After Dot becomes guilt ridden, believing that she has gone against her religion and betrayed god and deserved to be punished.
In conversations that followed Ethel’s death, we get insights into various arguments for and against euthanasia. Dot expresses the view that life is sacred, special to God, a gift from God, which is referred to as ‘the sanctity of life’. Only He has the right to take it, she also finds verses in the Bible, which suggests that she deserves punishment from God as he has the right to take life.
Dot decides that the best way to be punished is to confess everything to the police. The police can find no real evidence as Ethel was on high doses of morphine causing ‘Double Effect’ as when someone is taking a high dose of morphine continuously like Ethel, the drug will eventually kill the person and also Ethel’s body had been cremated. Dot, they felt, was her best friend that had nursed her and was now confused.
After Dot tells Pauline her close friend what she has done, this shocks Pauline, as Dot pleads her case to Pauline saying, “ She begged me, She made me promise. I knew it was wrong, but I saw it in her eyes. She always had that sparkle, but it was not there any more… just suffering”
Pauline retorts saying “ And what if she had asked you to put a pillow over her face? She did not know what she was saying. How do you know what she wanted? You made the decision and took it all upon yourself.”
Later, Pauline talks to her eldest son Mark (who has the HIV Virus) about his attitude towards euthanasia. He says that he himself had thought about dying and that if he were really ill he was not sure whether he would want someone to help him die. If he were in pain and only a short time to live then he would like to pick his own day. He thought that when you are dying anyway, right or wrong do not come into it, it is those who are left behind that have to deal with the problems.
I believe that Ethel had had a great life- 85 years and at the end she was surrounded by all her friends which is more than she could wish for, and not just in Ethel’s case I believe that people should have the right over their own life and to die with dignity. I believe that Eastenders dealt with this storyline considerably well showing both sides of the argument and in no way was it one-sided.
All Christians agree that euthanasia is wrong. They believe in the sanctity of life, which Dot referred to.
All Churches teach that euthanasia is a grave sin. However, not all Christians are in agreement about whether it is acceptable when patients are incurably ill and are only being kept alive by intrusive treatment. Nor is there agreement about people who are in a persistent, vegetative state or brain dead.
Where as Jews use the same teaching on abortion to oppose euthanasia. The sixth commandment very clearly states, “ You must not kill!”
However, some rabbis would not oppose the switching –off of a life support machine in the case of “not striving officiously to keep alive.” Their argument is that if someone strives officiously to keep someone alive, then they are interfering with a natural process and against the workings of God’s will.
“ If there is anything which causes a hindrance to the departure of the soul. Then it is permissible to remove it.” Rabbi Moses Isseries