Euthanasia need to be considered in UK?

Voluntary Assisted Dying as been legal here in Western Australia for about 3yrs now and I know someone who took the option. It was my wife’s friend/boss who was a Professor of Neurology who ended up with a Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. There was no sugar coating it with her and she knew the eventual outcome so she took the voluntary assisted dying route when things started to go really bad for her. There are quite a few rules/laws and the person has to be of sound mind and sign off.
Told my wife that if I ever get diagnosed with, say, MND, I will be going this way when the time would be right. No chance I would go through what that horrible disease does.
 
Stoddy said:
Voluntary Assisted Dying as been legal here in Western Australia for about 3yrs now and I know someone who took the option. It was my wife’s friend/boss who was a Professor of Neurology who ended up with a Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. There was no sugar coating it with her and she knew the eventual outcome so she took the voluntary assisted dying route when things started to go really bad for her. There are quite a few rules/laws and the person has to be of sound mind and sign off.
Told my wife that if I ever get diagnosed with, say, MND, I will be going this way when the time would be right. No chance I would go through what that horrible disease does.
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This country should seriously look into this, we always seem to take the wrong route in anything
 
Mr Badger said:
There is certainly stuff that already goes on to hasten death, such as stopping the supply of liquids or loading people up with morphine. But of course in those situations the decisions are being made by the Doctor and not by the patient. And it would seem far kinder to end it all quickly and cleanly with an injection, than to let someone slowly die of thirst.
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Both my parents died from terminal dehydration, as did my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. It is a thoroughly terrible way to go. Although none of them seemed with it in the last day or 2 they might have been desperate for a drink for all we know. It would be considered torture to deprive a human of water for days, let alone to the point they die. Labour need to have a serious conversation about this, maybe a Royal Commission, take it out of the political world and keep religion out of it.
 
The problem doesn't have to just be seen through religious eyes, it just needs to be see in the classical phrase of difficult cases make bad laws.

It would be hard not to gave empathy in specific cases without seeing how it can and probably will be abused fairly quickly from multiple facets (from the state outright wanting to save monkey, to bad hospital staff, to bad relatives to people pressuring themselves etc).

In my opinion it is better that society as a whole has protection from the state or authority figures until a better solution has been found.
 
Orangeade said:
The problem doesn't have to just be seen through religious eyes, it just needs to be see in the classical phrase of difficult cases make bad laws.

It would be hard not to gave empathy in specific cases without seeing how it can and probably will be abused fairly quickly from multiple facets (from the state outright wanting to save monkey, to bad hospital staff, to bad relatives to people pressuring themselves etc).

In my opinion it is better that society as a whole has protection from the state or authority figures until a better solution has been found.
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As you're in Switzerland, do many Swiss go the Dignitas route when the time comes?
 
Colonel_Klinck said:
I think the term they use is "make them comfortable" but the large amounts of morphine they inject means not just that the person feels nothing but they their breathing will become labored and will ease them on their way.
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They don't inject "large" amounts of morphine. They subcutaneously administer a calculated dose that is a measured amount to remove pain. If there is agitation, then midazolam is used.

A syringe driver does not hasten death. It reduces symptoms. Administering an amount that would cause respiratory depression, especially deliberately, is manslaughter.

DOI - doctor with a special interest in palliative care, worked in a hospice for several years, prescribed hundreds, if not thousands of syringe drivers
 
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tres said:
They don't inject "large" amounts of morphine. They subcutaneously administer a calculated dose that is a measured amount to remove pain. If there is agitation, then midazolam is used.

A syringe driver does not hasten death. It reduces symptoms. Administering an amount that would cause respiratory depression, especially deliberately, is manslaughter.

DOI - doctor with a special interest in palliative care, worked in a hospice for several years, prescribed hundreds, if not thousands of syringe drivers
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Yup. If only it did/they could! My wife's uncle passed away last year, after a severe frontal ischaemic stroke during dialysis. The doctors basically said he wouldn't have much time left even without the stroke, and although recovery from the stroke *was* possible to a degree, it'd take 2 years he didn't have anyway. After a conversation with my wife (his NOK) they withdrew all fluids and food, inserted a syringe driver with 10mg midazolam/24h, morphine (and later oxycodone) and various drugs to dry secretions. For everyone else, those are called anticipatory drugs and they're definitely a decent halfway house between nothing and euthanasia. They topped him up (PRN) for the first day while the driver took full effect, as he was occasionally waking and becoming agitated.

We had several 'quiet words' with his consultant and palliative nurse (who was fantastic, btw). He was suffering, he had zero chances of recovery and perhaps those doses might need... topping up a bit to make him more comfortable? The reply was 'absolutely not', and basically he'll die when he dies. It took four and a half days in the end, but he was at least sedated and comfortable. We got chance to say goodbye, sit with him and once he passed to lay him out and clean him etc (though short of full final offices, for probably obvious reasons).

Personally, in that situation I don't see any meaningful difference between we relatives sitting next to his unconscious body for 20 hours a day (literally) for five days awaiting the inevitable, and him being given a different medication once that final decision was made on day 1. If I was in his position, or suffering a painful and terminal disease, I'd certainly welcome the option to be relived of my suffering. Having sat with him for that final five days, as well as nursing a young (30s) relative with grade IV glioblastoma multiforme and a relative who effectively slowly drowned in terror due to lung cancer, I think it's cruel not to.

For anyone interested, US-based hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos has a brilliant book called 'The In-Between', all about her journey into hospice nursing with stores of multiple patients and how hospice and death really works. It's fantastic, not at all morbid, and I can highly recommend it to anyone - we're all going to die one day.
 
Stu999 said:
Jersey have approved assisted dying for those with terminal illnesses and unbearable suffering.

www.bbc.co.uk

Jersey assisted dying plans for terminally ill approved

Jersey politicians approve assisted dying plans for terminally ill by 32 votes to 14.
www.bbc.co.uk
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That's big news. Only passed for those with "a terminal condition with unbearable suffering", but not for a "non-terminal condition with unbearable suffering" which is interesting.

Also, both glad and disgusted that only "most" members voted in favour of an opt-out for health professionals, giving them a right to refuse to participate in assisted dying.
 
area51_for_psx said:
Mods first thing.. If this is classified as a medical thread please remove as I don't want to break any rules.

To the subject at hand. I have been thinking about this recently. Should the UK bring in euthanasia. should it be discussed at least?

Thinking about this recently as my mum was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago. No treatment is possible. Currently mum is home but is bed bound and has no quality of life.

Various nursing staff in throughout the day to help the family and mum. Hasn't been able to talk in days and if she does talk it could be incoherent due to the drugs to try and control pain.

The nursing staff and GP have been brilliant but having to call them in middle of night as mum is in agony and needing a morphine top up is heart breaking. (All recent estimates are this could last another 1-2 weeks)

We wouldn't allow an animal to just lie in its bed suffering so why do we allow a human?

(An upset and tired OcUk member )
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i am in the same situation with my mum.. she had her cancer returning, strong radiotherapy treatment which then got infected, then she had a huge stroke which has totally trashed her memory and not knowing who anyone is, and cant remember anything longer than 5 seconds... even after 4 weeks theres very little improvement, and her cancer is terminal.

I would take Euthanasia in a heartbeat if it was available in the UK.
 
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CaptainRAVE said:
I can’t see them pushing it through in our lifetime, I hope I’m wrong. If I’m suffering and/or have lost my mind, please just end my suffering before I lose all dignity.
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Unfortunately, I agree. The politicians won't all agree to it despite overwhelming public support.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
I can’t see them pushing it through in our lifetime, I hope I’m wrong. If I’m suffering and/or have lost my mind, please just end my suffering before I lose all dignity.
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I'm more hopeful. But yeah does seem one of those weird ones.

Surely everyone loses someone to these horrible slow conditions and would rather not go through it themselves

Get it done!
 
tres said:
They don't inject "large" amounts of morphine. They subcutaneously administer a calculated dose that is a measured amount to remove pain. If there is agitation, then midazolam is used.

A syringe driver does not hasten death. It reduces symptoms. Administering an amount that would cause respiratory depression, especially deliberately, is manslaughter.

DOI - doctor with a special interest in palliative care, worked in a hospice for several years, prescribed hundreds, if not thousands of syringe drivers
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This goes against my father’s experience. He went in to see his father who was on palliative care at his home and was in pain, on his last legs, and unable to communicate. The Dr told him that there was a button on the machine that would administer pain relief, and that if my father thought his father was in a lot of pain that it would administer pain relief at a much higher dose, and that would end any suffering, possibly permanently. The Dr then left the room. My dad pressed the button. 5 minutes later his father died.

Are you saying this was a coincidence or that that Dr gave my dad the chance to kill his Dad illegally? This was 25 years ago.

(I can’t remember if he said Dr or Nurse was there)
 
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