Tony Nicklinson

India - we must not underestimate the power of the churches to influence our law makers.

Tony's death should not have been in vain. Surely now those who can change the law to allow people to die with dignity and have choices over their last days, must be shamed into action. How can we call ourselves a civilised society if we allow people to suffer as Tony and his family suffered for so long?

I think I would agree greatnan and bags
I suspect you all think I'm religious? I'm not! I believe in something and Christianity is on the whole a good enough way to follow as any other.
In fact I'm a pragmatist.

By 'meaning' I meant that the person concerned felt there was enough pleasure in their life to make it worthwhile, not that it was part of some divine plan. Tony Nicklinson felt the pain and humiliation he suffered everyday, and which was never going to end, outweighed any pleasure he might find in his family's company and I am sure he believed they could only benefit from his death.
I am pretty sure I would feel the same way myself - it must be like the worst kind of claustrophobia.

My life has no meaning. It just is.

What has meaning (whatever that means) got to do with it? What does suffering of the kind TN was going through mean? Simple: it meant he wanted not to be alive; it meant he didn't want to suffer like that any more; it meant he wanted to die. I don't understand what so many people find so difficult about this.

If someone with locked-in syndrome doesn't want to die or, to put it another way, has reasons/feelings/'meanings' why they want to stay alive, fine! But why is the alternative choice deemed less worthy of respect by others? It simply doesn't make sense.

And as for the argument that he might change his mind afterwards – he won't. That much is certain.

Bags, I have heard so many times 'Only god can take a life' and I suspect that the original criminalising of suicide had a religious basis. I agree that keeping someone alive when their life has no meaning to them is doing harm.
I was surprised to hear about a survey of people with locked-in syndrome which found that some 69% of sufferers did not want to die, as they wanted to be able to see their children grow up, but I don't know whether everyone undergoes the same amount of suffering.

bags
It seems that in this country the powers that be - those who interpret the law for us - are always veering towards the state of mind of the person in question.
Maybe he/she is having an extra specially bad day?
Maybe their brain is a bit fuddled lately?
Maybe they are not compos mentis?
Etc, Etc.

Many years ago there was a super magazine called NOVA. Way ahead of it's time maybe.
Anyhow in one of their editions was an article written by a 27 year old man who had been in a wheelchair all his life. Born disabled.
He took the reader through his childhood, and through his puberty ( painful)
and he stated at he end that his whole being depended on family and friends.
His last sentence was: " I wish they had let me die at birth. "
It was a very moving read, and left a lot to think about, or maybe not want to think about...

Well said Bags.

Seems to me, Switzerland is aeons ahead of the rest of the world on this. We should be ashamed of our cruelty.

Here is a questiion that has troubled me for a long time. Why is helping someone like Tony Nicklinson to die seen as "doing harm"? The evidence before everyone's eyes was that it was being alive that was doing harm, both to him and to his family. Death, in his case, should have been viewed as the 'cure', the doing good, the helping.

We are so screwed up about death! It is not always a bad thing. We all know this – witness putting suffering animals out of their misery is seen as kindness. Why is it not kindness when it is a human animal and the human animal has actually indicated that it's what he wants?

So humbling - and so sad he had to endure this misery for so long. I feel truly privileged to live in a country where people in his situation can make the choice to end their life with dignity before they suffer too much. I am really privileged to be a member of EXIT in Switzerland, and know that, if one day I am struck by such a terrible illness, I'd be able to die in the comfort of my own home, with professional carers to support me - without my family being threatened with the Courts.

Firstly my thoughts go out to his family. They have had to go through Hell watching him suffer.

I do not profess to know the answer to this one. With many years of experience as a nursing sister, I can understand the dilemma. What I cannot come to terms with in this debate is the assumption that all doctors out there would be willing to take a life. A doctor's responsibility is "do no harm". Of course, as in Tony's case, there was no treatment given to prolong his life so, Nature was allowed to take its course but, that is very different from actively killing the patient.

When the Abortion Act came in, there was a get-out clause allowing medical and nursing staff the option not to be involved in the care required. A recent court case went against that. Is this likely to happen again if a law was passed permitting euthanasia?

I do not envy the law-makers having to make a decision in this matter. I am only glad that I do not have to do so.

I am glad for Tony Nicklinson and embrace his death because that's what he wanted, and who could have wished for anything other for him.

Annobel.

I think I am right,you never can be sure listening to the news, he stopped taking food after the court case which in turn brought about pneumonia.

Poor man whatever as I am sure we will agree.

I think the report said he died of natural causes - ie pneumonia. He was in no position to take his own life. Sad that he had to live that way.

It's worth reading 'The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly' by Jean-Dominique Bauby, a French journalist who suffered from Locked in Syndrome following a massive stroke. He 'dictated' it by the same method used for communication by Tony Nicklinson - blinking one eyelid when a collaborator read the letter he wanted to dictate. He died a few days after finishing the book. I think a film was made of it.

I am just saddened he had to take his life this way.

Maybe by the time the other gentleman, sorry I do not know his name, goes to appeal Parliament will have voted on the matter. It is not a Tory /Lib Dem only matter Nanadogsbody. It has been discussed in Parliament but it will take cross party agreement to get this one through, or not as the case may be.

His family were very strong and obviously loved him very much.

As Terry Pratchett said on T.V. today, 'You wouldn't have wanted to walk a mile in his shoes', or at least something very similar. That to me sums up the point, it is nobody elses business what we choose to do with our lives.

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

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

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.

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

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

Thankfully he died peacefully of natural causes.

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

Peace at last.

Poor, poor man.