– I want a sudden death when the time comes. Why can’t I die when I want, asks Hans Smith-Sivertsen. The 91-year-old is fit and active in everyday life, and says he has lived and still lives a good life at home in Bergen. During the Great People’s Meeting in Tromsø on Monday evening, he asked Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Conservative leader Erna Solberg questions about active euthanasia. He wonders if it shouldn’t be a human right to be able to end one’s own life under certain circumstances, and with society’s support and assistance. – I want the opportunity to be able to end my life when I want to. I would feel safer, and be even better off, if such an opportunity existed with public assistance. Smith-Sivertsen says he knows several 80- and 90-year-olds who have lived happy lives, but who would appreciate this opportunity. Hans Smith-Sivertsen has had a good and rich life. But when he gets bored, he will choose for himself. Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / news Active euthanasia Active euthanasia is taking the life of a person at the person’s voluntary request, or helping a person to take their own life. Want to avoid suicide The Bergen resident understands that many healthcare professionals may be reluctant to help with active euthanasia. – The opportunity to manage one’s own death without having to resort to dramatic suicide can be important for many. Smith-Sivertsen outlines three circumstances in which he wants assistance to leave the world. If he receives a diagnosis that involves great and lasting pain. If he feels helpless physically or mentally. If he himself is convinced that the time has come. The 91-year-old is aware that there are objections to euthanasia. Some are culturally or religiously based. And some people think that you can let yourself be pressured by your family to end it. But if you have good family relationships, this is unlikely, he believes. Mona Levin is 83 years old and still working as a theater critic and editor for a music magazine. The day she decides the time has come, she will choose when she will die. Photo: Janne Møller-Hansen / VG Sushi and active euthanasia Elderly care is the municipalities’ responsibility and an important issue in the election campaign. Theater critic and editor Mona Levin (83) has been a member of the Right to a dignified death for many years, and also takes the floor to give the elderly the freedom to choose for themselves. Now the time is approaching for those who are going to health facilities for the elderly to have sushi and tikka masala and completely different things from what is served at home today, she believes. – There are many choices about life and death. We must also be able to choose, while we still have our wits about us, when we want to die. And when you can no longer account for yourself and have no joy in life, then I think you should be able to choose that you don’t need to live anymore, says Levin. Illegal in Norway Active euthanasia is illegal in Norway. If this is to be allowed, the law must be changed. Several countries in Europe have legalized it. In Norway, the discussion has been ongoing. But only the FRP voted for active euthanasia when it was a topic in the Storting in 2020. In 2019, three out of four Norwegians answered that they were positive about allowing active euthanasia, in a survey carried out by Dagbladet. After Smith-Sivertsen’s question, there was applause in the hall. Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg fears many people feel like a burden, and therefore decides to “relieve” society and the family. That is why she is against active euthanasia. – Momentary depressions and difficult times can change. That healthcare personnel should help people take their own lives goes against ethical norms, she replies. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) says he is brave for asking the question. But he completely agrees with Erna’s approach. – Healthcare personnel should help us continue life, not end it. Støre says he has witnessed parents who went through a very vulnerable phase. – There is a very understanding and professional healthcare staff who help you to complete your life in a dignified way. It’s about you being helped out of the last phase. I am afraid we are changing a moral standard. In countries that have tried this, it slips out, says the prime minister. Hans Smith-Sivertsen traveled to Tromsø to get the politicians’ answer to active euthanasia. Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / news Think more often about it Hans Smith-Sivertsen hopes active euthanasia is offered through the GP, or by a doctor who has undertaken to do so. The 91-year-old has thought about active euthanasia since he was young, and had to euthanize his dog at a vet. – It put its head trustingly in my lap while it was given an injection, and then it died without a twitch. Then I thought: imagine if we humans could also have this opportunity. The thought occurs more often now, says Smith-Sivertsen.
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Hans (91) will decide himself when he will die – news Troms and Finnmark
