Hospital bed - imaige: US DOD, Public Domain
People should decide for themselves what is valuable and live their lives in accordance with that decision. In so doing, they are the authors of their own lives, forming them through voluntary decisions and taking responsibility for what they do and become.
This is the ideal of individual autonomy, and it plays a central role in our ethical and political thinking. A core commitment of liberal political philosophy is that people should have the chance to enjoy autonomous lives. That also means that they should have control over the time and manner of their deaths. If self-authorship matters at all, it matters especially when we are approaching death. The law should recognise this by ensuring that people have the right to end their lives, with help from others if needed.
