Assisted Dying. For or against?

I am really not sure.

I do not believe hospitals in UK hasten people’s demise by overdosing. It is one thing aiming to alleviate suffering by giving adequate pain relief, but quite another to overdose intentionally.

This may have happened in the distant past but in my experience in the community, GPs were reluctant to give large doses of opioids, especially since Shipman.

We’ve both done similar with an add-on to our Health and Welfare Powers of Attorney, Grannywannynanny. Circumstances in which we specifically do not want any life-saving or life-prolonging treatment.

Definitely yes from me

Apart from my religious beliefs, which are hugely important, I think this comes with too many risks. How soon would it move from informed consent by the patient to consent by next of kin?

Then you might have exhausted carers coming under pressure to agree, unscrupulous relatives giving consent etc

I also think there's a huge difference between deliberately administering a drug to end someone's life, and using drugs and technology to prolong a life where it leaves a person helpless, in pain and with no quality of life.

Yes I am in favour. My dear late husband suffered from motor neurone disease and it was hell. A few weeks before he passed away peacefully (and most people with this terrible disease do die peacefully) he said (through his machine as he could no longer speak) that he'd had enough. Luckily mother nature took him away gently - I held him while he died.
To janeainsworth if he'd asked me to end his life I like to think I would have been brave enough to do so, though it would have been with very heavy heart. I loved him dearly and didn't want him to suffer any longer.

ABSOLUTELY YES!!

Unless the person only has a very short time to live anyway, and they are in pain I would not trust anyone to make that decision. Horror stories about organ ‘donations’ come to mind, plus relatives who might benefit from a will etc etc. Why do I keep thinking of that ghastly doctor in the north of England ?

Yes from me.

My immediate gut reaction is definitely yes. I'm not sure why I have a tiny niggle about it though.
But I do know what I would want for myself, if I was in great pain and there was no hope, then definitely yes.

Its a yes from me too.
Medical staff should be allowed to opt out if they wish as i believe they can in the case of abortion.
Switzerland is an option but that demands a level of fitness to travel meaning difficult decisions have to be made earlier than people may wish. A sad and lonely end in an anonymous flat on an industrial estate in a foreign country.
How much better to be in a familiar place at a time you choose with friends or family around you.
I know which i prefer, and lovely though Switzerland is for a holiday it isn't how I would want my life to end.

nanna8

A fine line between actually killing someone and giving them that little extra painkiller or a bit of extra insulin if they are diabetic. If they are dying anyway I don’t have a problem with that. I will never accept someone who may have several more months or years relatively pain free being put down, though, even if they have Alzheimer’s.

I have an adult child with type 1 diabetes; over injecting insulin is NOT and I repeat NOT a guarantee of a pain free death, some might just 'go to sleep and not wake up' but for others it could be painful and distressing. Please don't suggest this as a way of causing early death/euthanasia.

Absolutely yes. My brother was begging to die after a catastrophic stroke. He still had some speech, but couldn't move, had to be fed through a tube and had no quality of life. It took a year and he eventually died from an infected bedsore that became gangrenous. No animal would have been treated that way.

On the other hand, in the eighties my father was in the final stage of cancer and in considerable pain. His humane doctor gave him enough morphine to ease the pain. He then said his final goodbyes and she came back and gave him another very large dose and he died.

What she did was probably criminal but for him and his family it was a kindness.

nanna8 I understand that you are in Australia and I understand that Australians are often more direct in how they phrase things. I used to live there. So I would respectfully ask you to consider how your language might appear to someone on this thread whose family have recently gone through their own debates about unassisted dying for a family member.

BTW, its a yes from me, but I am interested in reading everyone's points of view.

A fine line between actually killing someone and giving them that little extra painkiller or a bit of extra insulin if they are diabetic. If they are dying anyway I don’t have a problem with that. I will never accept someone who may have several more months or years relatively pain free being put down, though, even if they have Alzheimer’s.

Lucca yes ‘thou shall not kill’ and more

I'm sorry to hear about your brother in law CanadianGran terrible disease. It sounds like he had a peaceful end to his life with care and compassion from his family and the hospice staff. That is all I would wish for if I was terminally ill.

Yes please, we don't let animals suffer, why humans

Anniebach

Peasblossom yes my faith in Christ but also my lack of trust in humans .

As a non believer Annie may I ask (respectfully) is it the “ Thou shalt not kill” which concerns you or is there something more about the Christian faith ?

Absolutely.Its only now years later I can remember my dad as he was before he was a husk of man in constant pain.And now gone weary and extremely old and frail and confused I'm supporting and watching my mum becoming the same.Not only do I not want that for myself,I wouldn't want our DCs to go through the same,DH agrees.

I m in a real wobble on this one I think if someone’s dying and the pain relief will take them a few hours or days earlier then yes indeed and that has happened in my own family but I m so afraid this could would lead to a more definite form of killing and no I don’t like the idea of places like Dignatas which is a killing room and so planned
I don’t belong to any religion so I m not influenced by that just so unsure if we should take lives even to help
It s not cut and dried is it

We talk of assisted dying, actively causing death, in a great many cases the patient is sent home and the drugs sustaining life are withdrawn with only pain killers used, and the slip away.
My uncle had a heart attack, my aunt had been seriously ill for some time, my cousins agreed that treatment be withdrawn and there was a double funeral. Somewhat unusual but did seem the “way they would have wanted it”.

I think it goes on a bit on the hospitals but very unofficially. I know of a couple of incidences of this personally where the patient had little or no brain function as a result of a stroke. Not to be talked about for fear of being sued but it is happening all the time. I prefer that to a song and dance with legalities, personally.

My BIL recently was assisted in his death here in Canada. He had been diagnosed with ALS and was in the final stages of the disease. Like Jane43 and cocoPops have stated, there is a procedure to grant the application, and needs to be approved by two different doctors.

From what my sister has told me (I was unable to travel to visit either before or after his death) it was very peaceful and the hospice care very compassionate. This was just in January, so there are certain things that I have not asked her, such as who decides at what stage of an illness to administer the dosage.

this is from the website:
That illness, disease or disability is in an advanced state of decline and irreversible with natural death being reasonably foreseeable.

This in itself will not allow someone to ask for assisted death upon a diagnosis of an illness. From what I can gather, it is a compassionate way to end life, and I hope one day I can be granted that dignity.

Yes. People are kept alive via drugs, etc. Can financially wipe families out. I think Hospice Care is wonderful also, in a way it is assisted. I suppose both depend on your religious beliefs.