Seeing and hearing courageous Hans (92) on news Debatten, where he challenged Erna Solberg and Jonas Gahr Støre to be allowed to die when he wanted to, was a powerful thing. The answers he received show again that the politicians are not in step with most people, to use a well-worn expression. The audience clapped for Hans, and it’s no wonder. They probably agreed with him; three out of four Norwegians state that they are positive about allowing active euthanasia, according to a survey carried out by Ipsos MMI. Other surveys also show that there is a generational change here. The younger you are, the more open you are to active euthanasia. And it’s easy to understand. Too many have themselves witnessed the obvious: Sometimes the end of life is so unbearable and so undignified, that it is best to let it go. My once upbeat and present dad is now in total need of help and is in a nursing home for the seventh year. He has to be washed, dressed and fed. He has no language, looks past us and has had no contact with the outside world for several years. For a long time I have lived with the hope that he will let this go. Not because I want my nice dad dead, but because I want him to let go of this unworthy life. So undignified that it’s laughable. And I have done that. A lot. The strong, handsome, active dad, grandfather and spouse who was a firebrand for his family, work and sports team. This man who was honored and revered both here and there is no longer alive. That is to say; Incredibly, the heart is still beating. It is not understandable. The debate on euthanasia is overdue. But the majority of politicians certainly do not think so. They talk about a dignified death, but there is no dignity in lying in a nursing home for years without either physical or mental presence. They are not even willing to investigate, have the discussion. But the time has come. Even the national assembly in Portugal, where Catholicism is strong, has passed a law that gives anyone over the age of 18 the opportunity to request euthanasia if they are terminally ill and have great suffering, and if they are mentally capable of making such a decision. The Danish Parliament is also on the ball, following a citizens’ proposal to make active euthanasia legal. In contrast to Solberg and Støre, I have spoken to both doctors and other health personnel who believe the debate is overdue. As a journalist, I have met relatives of people who have chosen to travel to Switzerland. They have told me about the dignity of that experience, even though it is heartbreaking that loved ones choose that way out. But also how badly they wished it could have happened in Norway, so they could avoid the burden of traveling out of the country. It’s about being allowed to end life in a dignified way, when there is no dignity left, says a mother I spoke to, who accompanied her seriously ill daughter to Switzerland, and was with her until her last breath. It was worth it, she told me. Dad doesn’t feel much dignity. I get angry on his behalf. If he had had a choice, if he had known what lay ahead, what his last years would be like – would he have chosen death? As I knew him, I am convinced of the answer. Instead, he lies there, for safekeeping in a nursing home, waiting to die. During the pandemic, he was (low, to be precise) at the top of the priority list to get a corona vaccine. His grandchildren, on the other hand, had to put their lives on hold, were socially isolated and had their study time amputated … and were last in the vaccination queue. He would have turned over in his grave, which he is literally already in, if he had known what happened. I myself am left with an uneasy question mark, and have started planning what will happen if I were to find myself in a similar situation. It’s a thought I really can’t quite wrap my head around. But I try. I will probably become one of the many elderly people who annually take matters into their own hands, having collected enough tablets to end everything. I wonder when we will have a more natural relationship with death as part of life. When is it okay to want to die? When is it okay to let go? I can already now, at the age of 54, say with one hundred percent certainty that if I end up in the same situation as my father, I will end my life before moving into the death chamber of indignity. Can I today, while I am competent to consent and mentally present, create a power of attorney for the future that goes into what I want in the last phases of my life? Is it possible to write a kind of health will that shows my last will? Just as I have filled out the donor card and told my loved ones that my organs can be used for whatever they are worth, I must write down my last wishes – while I still can. I don’t have the answers to how to resolve all of this. And I see that there are gray areas within both law and medicine. But other countries have solved it. Why are the politicians in this country so unwilling to take up the matter, investigate it, listen and be open to the fact that dignity in the final phase of life can also be about letting it go? I urgently ask the politicians to take this important topic seriously, and open an investigation. We are well into overtime.
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Dad must be allowed to die – Statement
