Nguyen
Thi Bach Tuyet visited the office of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper the other day
with a letter, in which she penned how she wishes to settle her own death.
“If that
day comes when I will get old and sick and grow unaware of my surroundings or
become a vegetable, I hope the National Assembly will grant me the right to
die,” Tuyet, a retired 63-year-old grade school teacher, wrote in the heartfelt
letter.
Tuyet
lives by herself in the small commune of Thuan Thanh, Can Giuoc District, Long
An Province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.
Visiting
Tuyet at her house in Thuan Thanh Commune, we were welcomed by a woman looking
more optimistic and attached to life than someone who had been thinking about
death.
“I was
devastated when they diagnosed me in 1996 with a condition they said would
severely affect my health,” Tuyet recalled her story, “I came home waiting for
death to come. It baffles me that I still live to this day”.
The
inferiority complex of carrying a sickness inside her body prevented Tuyet from
tying the knot with anyone. She was afraid to hurt her loved one.
“But then
I began to realize it would do me no good to just keep depressing myself over
the fact, so I started taking part in social activities to lead a happier
life,” Tuyet said.
Tuyet had
been a grade school teacher until 1984, when she retired and set up a small
stationery shop near her school.
Tuyet
would offer her hand to every man in need, and even donated 1,000 square meters
of land to build a kindergarten in her commune.
Leading
such a full life as she did, Tuyet was always haunted by the thought of her
getting old alone with no relative to stand on her bedside in her last days.
Tuyet
finally stood up and voiced her demand for the ‘right to die’ during a meeting
with local candidates running for seats in the 12th tenure of Vietnam’s
lawmaking National Assembly (2007-2011).
Nguyen
Anh Dung, chairman of Can Giuoc District People’s Committee, said Tuyet had
since brought up the issue several times during meetings between voters and
National Assembly members, taking example from her own experience.
Tuyet
said with great pride that she had registered to be a body donor in 2009. “Then
at least my body would be of some help,” Tuyet expressed.
A long way to go
Dr.
Nguyen Huy Quang, director general at the legal affairs department under
Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, was a vocal advocate of the recognition of the
right to die in 2015, when the ‘right to die’ was proposed to be included in
the revised Civil Code of Vietnam.
“In
reality, those suffering from serious and painful conditions untreatable by
current medical capabilities do wish to die a peaceful and painless death, and
I think they should be allowed to,” Quang said.
Quang
said in 2005 when the Civil Code of Vietnam was first drafted there were
already opinions calling for the inclusion of the right to die as a basic right
alongside the rights to live and to pursue happiness.
“However,
the right to die was not viewed in favor of by the drafting team and the
National Assembly at the time due to existing concerns about culture and
humanity-related factors,” Quang explained.
Meanwhile,
Nguyen Manh Hung, a professor at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, asserted
that there were not sufficient legal grounds at the moment for the recognition
of the right to die in Vietnam.
Hung
explained that in order to recognize such a right, lawmakers must also build a
system of mechanisms to make sure that the right is appropriately exercised, as
well as establish infrastructure to carry out the procedure.
“There is
still a long way to go and a lot to do before the government can recognize the
right to die,” Hung concluded.
Unethical
Many
sociology experts in Vietnam agree that the right to die is a real need of
humans despite it being frowned upon by the majority of the community.
Tran Nam,
a professor at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities,
attributed public objection towards the right to die to its contradiction with
the right to live recognized in almost all constitutions.
In legal
terms, Nam voiced his concern about how the right to die could be abused to
carry out murders or forced euthanasia to claim benefits from the euthanized,
such as insurance money or inheritance property.
On top of
that, Nam said, signing the paper to allow the putting down of your own family
members could be a haunting experience, especially in the case of Vietnam where
moral values and familial bonds are highly respected.
Agreeing
with Nam, lawyer Nguyen Thi Hong Lien, vice president of Ho Chi Minh City Bar
Association, said the will to live is reflected deeply in the way of life,
tradition, and moral values of the Vietnamese people.
Lien said
it would be extremely difficult and even haunting to have to cut off life
support or perform lethal injection on the dying, even if it were for the their
own good.
As of
2016, the right to die is recognized in the Colombia, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and Canada.
In these
countries, a fully conscious and able patient is allowed to choose to stop
their treatment and die.
Any form
of suicide suggestion, prescription, or assistance by family members or medical
workers, however, is strictly prohibited by law.
In cases
of patients who are in a persistent vegetative state, the choice is in the
hands of their family members.
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