SAS Veteran Investigated over Iraqi "Mercy Killings"

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

i think the idea is to inject enough morphine to keep the patient pain free until the end comes , i don't know about your hospital but i do know about the one my father died in , i just hope that when my time comes the doctors do the same for me .

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

By the time you're SAS you're going to be well knowledgeable on the business of killing people and also medicine and thus you will know someone is not saveable and having to make that choice be it a member of the team or some enemy combatant.

I'd hate to have to pull the trigger myself but at the same time putting someone through more pain when they're going to die is not good either

a reply to: tom.farnhill

i think the idea is to inject enough morphine to keep the patient pain free until the end comes ,

Yup thats how it works morphine is given for symptom control not to bring about a patients death as was implied.

a reply to: Maxatoria

By the time you're SAS you're going to be well knowledgeable on the business of killing people and also medicine and thus you will know someone is not saveable

What so a SAS Trooper is also a fully qualified trauma surgeon???

I think not.

Sure there are some very clear cut incidents where its pretty dam obvious a person is not going to survive which is why i agree with what this guy done and why he done it. I am not going to sit like some arm-chair general and second guess what he done but lets face it if this law was not in place people would die who may otherwise survive.

Secondly I am speaking in more general terms about mercy killing by all members of the armed forces involved in combat.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

I know some people who work in palliative care. They do say that high doses of morphine which will likely kill the person the person they are administered to are relatively common when their days are numbered and they are unresponsive. I do believe that member's of my own family have likely been killed by morphine - e.g if they weren't given the morphine they would probably would have lived longer yet would have simply been in pain and still would have been almost vegetative.

I badly want a discussion for assisted suicide to be opened again in the UK. I although I do not know if it's what I would choose, but, I do believe people have a right to it after experiencing family who have literally had to wait to die knowing their time has come, death being all they wish for.

^^^ A bit off topic but as for the SAS soldier I would imagine the possibility of getting some sort of medical assistance at the level they needed was slim to none and that being special forces it could have been possible they were not able to take prisoners for several reasons. If they would have had to have left them in the desert I can completely see why he took his actions.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Thats what i meant, you know a person is going to die and you have the choice of stretching in out or making it short.

The first rule of fight club is........Don't put it in a damn book.

Yes they did the right thing!

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

i am using the strict legal definition of " publication " - ie diseminated to 3rd parties - just cos its not in waterstones does not mean its " unpublished "

hint - this post meets the legal criteria of published

but we digress - as i said the cockwomble went full media whore - so

my view is that what you do when " its nessecary to make a choice between the rule of law and what is best " is a grey zone you carry to your grave

putting it in a book - is fooking retarded

Eesh. Well, it being SAS they were likely not in a place that medical help or evac was going to happen for the wounded. Ever. So, in that case, a round to the head is better than ants and flies, IMHO.

It might be a bit more chancy if it happened where help was at least possible. But that wasn't the case here.

I am quite sure this sort of thing goes on all the time. However, as has been said, it's nuts to advertise that you did it. Applying a 3S to someone involves a hefty dose of the final 's'.

As far as "comfort care" order sets go, my youngest bro works in the ICU, he showed me the order set at his hospital. The doses are not survivable. It's quite obvious what you are permitted to do. It doesn't say it explicitly. But the order allows you to administer something like 600mg of morphine an hour along with 20mg of Ativan an hour. 'to ease discomfort'. Had the doses been within rationally useful limits, yes, it would probably be less pointed. But when they give you a dose range that would kill an elephant and say 'have at it', it's fairly clear.

I believe in mercy killing especially if those in question have no chance to be saved , why let them suffer. This past June I stayed awake all through the night with my 79 year old mother who had just a week earlier been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer throughout her whole body. My older sister was administering the morphine and I had to wake her every 2 hours to give Mom some medicine. Now Mom was old school tough as nails though looking at her you would not think it. Never complained even when months earlier she fell and broke her hip...she shook in pain when we got her in the car to go to the hospital but never made a wimper. Anyway , that night she kept wanting me to help her sit up then I would help her lay back down over and over til my back ached all the while she was saying over and over Michael I want to go now , Michael I want to go now , please help me Michael I want to go now. It was so damn traumatic for her and me as those words and her voice are seared in my head. I went once and told my sister , look mom is hurting bad and she wants more medicine and my sister said it hasnt been 2 hours yet, I'm not going to suicide her. I had to go back to Mom and say I am sorry all I can do is hold you and pray. The next morning when it was med. time I told my sister you have to call the hospice nurse she should not have to go through this much damn suffering. After the call , it was meds every hour and dosage tripled til she was out cold and just barely breathing. It was another day and a half before she passed.
Looking back I wish I would have just gave her the meds on my own til she passed but I was worried about being accussed of taking the meds myself or worse accussed of killing her. I was worried about the implications for me. I wish I had it to do over again , damn my sibilings damn the law. If some one is that far gone put them out of their misery , especially if they are begging you.
I think he did the right thing.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

One of my schoolteachers only had one thing to say about war.

Smiling brightly he'd say . .

"I killed my best friend boys. He was burning to death in a tank so I shot him."

You'd do it for your best friend.

a reply to: Kukri

Those who fail to learn from history repeat it. How can we learn if the criminal code of silence is followed?

Man up. More truth should be told.