Dying in a liberal society

“Dying”, writes Max Charlesworth, “is, in a sense, the most important thing a person does” and he adds that “one should as far as possible be in control of it” (Charlesworth 1993, p. 33). There can be little doubt that the ending of a life is one of the most important events of a life, and what is to be the manner of the ending of our lives is one of the most important questions that faces us all. Most of us would also concur, at least initially, with Charlesworth’s claim that the ending of our lives is something over which we should be able to exercise some control. Indeed, issues concerning the end of life, and the control one may have over it, have gained considerable public attention in recent years with the rise of campaigns for the legalisation of assisted suicide in many countries, and, in some cases, the enactment of legislation to achieve just such an outcome – for instance, recent legislation in the state of Victoria, Australia.