WHOSE
LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?
by Brian Clark
Whose Life is it Anyway? is a play about a sculptor, Ken Harrison, who has been paralysed in a road accident and his struggle for the right to die. Although humour is used to good effect in the play, there is a deeper meaning behind it.
PLOT:
Ken Harrison was paralysed in a car accident and has just been physically stabilised. His state of mind is to all appearances clear. After realising the consequences he will take from this immobilisation he
decides that life for him isn’t worth living anymore. In order to show him the abilities he will have in his future life Mrs Boyle, a medical social worker, is sent to him. She tries to make him think about his disability in a more optimistic point of view, but she reaches the opposite and Ken gets very upset. After considering all the possibilities he will have in his future life he is more convinced than ever that he doesn’t want to go on living like this anymore.
Dr. Scott, a young doctor and Dr. Emerson have made several experiences with patients like Mr Harrison during their careers and so they believe that he too suffers from clinical depression. That’s the reason why they treat him with tranquillisers. Mr Harrison isn’t satisfied with this treatment, because he feels to be withdrawn of the only part of his body he is still able to use, his brain.
Ken knows that the doctors would try to convince him in any way to stay alive and so he orders the Sister to call Philip Hill, his solicitor.
Next morning Philip Hill comes for a visit in order to talk about an insurance-compensation. Ken explains his situation that he had calmly considered and now
wants to be discharged from hospital, because outside he won’t be able to live longer than one week. He needs Mr Hill to represent him in a legal case. He has to consider all the legal aspects that are involved in this case. The solicitor wants to talk to Dr. Emerson first and wait for his reaction before he decides whether to help Ken or not. The doctor reacts heavily and is absolutely against Mr Harrison’s discharge. But Mr Hill realises that Mr Harrison means it very seriously and that he is in a clear mental conscious and so he decides to help him and to represent him. He is convinced to help Ken getting discharged from hospital.
Mr Emerson and Mr Hill come to the agreement that a psychiatrist from another
hospital is brought in for a second opinion, because Mr Harrison is said to be incapable of making a reasonable decision.
Then, two lawyers –one for Ken and one for the hospital- and a judge are brought in to consider all facts and to decide, if Mr Harrison is in a clear state of mind. Ken is heard by the judge and tries to convince them that he is in a great mental condition. After Ken is proved to be mentally balanced, the judge, Mr Millhouse, decides that Ken is allowed to be discharged. After loosing the case legally, Dr. Emerson still wants Ken to
die with humanity. That means he wants him to die surrounded by doctors who can take care that the moment of death at least won’t be painful and offers him to take a room at the hospital.
MAIN THEMES:
Euthanasia:
With the rhetorical question in the title, saying “Whose life is it anyway?” Brian Clark indicates to the main theme of the book right from the beginning. Euthanasia is a very serious problem in this book. Mr. Harrison doesn’t want to live anymore. He has offered this desire several times but people around him don’t want him to die, because they think that his mental condition isn’t clear. Throughout the book we learn that he is in a great mental condition and so I think he has the right to decide whether he wants to die or not. In my opinion individuals have the right to make decisions concerning their own bodies, including decisions about when or how to die.
Dignity
Mr Harrison expresses several times that he wants to die with dignity. Th
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