A good death is as important as a good life: Wisdom must prevail

The right to die with dignity in accordance with one's wishes should be upheld in letter and spirit

- NITIN PAI

David Michael Malone, my friend and mentor, elected to die with dignity on 24 November at the age of 71. The veteran scholar-diplomat—a former Canadian high commissioner to India—had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple of years ago and Alzheimer’s disease more recently. He was spared the pain but did not want to suffer the loss of memory and degradation of the quality of life that comes with Alzheimer’s. He invoked Canada’s right to die when he was still in control of his mental faculties and passed away a day after spending an enjoyable evening out with his close friends.

As much as I will miss his long-distance friendship and sage advice, I was not unhappy to see him depart the way he did. Death is an important subject, but there is both a psychological and social aversion to discussing it. It is inadequately discussed in the public sphere, and even in policy debates, we engage with the topic more in the context of healthcare than something in and of itself.

As a consequence, we continue to hang on to old mindsets, norms, social attitudes and laws concerning death even though the world around us has changed. Now, there is a case to be conservative in matters of life and death. But there is also a need to be responsive to our present and future contexts.