What is right to die? 'The End' central character depicts reality of dying with dignity
‘The End’ is an Australian TV series that talks about euthanasia, gender identity and more in a quirky manner. It follows three generations of a family trying to navigate through life while facing obstacles at different points of their lives. The show mainly focuses on Edie (Harriet Walter), a woman who has lived the last decade in complete misery and doesn’t want to live anymore. On the other hand, her daughter, Kate (Frances O’Connor), is a doctor in Australia who specializes in palliative care.
Edie hasn’t seen her grandchildren in many years and believes that she doesn’t have any will to live now. She is one of those who advocate ‘euthanasia’. According to her, everyone should be allowed to die when they feel like they can’t take it anymore.
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The most important aspect of the story is that it is not superficial at all. It is based on real-life experiences where we have seen people fighting for euthanasia and demanding that they should be allowed to decide when they want to end their life.
What is right to die and why Edie wants to end her life?
‘Right to Die’ is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is conducted with consent. It is understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without the will to continue living, should be allowed to end their own life by using assisted suicide or to decline life-prolonging treatment.
However, there is always a debate as to who is empowered enough to assist in such matters. Showrunner Samantha Strauss has worked beautifully to portray this issue in a quirky manner. The show mainly follows Edie (Harriet Walter) trying to end her own life. When a log rolls from the fireplace and prematurely sets her house ablaze, Edie decides to jump from her house’s window and end everything. However, Edie survives and suffers injury on her left arm. She believes that if someone is competent to decide, nobody other than that patient should have the authority to decide whether life is worth continuing.
The attempt forces her daughter to move her mother from England to Australia to keep an eye on her. During one of the scenes, we get to know that she is a survivor of breast cancer and she has also had a double mastectomy. As soon as she is relocated to a retirement village in Australia, we get to know that there are many who want to die with dignity and not suffer in pain.
This is the entire crux of the situation: the right to die with dignity. In one of the scenes, a character on the show blames the hospitals for making people like them “cash cows”. He also says that the hospitals put them in misery so that they can make money out of it.
The decision about whether to continue living in such conditions is among the most important that can be made. Many patients in a persistent vegetative state or else in chronic illness, do not want to be a burden on their family members.
Furthermore, the right to die with dignity is not an ordinary law. It is not a right granted to someone to kill, but it should be seen as an option for a conscious and free person to be understood and helped in a special request that is to end his or her life.
As far as the show is concerned, the idea of euthanasia is something that you would feel conflicted about. However, to Edie, it doesn’t. She feels that rather than going to a retirement village and die while being in suffering would be much worse than taking her own when she knows that it is time. This is not something that most people will understand, but as you watch the show you’ll also realize that it tackles the issue of the right to live as well. When Edie is confident that she wants to end her life, in the process, she also gets to know why living is important.
Let’s just say that ‘The End’ might be one of the most important shows of our times and tells the world about people in suffering.
‘The End’ premieres exclusively on Showtime on Sunday at 8 pm ET.