must have been a long process considering his method of communication is slow. The messages he wanted included in the film were clearly important to him, and the release of this statement must have been just as important. I don’t think Hawking would have come out in support of assisted death if he had not thought long and hard about his position.
I personally watched my grandmother suffer from Alzheimer’s, saw firsthand the effects of the disease eating away at her brain. She fell and broke bones and refused medical aid to repair the damage. She woke up in the morning and forgot how to eat, forgot what eating even was. She quickly needed 24-hour care and was no longer a functioning person. Her blood kept pumping, her involuntary responses kept functioning, but the woman we all knew was gone. There is no telling if she would have wanted to live like that if assisted death was an option before the symptoms began. There is no telling if my father and his siblings would have been able to make the decision, had she left it up to them. We now live in a world where there are unfathomable possibilities for improving the quality of life, but when a disease like Alzheimer’s is encountered where there is no cure, no help for its victims yet, should death be a choice if they so will it? I think we are quickly moving in the direction where some may agree that when someone gets to a point where they will never be able to get the quality of life they once knew back, they are the ones that can decide to end it, and those who must assist them will be held at no fault.
Hawking was never a very vocal opponent to assisted suicide. In 2006 he said although people should have the right to end their life if they wanted to, “I think it would be a great mistake. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope,” wrote The Guardian. He is a treasure, a medical miracle, a man that has beaten the odds and not only survived his terminal illness but became a world renowned theoretical physicist, author, lecturer and cosmologist. I am glad his wife did not pull the plug on him all those years ago for he has strived to achieve great things. But this man who has spent 23 years of his life imprisoned in his own body to a disease that will one day kill him, has come out to say he believes everyone deserves the right to decide when they die, and I don’t think it can be ignored.
Avery Twible can be reached atavery.twible@spartans.ut.edu
