The right to die

[Ancient Citizen]

Being debated currently. I watched (endured) my mother, over a period of 10 years slowly being robbed of her reasoning and faculties by vascular dementia. In the later stages, she no longer knew me or other family members, and would only occasionally respond vaguely to my wife, she was doubly incontinent and in a state of constant agitation. Possibly the worst thing though, was a look of abject fear in her eyes if I or others approached her; this dreadful condition, which can not be cured, must have left her in a state of living hell.
Now, what I'm saying is that if a doctor had taken me to one side and suggested he'd give her an injection to allow her to escape this nightmare I would have signed on the spot, I also know that my mum, a bright, witty and loving soul would also have wished me to do it.
I'm in favour of supporting this bill.

 

[Anonymous]

Tough one. For all intents and purposes, it seems a very righteous and noble thing to allow people some dignity in their final moments.

Of course I can only hypothesise here, but putting myself in a position of health then one of severe deterioration...

Healthy me could sign up for a "say goodnight Gracie" if I became really ill policy. However, what if whilst deteriorating, I have a change of heart and don't fancy having the lights put out yet? Would someone agree with my wishes then or would they argue "he's non compos, it's not what he wanted when he was healthy, see him off doc"?

Also, where does it lead to? Doctor signs off that patient can be euthanised due to illness; does that then become de facto that all with that condition/illness/disease are euthanised too? Do we go a stage further and euthanise all those with that gene/capacity to spread that illness? Do we then get into state sponsored euthanasia and eugenics?

With those kind of doubts in my mind, I'm not so sure I could agree to legalisation - unless the criteria were absolute and even then we'd have to see what it really meant as I wouldn't trust a politician or law maker as far as I could throw the twat.

 

[mcmanus]

If I ever get to the stage were I am that knackered that some poor fucker has to wipe my arse I would want to end it there and then.

I never want to be in serious pain just hanging on with family and friends upset.

 

[BigOscar]

Bit of a no brainer for me, keeping someone alive against their will when they are in constant, unrelenting agony and forcing them to die a slow, humiliating and painful death is pretty much torture in my book. If your pet is dying and in agony, it's considered "inhumane" to not have them put down, yet we force humans to suffer. If a person wants to die with dignity, on their own terms, then I see no problem with it at all. When you see the people with things like that locked in syndrome, it just seems so wrong to not help them and even worse to punish those who love them for freeing them from the torture that is their life.

 

[citizenblue]

I see where you are both coming from and can only relate my own experience. My Mum died of a brain tumour, she'd had the op to try and remove it but it was very aggressive and the radiotherapy came too late to do anything about it.

She eventually ended having loads of fits and, having discussed it with her as we knew what the position would be, I knew she wanted the non-resuscitation option which was to effectively let her go. So not very far removed from the proposals.

But - and this a huge "but"- what happens is that all food, water and medication were withheld. I would have given anything for this simply to have been an injection allowing her to slip away rather than sitting by her bed for what seemed like days whilst she had a death that involved dehydration and starvation.

So yes, I'm behind this bill 100% so other people do not have to go through this.

 

[Bill Walker]

If I ever get to the stage were I am that knackered that some poor fucker has to wipe my arse

and me, just about to eat a sausage

 

[mcmanus]

Bit of a no brainer for me, keeping someone alive against their will when they are in constant, unrelenting agony and forcing them to die a slow, humiliating and painful death is paramount to torture in my book. If your pet is dying and in agony, it's considered "inhumane" to not have them put down, yet we force humans to suffer. If a person wants to die with dignity, on their own terms, then I see no problem with it at all. When you see the people with things like that locked in syndrome, it just seems so wrong to not help them and even worse to punish those who love them for freeing them from the torture that is their life.

Spot on.

 

[Tuearts right boot]

My mum has had vascular dementia for over a year now. What was the question.

 

[Balti]

Being debated currently. I watched (endured) my mother, over a period of 10 years slowly being robbed of her reasoning and faculties by vascular dementia. In the later stages, she no longer knew me or other family members, and would only occasionally respond vaguely to my wife, she was doubly incontinent and in a state of constant agitation. Possibly the worst thing though, was a look of abject fear in her eyes if I or others approached her; this dreadful condition, which can not be cured, must have left her in a state of living hell.
Now, what I'm saying is that if a doctor had taken me to one side and suggested he'd give her an injection to allow her to escape this nightmare I would have signed on the spot, I also know that my mum, a bright, witty and loving soul would also have wished me to do it.
I'm in favour of supporting this bill.

sorry pal

who wouldn't agree ffs?

 

[chestervegasblue]

Can completely understand and sympathise with the arguments for this. The only question I have on it is would it eventually cause prejudice towards the terminally ill and elderly regardless of their will? The initial step of having the right to die in certain circumstances is to be seriously considered, but will it snowball into other areas?