The "Ethics" of Death

Baroness Mary Helen Warnock has said that people suffering dementia have a duty to commit suicide. She told the Church of Scotland's Life and Work magazine, "If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives - your family's lives - and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service." In another article for a Norwegian periodical, titled "A Duty to Die?" she suggests, "There's nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so [commit suicide] for the sake of others as well as yourself. In other contexts, sacrificing oneself for one's family would be considered good. I don't see what is so horrible about the motive of not wanting to be an increasing nuisance."
The good Baroness should be careful for what she wishes as her analysis shows some seriously flawed thinking on her part one might think she is “losing it”. Yes it is true that people do sacrifice themselves for their family, friends, coworkers etc. but her analogy is fatally flawed. People who selflessly act to save others while putting themselves in harms way are all acting on their own volition. No one is suggesting to them “throw yourself on that grenade Fred, take one for the team buddy”! They are also motivated by a love of family, God and country which nourishes incredibly selfless acts not by fear of being a “burden”. Any most importantly they are all quite sane not demented, depressed or mentally challenged.