Tony Nicklinson

Yes, very sad. I hope he has a back-up plan that will help him get his wish when the time comes.

This is a heart-breaking no win situation. I feel so sorry for his family and indeed for him of course and fear that the publicity he and they have received will only make life harder for them.

whenim

I think his back up plan is to starve himself. Desperate days for all of his family also.

How lucky are we?.

POGS Aren't we just.

It's horrendous. The man is suffering so much why can't he make the decision. It's not right that he has to starve himself. How horrible will that be for both him and his family? Also what if the social services decide to put him in hospital and force feed him.

We wouldn't let an animal suffer like this but we inflict this on fellow humans all the time.

His family must be very strong and loving. They have to watch someone they love suffer so much. The pictures in the newspapers may at least bring about an adault debate on this subject, it is so very difficult.

POGS that's the whole point, it's not a personal decision. In this country we cannot decide for ourselves. The best you can say is that everyone can have a personal opinion. vamp has said it.....we wouldn't let an animal suffer like this. Poor man and how terrible for all his family.

Everyone has the right to die and we all shall sooner or later. Anyone capable has the right to commit suicide; it is no longer classed as a crime. The problem arises when someone, such as this poor man, wishes to die but is unable to commit suicide (except by starving himself) without assistance. Assisting suicide is the crime. It is time that this was properly debated rationally and logically without all the emotive stuff about "the thin end of the wedge" and "forcing the elderly and disabled into euthanasia".

Absolutely!

Whilst working for a brain injury service I developed an absolute horror of this scenario - we had several patients in this boat and it was truly awful. The worst thing was that they were at the mercy of some really poor quality care - it was my job to make sure they had the best care possible, but it was a very difficult task as I was only there intermittently and simply did not know what went on when I was not - and the poor person had no way of telling me. It truly made me shudder - you could see sometimes that their lives were total misery but could do nothing.

In spite of an immense amount of sympathy for this poor man and his family, I think the judge was right. Judges may and do set precedents in law but they cannot make new laws. That is the job of Parliament which, so far, has weasled out of this one.

Sadly that's unlikely with this lot. They seem to consider it more important to change to makeup of the House of Lords and change constituency lines to mke it easier to get re-elected. Does the average Joe Public care about theses sort of issues?

It's issues like this one and those raised by Mishap , and the gerneral care of the elderly that need addressing first as they affect real human beings and cause acute misery. Instead this government aided by the media seem to be intent on making older people persona non grata. I for one am sick of it and resent it.

However I don't want to turn this into a political debate, i just wonder what happened with the GN campaign to highlight the poor standards of care for the elderly. Did tht fizzle out?

We now have three threads running on this sad case - is there any chance of merging them, Queen of Granset? Many of us have already written at some length about our feelings and thoughts on the issue. If you want to see the previous threads, just put Tony Nicklinson in the search box at the top right hand corner of the home page.
He cannot be force fed unless he is sectioned under the Mental Health Act and as he is clearly in full possession of his mind they will have to let him stave himself to death.

I've just heard that Tony Nicklinson has died.
Sad though his death is, at least he is no longer suffering.

Oh thats sad . I quite liked him RIP

Poor, poor man.

Peace at last.

I am glad his suffering has ended, both for his sake and for his family's.

Thankfully he died peacefully of natural causes.

Just a pity he had to drag out his misery for so long.

I'm glad that nature took its course eventually. He did a lot to publicise the plight of people with locked-in syndrome.

Pneumonia always used to be called "the old man's friend" - clearly a "friend" to this man too. Thnk goodness no over-zealous medic intervened with antibiotics and nature was allowed to take its course.

It must be a blessed relief for his wife and family that he has finally been released from what can only be described as a living hell.

My thoughts are with them

My condolences to all his family. A blessed relief but such a shame that all this had to go through such a public process, I'm glad that his end was sooner than anticipated