The Right to Life - NICE one if you can get it?

Article 2 of the Human Rights Act - Right to life

1. imposes an obligation on the State to protect the right to life;
2. prohibits the State from intentionally killing;
3. requires an effective and proper investigation into all deaths caused by the State.

"Breast cancer drug turned down for NHS use due to high cost" -  Negative decision on Herceptin-style drug which costs £90,000 but can prolong lives by nearly six months heavily criticised.

Does the right to life include everybody, regardless of who they are & what they have done / not done? Do we have a right to life in any circumstances? Do we have a right to life at a cost, (not necessarily financial), to others? Are there any exceptions to this right? If so what are they?

The questions raised by this right are difficult to answer. Nowhere is there any mention of corresponding responsibilities. The implication is that everyone has an inalienable right to live, regardless of the impact of their life on others or on society in general.

I think much discussion along these lines is clouded by emotion. If someone is dying and their life could be prolonged, usually they & their families would say that they should have access to the means of extending their life by however long is possible. It is completely understandable. We don't want to lose our loved ones. We don't want them to suffer. People who discover they are dying want the opportunity to put their life in order & say their goodbyes. Some even want to plan their own funeral.

But how realistic, reasonable or right is it that one life is so important that there are no barriers to prolonging it? We are extremely clever human beings. What we can achieve using technologies has increased exponentially. We are living ever longer. We can intervene in countless ways to keep people alive despite the ageing demographic & their quality of life. Does that mean we should?

I think we are in danger of placing too much importance on one life. The scales are becoming imbalanced. Our expectations are unrealistic & unsustainable. We simply cannot afford to maintain a policy of unbridled intervention. Someone, somewhere at sometime has to ask the difficult questions & be prepared to say the unsayable.

There is a natural course to life. For some it is brief, for some it is very long. But at the end of the day I do not feel that I am any more important than any other human being. So why should huge amounts of money be spent on keeping me alive when so many are living lives of abject poverty & dying everyday. I don't think I have an entitlement to use massive resources to prolong my life beyond it's natural span, whatever that is.

The trouble is we don't have the discussion as a society. We don't confront the issues while we are well enough to think logically & dispassionately. I have lost someone who meant everything to me. At the time he was in a coma I would probably have wanted to do anything that would have brought him back to me. It wouldn't have been right for him though.

We are relatively unimportant individually in the grand scheme of things. The trouble is we don't accept our mortality & transience.