21 September 2009
The City Branch of the Arbitration Club lunch today. This one at the offices of Clifford Chance’s in Bishopsgate, so not too far to travel from Liverpool Street Station. Although I enjoy these lunches I am not sorry that this present round is coming to an end as they are not doing much good to my waistline.
Today the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) published guidelines on Assisted Suicide. These are for consultation only, at this stage, and are expected be published around the end of the year. Although I have not seen these guidelines myself I gather the gist of them is that a person who assists another to commit suicide who it is, for example terminally ill or in great pain, is unlikely to be prosecuted. There will be clear protection built in for the vulnerable elderly and mentally ill. Public opinion seems to be strongly in favour of such new legislation or guidelines.
Today, in recognition of the success of this blog (around 65,000 hits to-date) I dropped ‘MND’ from the title, shortening it to ‘Dying to Live’.
This is because the blog has obviously appealed to people far beyond those suffering from MND and I would like to think that it would help anyone who is terminally ill, suffering from a long-term illness, or just depressed. Perhaps the anecdotes or the jokes might momentarily cheer them up. To this end I have added a P.S. to the introduction to this blog and, as I doubt whether people will read this introduction more than once, I’ve decided to repeat it in the content of today’s entry. What I’ve also suggested is that if people find this blog supportive in any way, either as a patient or as a carer, then why not pass it on to their own group of friends in the hope that someone, somewhere may benefit from it.
To lighten things up after this serious note I have added two new jokes – The Bounced Cheque and The Loving Husband.