Assisted suicide?

[armanisgirl]

Just wondered what everyone else makes of this debate? From what I can understand, there are several stringent checks that are made prior to a person being 'accepted' for assisted suicide, so providing these checks are not abused, I don't understand how the idea of assisted suicide can be abused? (Possibly I'm a bit thick here lol)

I was also thinking though, that this isn't that different from havng 'Do Not Resucitate' written on someone's files in a hospital setting! This could be viewed as an assisted suicide too, but it's not illegal, and nobody is threatened with prosecution over it. But ask a family member to take you overseas to carry out a method of suicide and they risk be prosecuted!

It must be such a hard and emotinal decision of the 'suicidee' to make, and for their family members to accept, let alone agree to help, but I do understand why people go to these lengths. I wouldn't want to feel a burden on other people (family or otherwise), particularly if I was still in complete control of my faculties. I've even told my family that if I was ever in hospital and required rescusitating, I wouldn't want it if there was a strong chance of being left in a vegetative state, not because of me, but because of how hard it would be for my family to have to watch me for what could be many years, knowing I would never recover or open my eyes.

I feel so much for those who have or will contemplate assisted suicide; certainly not an easy option. (Nor do I think tonights programme is just to boost viewing figures either - it's about time we knew a bit more about the 'ins and outs' of such a contentious subject!)

[oldchemist]

It's a real minefield. I would like to have the option available to me for purely selfish reasons (intolerable quality of life, whatever that may be) but I can see the difficulties for the medical profession if they were expected to be involved. There must also be real concerns about old and/or infirm people convincing themselves that they have become an intolerable burden on others, when that is not actually the case. And of course the legal system would want to be assured that no crime had been committed (other than suicide). I cannot see the politicians getting to grips with this in a hurry.

[Boss]

Just wondered what everyone else makes of this debate? From what I can understand, there are several stringent checks that are made prior to a person being 'accepted' for assisted suicide, so providing these checks are not abused, I don't understand how the idea of assisted suicide can be abused? (Possibly I'm a bit thick here lol)

I was also thinking though, that this isn't that different from havng 'Do Not Resucitate' written on someone's files in a hospital setting! This could be viewed as an assisted suicide too, but it's not illegal, and nobody is threatened with prosecution over it. But ask a family member to take you overseas to carry out a method of suicide and they risk be prosecuted!

It must be such a hard and emotinal decision of the 'suicidee' to make, and for their family members to accept, let alone agree to help, but I do understand why people go to these lengths. I wouldn't want to feel a burden on other people (family or otherwise), particularly if I was still in complete control of my faculties. I've even told my family that if I was ever in hospital and required rescusitating, I wouldn't want it if there was a strong chance of being left in a vegetative state, not because of me, but because of how hard it would be for my family to have to watch me for what could be many years, knowing I would never recover or open my eyes.

I feel so much for those who have or will contemplate assisted suicide; certainly not an easy option. (Nor do I think tonights programme is just to boost viewing figures either - it's about time we knew a bit more about the 'ins and outs' of such a contentious subject!)

I am all for it!
A person who is ill can only take so much,
especially when they know, there is no cure.
I don't know so much about the emotions of other close relatives, but I do think, the person who is ill, terminally ill should have the last say in the matter.

[honey]

i agree with Boss.

Its heartbreaking to see people you love suffer, this may be the last thing you can do for them.

[Alice in Blunderland]

This one was debated very recently on the org.

http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=58180&highlight=assisted+suicide

It is such a minefield not an easy one. :(

[Alice in Blunderland]

I was also thinking though, that this isn't that different from havng 'Do Not Resucitate' written on someone's files in a hospital setting! This could be viewed as an assisted suicide too, but it's not illegal, and nobody is threatened with prosecution over it.


You will notice from the link I gave you the posts on DNAR in this thread and there is no comparrison between the two.

[balto]

if it was me suffering and i needed so help from a loved one or vice versa, i would like to think they wouldnt leave me suffering and the same if it was a loved one of mine that was suffering, i would do everything in my power to help them escape the pain and misery. i for one think it should be made legal in this country, after all a animal is put out of its misery if it is suffering to much so what not a human, after all we all enter the world the same way.

[gleeber]

Some people suffer terrible symptoms with no hope of survival and some of us would defy them a dignified end. One of the difficulties i have with assisted suicide is some lingering and whispering moral voice from my childhood that reminds me only God can choose life or death for his people. Its as old fashioned an idea as capital punishment but its effects just wont go away.
I was listening to some MPs discussing the issue today and Its little wonder the moral structures of our country are shaky when people dont know themselves whats they want, let alone what you and me wants. One guy, a Tory, insisted because he was a Christian he had to defend all life including the unborn child. That's fair enough but I would rather he did it because he believed it. Not because its a side effect of his religion. Those attitudes are thousands of years old.
We are living in modern times and peoples attitudes have changed. They dont know God. Its a pity but thats the way it is.
Assisted suicides got to happen to some extent in Britain or maybe even Scotland. I think the main worry is one of abuse. Poor old auntie Amelia. All that money. What a waste.

[Gizmo]

Tonights program on Sky Real Lives was one of the most touching and thought provoking pieces of television i have ever seen, the Swiss doctor was quite right to turn down the Canadian couple who wished to die together, they were planning it for all the wrong reasons, i feel that everyone who has lost a good quality of life through a medical condition should have the right to choose when they die, and they should be able to die in their own home surrounded by their family if they so choose.

One aspect of the assisted suicide featured in the program that i feel needs changed is the law that states the individual concerned must be able to drink the lethal prescription by themselves, the man in this program suffered from motor neurone disease which would have eventually left him completely paralyzed, so he had to make the decision to end his life before it got to that stage, i feel this is wrong, he even acknowledged that he had to make the decision to either die...or suffer and die, he could have had several more months of precious time with his family if the law allowed a doctor to help with the administration of the drug.

I'm glad this program was shown and i hope that it leads to a change in the law at some point, i have always said that i would never want to live a life if i had to have every aspect of my daily life taken care of by someone else, but in reality i have no idea if i would have the courage to take my own life, but i would at least like to have the option to do so in my own home and without fear of my loved ones being prosecuted for assisting.

[wifie]

Really beautiful post Gizmo. I agree with you - think it should be allowed here. I don't have sky or whatever so was not able to see the actual programme but heard some of the coverage about it on the radio. I agreed with the fact they needed to show his actual death - such a hard decision for his wife tho. Life is hard enough without existing in a useless shell of a body!

[Julia]

I'm just off to bed to watch the rest of 'Right to Die', I've already got some opinions but will watch this and see how I feel in the morning before leaving a proper comment/response.

[htwood]

A very difficult topic, one that can divide families. I personally agree with the right to die under certain criteria; no hope of recovery from a debilitating painful condition is one. But my first impulse about the 23 yr old who was paralyzed from the chest down in a rugby accident was that his condition was not terrible. If that were my son, no way would I take him to Switzerland. Perhaps his depression at not being able to play ruggers again could be helped with medication.
Gizmo you're spot on with the issue of drinking the prescription themselves. He had a dreadful decisin to make, kind of a now or never decision. He could have had several more precious months with his family.
Difficult to watch on TV, but it takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us think about how we feel. something we don't do often enough.

[rockchick]

I was also thinking though, that this isn't that different from havng 'Do Not Resucitate' written on someone's files in a hospital setting! This could be viewed as an assisted suicide too, but it's not illegal, and nobody is threatened with prosecution over it. But ask a family member to take you overseas to carry out a method of suicide and they risk be prosecuted!



A "do not resuscitate" order is refusing treatment, which we all have the right to do. It is, if you like, an omission of action...whereas assisted suicide is an action. You are actively taking a noxious substance into your body that you know is going to kill you.

By this token, anyone can legally commit suicide by refusing to eat or drink. Horrible way to die, but if one is determined to go, it is a method.

[brandy]

i personally whole heartedly agree with right to die. when some one is in agony, and their is no way out except death. it is the humane thing to do for someone. how many of us have held hands and cried silently watching some one we love slowly waste away, where the only relief is so many drugs that they are kept unconcious.
its not for everyone, and i would never recommend taking the choice of life away from some one, but i also think that a soul should have the choice of death.
one thing that keeps on going thru my head when i think of this subject is that last year when my uncle died from cancer. in the last days in hospice as he lay starving and dehydrated (living will) he asked my mother.. Ruth, when am i going to die? will it be soon?
and all she could do was hold his hands and tell him she didnt know, but it shouldnt be to long now. the same thing happened to my aunt a few months ago.. my poor uncle is destroyed now. she suffered from breast cancer, and it was horribly drawn out and suffering.
she is now at peace thankfully, but he is a broken shell of a man.
speaking as a family memeber, in these cases with everyone in my family it was a relief when they finally gave up the fight and let go.
i wish that they could have had those choices. they may or may not have chosen it, but at least they would have had the choice.
i always found it incredibly ironic, that an animal will be humanly euthanised when its suffering and theres nothing that can help it have a good quality of life, but as humans we do not get the same options.
animals cant even choose for themselves, that choice is made for them, yet no one bats an eye. however as people we are not even allowed the choice.

[anneoctober]

I watched this programme from start to conclusion. I admit I was very tearful through out, - what a brave family. They've also had time to grieve before this was shown to the public. I feel that I am the one who should decide when enough is enough. Politics and religon should n't enter into the discussion, we have no choice in being born into this world, but now we are here, for the most part we've been brought up with "beliefs" and have been educated and can make decisions for ourselves. Therefore we should be able to die when WE choose that the time is right. I admit I am having a difficult time with the Canadian couple ( he being ill and she perfectly healthy ) and the choice they've made together. I have to abide by my opinion though, and allow that that they know their own minds. Would I be brave enough to do the same if faced with their choice ? That's something I'll have to think long and hard about.

[badger]

Like so many people, I would like to be able to die at a time and place of my own choosing if I had a terminal illness that was going to cause considerable distress to myself and my family. I don't even want to die in hospital or a home having seen how too many elderly people are treated. If it were not for the danger of abuse, i.e. greedy relatives wanting to speed up their inheritance or just relieve themselves of a burden, I would be all in favour of changing the law. However, having seen how the abortion law has become for many a way out of a social inconvenience, how can we trust that a suicide law would not also be abused?

Not having Sky I didn't see the programme but there was a discussion on Newsnight last night between a severely disabled woman representing the rights of the disabled and that woman who wants to go to Switzerland when the time comes but fears her husband would be prosecuted. As usual the interview time was too short so they were totally unable to agree, even though it was obvious that they were in different circumstances. One physically disabled all her life but not ill, the other anticipating a bad end to her terminal illness.

There was also an interview with a doctor who had suffered similar injuries to the young man who went to Switzerland and he said he felt the young man's suicide was wrong and that, given time and the right help, he could have led a reasonable life as the doctor himself had done. This again was suicide by someone disabled rather than suffering a terminal illness. If the law is changed, I think it should distinguish between the two. Otherwise what message are we giving to the severely disabled?

[buffy]

This sounds like an interesting programme, does anyone know if it will be repeated, or if it can be viewed online?