Assisted suicide: law to be decriminalised 'by back door' from next week
- Thread starter philip2009
- Start date
If you can find examples of people in countries where assisted suicide being forced to do it against their will then you may have a point. However there seems to be scant evidence of that actually occuring. Why should you be able to force me to stay alive in unbearable pain?
Permabanned
- Joined
- 1 Feb 2010
- Posts
- 34
- Location
- Cheltenham
scant adjective
barely sufficient in amount or quantity; not abundant; almost inadequate: to do scant justice
So you are saying if only a few are people forced into it, out of hundreds willingly doing it, it will be okay?
But the simple question remаins. If the people involved are genuinely moved by compаssion, what do they have to feаr from an investigation and a fair trial? They will be acquitted, even if they are charged.
Only those whose motives аre suspect are at any risk
Last edited:
No, I used the word "scant" because I have not done enough research on the subject to say it has never happened. I have not heard of any cases though. Do you have any evidence at all that people are forced into assisted suicide in countries where it is legal?
Because it is still illegal so all you need is a judge to interpret the law differently and you go to jail. Also leaving it illegal means leaving it with zero oversight.
Now how about answering the simple question I posed in the previous post. Why should you be able to force me to stay alive in unbearable pain?
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 5,488
As I've said before, depressed people should be allowed access to lawful assisted suicide as well as the terminally ill and those with other illnesses such as HIV. Basically everyone should be able to go into a clinic somewhere and have it done.
I don't believe it, for one I'm not sure the CPS would know compassion if it slapped them on the ass. This just sounds like a sound-bite to placate public opinion but imo the CPS are a nasty, vindictive organisation - it wasn't all that long ago they were saying that they wouldn't prosecute home-owners acting in genuine self-defence but we've seen more high-profile prosecutions of this type than ever before.
Last edited:
Permabanned
- Joined
- 1 Feb 2010
- Posts
- 34
- Location
- Cheltenham
Where do you go looking for such evidence? A family member who sent dear old ill dad down the assisted suicide route for personal gain, is not going to let their true motives out. Just as if a family member forces a girl into an abortion.
This is why we are аsked to admire the rather creepy suicide pact of Sir Edwаrd and Lady Downes www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Downes, as if it is some sort of act of heroism rаther than a sad and squalid snuffing out of life in a Swiss back street
So we are at an impasse then. Neither of us can prove it either way, which is why any system needs to have full oversight rather than the backdoor/grey process we seem to be creeping in to.
Irrelevant. Are you even going to attempt to answer my question or just ignore it?
I watched my mother in law change from a vibrant lady to a doubly incontinent shell over the course of a couple of years. Even though her brain scans showed enormous black holes, the home she was in treated her with dignity and care. At the end, when she actually became ill, they insisted that they kept her there rather than letting her go to hospital where she would have been put on antibiotics and a drip.
Over her last 3 days, she was given increasing levels of morphine by the staff, but still washed, changed, her hair brushed and regularly turned to prevent bed sores. She died peacefully, surrounded by family.
If she had been taken to hospital, her life would have been prolonged for what?
I know that we were extremely lucky in that she was in a private home and her level of are could not have been higher, but ultimately, she lived for at least 2 years of her life incapable of doing anything for herself, unable to talk, recognise anyone, feed herself etc. Would it have been better if she had been 'put down' earlier?
Over her last 3 days, she was given increasing levels of morphine by the staff, but still washed, changed, her hair brushed and regularly turned to prevent bed sores. She died peacefully, surrounded by family.
If she had been taken to hospital, her life would have been prolonged for what?
I know that we were extremely lucky in that she was in a private home and her level of are could not have been higher, but ultimately, she lived for at least 2 years of her life incapable of doing anything for herself, unable to talk, recognise anyone, feed herself etc. Would it have been better if she had been 'put down' earlier?
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Its pretty simple, its been done, for hundreds of years, thousands of years, by doctors and family. Its done today by hundreds of doctors in the UK, thousands worldwide, all the time, its just done quietly. Its ridiculous, from what I recall someone recently was sent to jail for doing it and in an almost identical case in a different courtroom days later someone was let off completely. So one woman is in jail for ten years and one let go because of differing opinions, the law should be fairly black and white and this, should simply not get people put in jail.
While it goes on constantly with no oversight you're FAR more likely to get people ending peoples lives when they don't want it to happen, than if it was all open and honest and a specified person at each hospital has a meeting with a doctor, a few nurses the family and the patient and discusses the matter. Right now its a case of anyone thinkings its game over and taking it into their own hands without anyone checking that everythings being done right.
Maybe most importantly, it can be done safely and pain free, rather than having a family member have to sufficate or painfully poison someone because they don't know what to use or how much. I mean, someone might want it done for sure, the only method is smoothering but its a basic human reaction to struggle when running out of breath, someone should have to hold down a family member and feel as if they are murdering them, rather than a pain free, nice, calm injection by a professional who won't screw it up, AND won't feel guilt because he's doing it on the sly.
While it goes on constantly with no oversight you're FAR more likely to get people ending peoples lives when they don't want it to happen, than if it was all open and honest and a specified person at each hospital has a meeting with a doctor, a few nurses the family and the patient and discusses the matter. Right now its a case of anyone thinkings its game over and taking it into their own hands without anyone checking that everythings being done right.
Maybe most importantly, it can be done safely and pain free, rather than having a family member have to sufficate or painfully poison someone because they don't know what to use or how much. I mean, someone might want it done for sure, the only method is smoothering but its a basic human reaction to struggle when running out of breath, someone should have to hold down a family member and feel as if they are murdering them, rather than a pain free, nice, calm injection by a professional who won't screw it up, AND won't feel guilt because he's doing it on the sly.
I really should get round to watching that before iPlayer removes it.
Hopefully there'll be more to come, laws that are too vague are just open to abuse or misinterpretation.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2007
- Posts
- 5,583
- Location
- London
I will need assisted suicide as i am unable to self terminate
''sorry officer i bludgeoned them over the head because i love them''Now, how can i apply the new law to my Mother and Father-In-law?
It's not that simple though is it? We have a whole system of case-law dealing with issues skirting around this grey area, and an abundance of case-law dealing with murder, etc.
To legalise euthanasia - although ethically correct in my opinion - outright, could be messy due to the way our legal system operates. If we're going to have it at all, I'd rather it's done right. As long as the pressure is there, this will eventually be pushed through. The worst thing now would be for it to fall flat on its backside and forgotton about.