Couple’s plea reignites mercy killing debate
Print Edition
A COUPLE in Anhui Province are pleading for the right to allow their ailing son to die.
The 16-month-old boy suffered severe brain damage in December when he got stuck on a conveyer belt in his father’s factory. Discharged from hospital in January, he cannot move, talk or breathe on his own. Every three hours, his mother must inject milk into a tube into his stomach to feed him. Doctors say his chances of recovery are almost nonexistent.
“We cannot bear to watch our son starving to death,” said his father.
The couple asked doctors and the civil affairs bureau of Huoqiu County if they could end the boy’s suffering, but were firmly rejected. Euthanasia is illegal in China.
The story has reignited the debate over euthanasia in China because the case is not exceptional.
In 2007, a 29-year-old woman named Li Yan attracted nationwide attention by posting a short article on her blog. Living with motor-neurone disease, she can only move her head and some fingers.
“I love my life, but I would rather die if I cannot live with dignity,” she wrote.
Her parents act as her cooks, nurses and carers. “I am their burden,” Li wrote. “They are getting old and I cannot imagine what life will be like when they are gone.”
Supporters say mercy killing saves people from unnecessary suffering, and people should be allowed to choose their own fate.
Pan Jing, a doctor at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, believes legalization of euthanasia is both necessary and urgent.
“In 30 years working in this hospital, I have seen how miserable patients are when there is no cure for their illnesses,” she said. “I have seen unconscionable suffering, hopelessness and lingering pain which can only be ended by death”
Pan says that around a quarter of her patients expressed the wish to die painlessly and with dignity. “I feel sorry for them, of course, but there is nothing I can do to help.”
Opponents of euthanasia consider it an infringement of people’s right to life.
“The right to life is paramount,” said Wei Ansong, a lawyer. “Nobody can end one’s life but oneself.”
Wang Kaiyu of the Anhui Academy of Social Sciences said he considers China as neither prepared nor mature enough to legalize the practice. “It would be wrong to replace one tragedy with another. Choosing mercy killing due to lack of funds for treatment would be just such a tragedy,” Wang said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
