Assisted suicide: a suggestion

I fully support people's right to die when they are suffering from a terrible illness with no chance of recovery. The thing which makes me feel uncomfortable, though, is that I don't like the thought of death being planned and scheduled. We're used to death coming unexpected - it's the natural order of things to have a sudden heart attack, or be hit by a bus, or stabbed by a hoodie.

The thought of booking an appointment to be given a lethal injection strikes against that natural order of human experience.

So here is my modest proposal:

In the early stages of alzheimers or whatever, you take out a contract on your own life. You hire a hitman and give him instructions to shoot you in the back at some unspecified point over the next two years or so. You might be enjoying lunch in a cafe, swimming in the sea, or preparing dinner at home. You will never know when that shot is going to come.

One provision in the contract could be that, if he misses, then he will walk away and try another day - so you could also have the sense of having narrowly avoided death.

It would restore that sense of urgency to life - that you never know when it is going to end, and giving back a sense of normality to a desperate situation. It's also tons more glamorous than a lethal injection in a hospital bed.