A woman was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (the same disease that Stephen Hawking has) five years ago.
A woman was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (the same disease that Stephen Hawking has) five years ago. This is a condition that destroys motor nerves, making control of movement impossible. But the mind is virtually unaffected. People with motor neurone disease normally die within four years of diagnosis from suffocation due to the inability of inspiratory muscles to contract. The woman’s condition has steadily declined. She is not expected to live through the month, and is worried about the pain that she will face in her final hours. She asks her doctor to give her diamorphine for pain if she begins to suffocate or choke. This will lessen her pain, but it will also hasten her death. About a week later, she falls very ill, and is having trouble breathing. Does she have the right to make this choice, especially in view of the fact that she will be dead in a short while, say six hours? Is this choice an extension of her autonomy?