Assisting the atheist in the foxhole to die

As a nurse and humanist I would be greatly honoured to help someone to a peaceful death. The old religious maxim that there are no atheists in foxholes has been disproved to me time and time again. I have met a number of people close to death or who are dying and make no concession to religious affiliation through any sense of fear or anxiety. It is humbling and impressive to experience the graceful dignity of an extremely sick person who refutes the fears of divine punishment and the desires for divine reward and, instead, faces their death from a fully human perspective.

After death we are as non-existent as we were before we were alive. When we are dead we are, as we were when we were alive, simply a collection of various chemicals but without consciousness. But when we are close to death we are still alive and, as such, must be afforded all the rights and respects defaulted to all humans- dignity, autonomy, freedom of choice and so on- and this includes rights over ones' body. Dying is part of living. It seems perfectly logical, loving and respectful to assist someone to a peaceful death of their choice if they are unable to provide that for themselves and I would be proud to help someone achieve what they cannot. I consider it a human duty.