It seems paradoxical to suggest that we need to fight for the right to die. We owe nature a death. Most of us spend the better part of our lives trying to avoid the inevitable; we want to extend this business of living for as long as possible. We do all this without ever pausing to think we need to petition the state for the right to carry on.
But come horrible illness, hopeless suffering, unremitting pain, life can become a burden. A decent regard for human autonomy ought to respect the right of those struggling with terminal conditions to take their exit without the permission of the state. But the state, somehow, has managed to slip its sterile hand beneath the sheets of our sick bed. It seeks to hold us here, even against our will.
