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Euthanasia Activist Gives up Starvation Death Effort as Too Painful and “Undignified”

BRISTOL, August 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Kelly Taylor, a 28-year-old woman who is not terminally ill, has ended her attempt to starve herself to death after 19 days because of the pain of the effects of starvation.

Mrs. Taylor claimed that she had chosen self-starvation as the only method of suicide that would not leave her husband Richard liable for prosecution. Nevertheless, after 19 days, she said, “It has become too uncomfortable and I would not wish what I have been going through on my worst enemy.”

Taylor suffers from a congenital heart condition known as Eisenmenger Syndrome which, despite being labeled so by news media, is not a terminal condition. It does, however, reduce her mobility and leaves her dependent upon oxygen. She said her reason for wanting to die was that, as a disabled person, she could no longer make a “contribution” to society.

Opponents of euthanasia have repeatedly pointed out that the utilitarian values which permeate modern society are likely to encourage sick and disabled persons to think of themselves as “useless” and “burdensome.”

At a press conference, Mrs. Taylor said, “I feel disappointed in myself. I really wanted to die and that seemed to be my only option. I regret that I have to stop what I am doing because I still want to die. But starvation, as it turns out, is very undignified.”

The painful and “undignified” death rejected by Mrs. Taylor, however, was inflicted successfully by Michael Schiavo and his euthanasia activist lawyer, George Felos, on Schiavo’s estranged wife, Terri, both of whom insisted that Terri’s death by starvation and dehydration was painless and easy. Terri was also not suffering from any terminal illness and apart from her cognitive disability, was in good health.

The news media’s active collusion in this deception is evident in the UK Telegraph’s coverage of Mrs. Taylor’s campaign to kill herself, in which it called her a “terminally ill” woman in the first sentence. The Telegraph reluctantly admits at the end of the article that Eisenmenger Syndrome is “not technically a terminal illness.”

During the fight to save Terri Schiavo’s life, the great majority of news media dutifully called her “terminally ill” and repeated Schiavo and Felos’ claims that her death was painless and easy despite the extensive regimen of pain drugs required.

Earlier this year, in comments on the Schiavo case, Dr. David Stevens, spokesman for the Christian Medical Association said that death by dehydration is horrific.

Dr. Stevens, speaking from his 13 years experience in Africa, where the most common cause of death in children is dehydration from gastroenteritis, said, “Contrary to those that try to paint a picture of a gentle process, death by dehydration is a cruel, inhumane and often agonizing death.”

Read Telegraph coverage:
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/13/nhunger13.xml

Read Dr. Steven’s description of horrifying symptoms of dehydration death:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/mar/05032404.html

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