Andrew Grey revisits his old report unpacking some of the fundamental ideas beneath the assisted dying debate. 01/11/2024

The question of assisted dying is never far away and is now back somewhere near the top of the political agenda. It’s a serious and sensitive debate, about which well–meaning people can disagree profoundly.

Much of that disagreement can be traced to conflicting ideas about the meaning of human ‘dignity’. ‘Dignity’ is used in two subtly different ways – one to do with autonomy and choice, the other with care and relationships – and how we understand the term shapes how we think people should be treated at the end of life.

This essay, by Andrew Grey, a fully revised and extended version of Theos’ 2018 report on Dignity in Dying, explores both meanings of ‘dignity’ and argues that the idea of ‘dignity–through–care’ gives a better account of what it means to be human.

More pressingly, it also argues that if dignity is understood as personal autonomy expressed through choice, society no longer has any deep reason to deny an individual their choice to die, even if they are not in a terminal condition, not in unbearable pain, or indeed not even in physical ill–health.

Links

Read the full report here.

Read our 1–page summary of our views entitled Everyone Has The Right To Die With Dignity here.

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