How do you feel about assisted dying?

a reply to: droid56

If I ever become a vegetable, I want out. Euthanasia should be legal with consent.

My GF is a nurse in a Danish cancer hospital.
I couldnt believe it when she told me she had helped dozens of people die.

Its not exactly lawful but these people were seriously terminally ill and were suffering for no reason.
They had said goodbye to their families and were ready to move on.
They tell the nurse their in pain and just keep asking for morphine until they drift off peacefully.

At first I was disgusted and then Ill admit slightly scared of her haha.
But it makes sense, if your suffering in severe pain with no hope of recovery why wait for the inevitable which could take weeks?

There is no logical or rational explanation for wanting people in this situation to keep living on in agony in fact its downright selfish and cruel

a reply to: droid56

Touchy subject to say the least, but if an individual is to the point of wanting to end their life, there should be ways to do it.

If a person says they want to die and is willing to set things up and then 'give the nod' to the person assisting them, then there is no reason for anyone else to stop them.

I've been suicidal when I was perfectly healthy. In more recent years I would have been ready to drop down dead on the spot at any moment with no regrets.

Now, I am actually ill and life is very difficult. Ask me how much I want to die right now. Well, I don't.

Is that just me being awkward or is my will to live asserting itself?

Given my own experience, I would take someone very, very seriously if they arranged to have themselves euthanized. None of us has the right to stand in their way. We don't have the right to 'allow' them to do it either - it's none of our damn business.

if thats what people want then why not. providing its mutual and to the point they will die shrotly anyway, just helps speed up the process.

religiouse folk might not agree, but i agree with anything people what in their lifes, providing its not doing unjust to somone else.

a reply to: droid56

a reply to: droid56

It´s my life, so if i feel the need to end it, for whatever reason, i have the right to end it.
Nobody asked me if i wanna get born, so please let me end my life then, if i am maybe terminally ill, "living" with pains, with no chance of recovery.

But in a more tolerable way than to blow a hole in my head, or whatever.
I don´t wanna end connected to machines(to be a "gold-ass" for someone) that "save my life", till they are switched off.

Here in germany the government would even send you to jail, maybe, because you MURDERED yourself, if you weren´t dead then... Suicide is called Selbstmord here, murder of yourself, if that is nearly translated right... xD

I think murder is murder. I also think that ones life is ones life and they are free to end it if they wish. It is entirely up to them. Illness should not matter. Old age, or youth should not matter.
Who is to say otherwise. It's not my business to stop anyone from taking themselves out of this physical equation if they want.

I have this sneaking suspicion that the taboos on self extinction go way way back to a time when the masses of people lived in slave like conditions, working only for the pharaohs and big chiefs and living only to help build the pyramids and other delights of the rich. I suspect that many of them would have said"Man, I've had enough of this # and I'm outta here".

So the religious leaders put into the religions that suicide was evil, that it would endanger your immortal soul and you would burn in perdition for ever and ever if you took you life so that even toiling as a slave in the muck and mire, at the mercy of the over lord who could beat you to within an inch of your life if you disobeyed was preferable to that promised hell fire and pitch forks.

Yeah, I think the idea that taking ones own life is wrong is one of the first conspiracies ever. Those taboos were put in place to protect the work force of the wealthy, so that the wealthy would not have to do their own work.

If anyone has ever sat with and comforted someone in those last days before a physical death, I can't imagine them NOT being in favor of allowing that person to choose to end it earlier and not have to suffer the terrible pain of it. If they
are/ would have been given the option early enough to make the decision mindfully and consciously.

In the case of the person in my life, poisons from her one kidney malfunctioning had already killed her brain, essentially. She was no longer the person I knew. It was horrific.

When a person's lungs are filling up with fluid they are essentially drowning slowly slowly and unmercifully.

The morphine and anti anxiety meds only assist to keep the patient calm so that they don't try to subconsciously struggle too much. Too much, they still struggle and fight.

If a person has lost kidney function and is on a catheter, then the annoyance of THAT will almost assuredly make them manic in trying to reach and get this foreign object out of their body.

A person in that situation is suffering and you don't need to be a Doctor to recognize it, you just need to be human.

Are those last few days on this planet for someone in that condition for them? Or is it for the living who are too selfish/attached to let go?

Having experienced it and looking back now, I would have wished that option existed for my loved one to leave earlier and not have to suffer those last days, needlessly IMO. In the end they are gone and, for the living, the horrible memories of their suffering and the powerlessness to stop it live on.

In that particular case, for everyone involved IMO, assisted dying would have been easier/less painful...for everyone.

Perhaps for people who believe in 'some sort of' afterlife the understanding/belief of THIS (body) only being a vessel for the soul it doesn't much matter what happens to the body (pain free preferred) because the person's soul will live on regardless of the physical death.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I gave you a star.

This is precisely why I am for it (with conditions and scrutiny). The suffering my stepdad went through in the last 6 months of his life due to leukaemia, the pain my mum was in due to a life long list of illnesses, the suffering my wife will be in once the cancer had spread too far to be managed. All reasons I believe in assisted dying.

I don't care if they are suffering or not, any conscience adult should have the choice. It's your life, it's your choice if you wish it to end.

originally posted by: droid56
In Canada, the ruling government is saying you must be close to dying to qualify for assisted dying. But the Canadian supreme court has presented the idea that if your health condition is one of extreme and unavoidable suffering, you should have the right to be assisted to leave this world when you choose, even if death is not close.

What do you think is right? I think it is our life and nobody should be able to tell us how we should lead it, as long as we consider the needs of others.

I agree with you.

originally posted by: TerryDon79
a reply to: droid56

I'm for it with conditions. Such as,

It would need to be HEAVILY monitored to stop abuse.

It would also need a rigorous system so there wouldn't be any cases of "so we euthanised Mr Doe. The autopsy found he wasn't actually dying" situations.

For that to happen the worlds medical system would need a major overhaul.

I think there's already a huge amount of laws in place for that. I counted only 5 states where it legal.

It's more about a person choosing to do this than a doctor recommending this. Usually it is patients that seek out the information.

If somebody wants to put an end to their suffering, I personally am of the belief that it'd be cruel to ask them to prolong their lives. When someone suffering from a fatal condition is at the end of their rope, it's a truly horrible sight to see. That's not the way that I'd want to go, nor the way I'd want people to remember me.

originally posted by: droid56
In Canada, the ruling government is saying you must be close to dying to qualify for assisted dying. But the Canadian supreme court has presented the idea that if your health condition is one of extreme and unavoidable suffering, you should have the right to be assisted to leave this world when you choose, even if death is not close.

What do you think is right? I think it is our life and nobody should be able to tell us how we should lead it, as long as we consider the needs of others.

I think anyone who doesn't want to live shouldn't have to. Whether they're sick or dying or not. It's not my place to force them to keep going.

a reply to: droid56

Assisted dying? Why not call it by the correct name .......suicide also known in German as selbstmord (murder oneself)

Hillary calls abortion ........ women's health issues......

You can change the name hoping the stupid and ignorant fall in line with the new names given.... making it sound harmless.....

Recently the Netherlands allowed a young woman to go to Switzerland to commit suicide because she was depressed. NO matter what the degree of depression she had...... the state authorized her suicide.....

Maybe we should look at this from a leftist position...... if you do not like someone they should be suicided or maybe your child misbehaves and it should be "put down" like a sick animal...... WHAT? I a taking this too far? I have not...... those sick minded officials already have......it NO longer applies to physical sickness now you can kill yourself LEGALLY with mental problems.........

a reply to: droid56

No one should tell you how to live or die...or how, when or with assistance.

I believe the medical professionals who assist in requested intentional end of life requests...are blessings for those who seek them out....

MS
EMT/ERT

a reply to: droid56

If we are free to live, then we should be free to die.