Assisted suicide - should the law be changed?

Does anyone else think it strange that there is fantastic terminal care being offered to some people in places called hospices that rely on charitable contributions. But that care in the NHS can vary so much for those not dying within the walls of a hospice?
My DS had a friend who died in a hospice in NZ and he (DS) was astounded by the excellence of the staff. And he's pretty picky about such things.

As Maxgran said: In countries where this is legal the safeguards to protect the vulnerable is not satisfactory.
This is very true, I know that from bitter experience.

Yes, the law is a fudge, but it has nothing to do with the law. At the end of the day it will be YOU who has to agree. The medics will only recommend!

That must be bad enough if it is a question of switching off a life support machine , no matter what the person's age.
But the case of old people slowy going towards their end, is a different matter.

Assisted suicide is only for the compos mentis.

Greenmossgiel,.

The old man I saw was definitely not being assisted. He was being assaulted with a spoon as far as I could make out. He kept making noises which the nurse totally ignored whilst he continued his conversation with his colleague about a night out.
It really upset me to see someone being treated like that. I saw a a man in that bed,.. god knows what the stupid nurse was seeing.

Maxgran, I know what you mean. Even sitting thinking about it makes me feel so sad and angry. There are so many issues regarding vulnerable people like this. When we used to make afternoon visits to my BiL in hospital years ago, it used to annoy me to see incontinence bed-pads laid out on neighbouring beds. How humiliating for the person returning to bed knowing that visitors had seen this.

I have to say that my hospital experiences over the last ten years have been
very good and the nurses have been kind and attentive but about two years
ago whilst having a heart valve replacement operation I did encounter one
nurse whom I asked, a couple of days after the operation, to help me get out
of bed said we are not allowed to lift patients.....that was not what I asking for
but, before I could further explain, she marched off. Fortunately she was off
for the next few days!!! The sad part about this is that one is very vulnerable
after a major operations and should not have to try and fight one's corner!

After reading all the contributions, two things occurred to me; One, that people seemed to be talking about 'old and vulnerable people" in the abstract. When I said I want the right to die, when I want, I was talking about myself. I don't want to live when my quality of life is unbearable. Do you?

Secondly, people are talking about care and nursing today as if in the past it was better. I was a 'ward orderly' in a geriatric ward in a cottage hospital in the 60's, when I was a student. I was shocked on a daily basis by what I saw. I still remember seeing the bed sores on a lady's back, the size of half crowns. Another horrible memory, visiting Cane Hill Mental Hospital to visit my Nan. I think in many ways things are a lot better now. My Mother died 10 years ago with care and dignity in Crawley Hospital. I can only speak from personal experience.

Over the last 10 years I have been responsible for the care of three different sets of elderly relations who have been in hospital in parts of the south east as diverse as Kent, Portsmouth, Swindon and Oxford.

My experience throughout has been almost entirely that British born and educated medical staff, regardless of ethnic background, are consistently indifferent and uncaring when dealing with elderly people, particularly if there is any mental deterioration, whether dementia or simply depression. Over the ten years almost all the staff who were instinctively compassionate and caring were of foreign origin, a Dutch GP, a German A&E doctor, a Moroccan and a Filipina nurse.

It is nothing to do with nurses/doctors being overworked/understaffed it is that a caring attitude to the elderly is something that is now missing in our national psyche (not sure about that spelling). My daughter, in her late 30s, was recently in hospital following a road accident and all the staff, regardless of nationality or background were uniformly caring, thoughtful and friendly with her.

What makes me so angry is that when they talk of the elderly being a burden on the NHS they conveniently forget that the elderly in their youth and middle age paid taxes and NI stamps to fund the NHS. some of us are still contributing to the NHS through our income tax. At the time they were contributing, like the young today, they generally made few demands on the service, yet when they get old and need medical care and expect to be able to draw on the investment they have made into the NHS over forty or fifty years they are treated like spongers demading services they have done nnothing to pay for.

Me again, on assisted suicide I would be very unwilling to see any change in the law. The pressures that can be put on someone, particularly when they are old and ill, to seek a quick ending when in their final decline to death can be very subtle and take place over a long period. A family discussing with an elderly person worries about the cost of care, subtle hints that the value of a house can pay for a grandchild's university education, even if they need a loan while their beloved grandparent is alive, the worry if all the money goes on care costs, horror stories about care homes.

The subtlety of covert persuasion should never be underestimated and it would be almost impossible to prove because the old person would have been very gently brain-sponged so that they would have convinced themselves that an expedited death was what they wanted. From there hard-pressed medical providers would start to openly do cost-benefit analysis to show that it is best if any one over a certain age has to have 'Do not resuscitate' written on their records.

I am with Johanna, assisted suicide is only for those in their right mind and, I would add, very clearly still masters/mistresses of their own lives.