Should assisted suicide be legal (for everyone)?

Hodders said:
I can understand why some people might feel that assisted dying is immoral or goes against the rules of their faith.

But that SHOULD NOT allow them to control access to a chosen death to people that want it.
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Yeah, that's the sort of thing a lot of MPs come out with. "I know a young man called Jack, who has cerebral palsy and he has a GREAT quality of life, therefore no assisted dying for you". Good for Jack but that shouldn't deny anyone else who does want it.
 
I really dont understand why it isnt a basic human right to end our life when we want.
If its such a legal minefield, why dont we just copy what the swiss do?
I can understand insurance companies having a problem with it but, if someone is dying of a terminal illness anyway, you should be allowed to collect life insurance on a controlled, earlier death.
Apart from the advantages of helping the NHS (don't have to spend billions taking care of terminally ill patients who take up time, funds and other resources) and it would ease pressure on housing stock too.
 
There are problems though, Canada and the Netherlands have both had cases where people with depression have been allowed to kill themselves and friends and family weren't informed to support them because of medical privilege/confidentialty. I think most would agree in principle but in practice some of the edge cases can be as inhumane as preventiing assisted dying in the first place. Some people will feel substantial social pressure to take their own lives, it is a bridge that once crossed is difficult to uncross. Better we take our time and get it right or never do it than botch it and regret at our leisure.
 
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PlacidCasual said:
There are problems though, Canada and the Netherlands have both had cases where people with depression have been allowed to kill themselves and friends and family weren't informed to support them because of medical privilege/confidentialty. I think most would agree in principle but in practice some of the edge cases can be as inhumane as preventiing assisted dying in the first place. Some people will feel substantial social pressure to take their own lives, it is a bridge that once crossed is difficult to uncross. Better we take our time and get it right or never do it than botch it and regret at our leisure.
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Also if you have life insurance and all that's needed to pay out via euthanasia, is "terminal illness"... I think some people will either feel pressured or be manipulated into going sooner than they might have wanted to.
 
Diddums said:
Hang on, this thread is over 100 posts long and not a single person has said it should be illegal.

What the **** is going on here, start an argument or something ffs :mad:
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I think it should be illegal.



OK, no, can't do it. I really hope things change when I get to the age...... Such indignity of having someone having to be fled slops and not have the ability to walk themselves to the toilet / wipe their own backside.

It will be off to Switzerland for me if things don't change. Freedom of choice here should be a fundamental human right.
 
I think it should be legal but there should be strict guidelines...

Without strict guidelines, elderly people could feel they're being pushed towards assisted suicide. Lack of hospital beds, being a burden on family etc. These things could lead to elderly people feeling they're just in the way and that it's expected of them to choose that option. Canada has guidelines but you still get cases which fall through the gaps so if they legalize it here they really need to implement it in a way that catches these outlying cases
 
I 100% agree it should be an option. Of course, it should be the last resort, when all other care/mental health options have been exhausted. But it would be nice to know, I have a choice when it comes down to it.
 
Yes.
After having to watch my mother slowly decline after a heart attack and stroke, having her freedom removed, being stuck in a bed with no prospect of recovery and telling me she just wanted to die. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

I cared for mum at home for nearly 2 years with the help of carers. But eventually she refused to go to dialysis, stopped taking her medication and then stopped eating and drinking properly.

The NHS put her on palliative care and gave her a cocktail of drugs in syringe drivers to "keep her calm and settled" and left her to it.
It took another couple of weeks.
It was horrible and it still upsets me.

She passed last October and I've just received the final bill for the last 4 months of her care package.

The law has more compassion for our pets than our parents.
 
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Pyr0m@nI@]{ said:
The NHS put her on palliative care and gave her a cocktail of drugs in syringe drivers to "keep her calm and settled" and left her to it.
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This is the point at which I think it should be "allowed".

Both my grandparents were in the same state at the end, cancers eating away at them, in huge pain, discomfort, and dosed up on ridiculous amounts of drugs just to keep them "comfortable" while everyone waited for the end.
 
Pyr0m@nI@]{ said:
Yes.
After having to watch my mother decline after a heart attack and stroke, having her freedom removed, being stuck in a bed with no prospect of recovery and telling me she just wanted to die. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
I cared for mum at home for nearly 2 years with the help of carers. But eventually she refused to go to dialysis, stopped taking her medication and then stopped eating and drinking properly.
The NHS put her on palliative care and gave her a cocktail of drugs in syringe drivers to "keep her calm and settled" and left her to it.
It took another couple of weeks.
It was horrible and it still upsets me.
She passed last October and I've just received the final bill for the last 4 months of her care package.

The law has more compassion for our pets than our parents.
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Sorry for your loss

Going through same thing. Mum had a bad stroke in July 2020, middle of covid, double incontinent and use of only right arm and leg. 6 weeks in hospital where she managed to get bad bed sores and then in to the care home

At the start she used to get angry and just wanted to go home so drugs used to calm her down, now spends 99% of her time in bed just wanting it to end and no quality of life other than the tv

There's worse cases in there, stick thin elderly people screwed up like a ball permanently in bed

Put in the correct procedures/precautions in place and let people choose
 
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