Assisted Dying

There was no suggestion in the articles I read that she had any physical difficulties at all. Misleading indeed.

Yes very misleading.

Indeed.

Exhausted after fifteen minutes activity suggests there was something wrong with her health, so not such a healthy 75 year-old after all.

Which suggests further that the media reports were negatively biased, as they often are when it comes to assisted dying.

I've only read what's on this thread, but it does sound an alarm bell or two for me. Life is a trial and a burden for an awful lot of people (there could be quite a rush!). It's obviously an individual matter when that trial and burden becomes too much to bear. Does the article explain this?

I've always been in favour of assisted suicide for terminally ill people. But it seems as if the definition of terminally ill may be changing. Life, by it's very nature, is terminal, and just how ill do you have to be? Like Riverwalk I would hate it to become the norm to jump the gun and end it all so as not to become a burden.

hear hear

I have just seen her partner interviewed very sensitively on tv.

He confirmed that she became exhausted after about a quarter of an hour's exertion and she had to lie down to recover for hours on end. Life was a trial and burden to her.

I sincerely hope if things turn bad for me that I will have the courage to die at my own choosing in my own country. I admire her tremendously.

Her life. Her choice. End of.

x posts

No, she was 75. Have you got the right woman, granjura? Gill Pharoah?

Apologies, in this case, the woman was indeed 75. Makes no difference to the fact it was her choice.

Totally agree with Anya and thatbags- it was her choice. At 84 and with arthritis and her experience as a nurse for older people- she knew what was her likely fate- and didn't want to face it. My mum died at 94- 10 years too late as far as she was concerned- and truly hated those last 10 years of pain, blindness and dependency - she would have loved to go with Exit - at home - but my dad would not let her go and begged her to stay with him, and later, the OAP home contract did not allow Exit to act there (the Law has been changed now to stop them from preventing this).

Respect to that woman - her choice. She was 84, not 75 as previously quoted.

I agree, Anya.

I don't think it would ever become the norm and be expected. It hasn't done in countries where assisted death is legal.

Those who think this woman has committed a selfish act might consider the fact that she has not only spared herself the indignity of a possibly long-drawn-out and miserable death but also spared her loved ones the pain of having to witness it.

It seems to me that she had a phobia about getting old and its consequences and took the only decision which made sense to her.

Some people say suicide is selfish as well.

I admire the woman. She did what she wanted. Why shouldn't she once she's past being responsible for anyone else? I don't think she was responsible for her partner's happiness or her daughters' and I think she didn't want them to feel they were ever responsible for hers.

Well done that woman.

She told her family what she was going to do LG and she obviously discussed it with them. That is all she needed to do.

Why, oh why, do people think they have the right to live other people's life for them?

In the words of the song

'I don't care anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life and leave me alone '

From what I read over the weekend she had worked for many years with older people with dementia and didn't enjoy it . I wonder if such work skewed her view of what life is like for the average over-75s.

The people she nursed would be those in the very worse of conditions - consigned to a nursing home with no hope of recovery or leading a normal life.

I remember all those years ago when a student nurse, the 16-week stint on 'Geriatrics' was quite the worse part of the whole course ..... any days missed would have to be made up at the end of the year, unlike any other specialty. More people took sick leave on that assignment than any other.

It's not something that I would encourage - it might become the norm and be expected.

But no man/woman is an island. You cannot choose to do anything you want, either in life or in the manner of your chosen death, that does not impinge on other people; and we should consider others.

Good for her. If that's what she wanted then she took control and made sure it happened her way.

It was her her life.

That is part of the trouble with this sort of thing in my opinion.
It can leave all sorts of unanswered questions for those left.

People going to Dignitas ought to be screened for depression - I am sure that this must happen. When I was suffering a depressive illness, I would have agreed to anything to stop the misery.

I agree ginny and lucky girl, I think it was a selfish decision, but perhaps there was more to it than we know. She was healthy it seemed, but perhaps the happy photograph did not tell it all. She may have been suffering from depression.

Her choice , yes but why ?

She was healthy and happy, could she not have left the decision a few more years or if she became ill and dependent.
There is way would I have supported a healthy parent or anyone else for that matter is this sort of choice.
Is it really right for an organisation to allow this ? Surely there must be some sort of criteria before they can allow someone to do this ? It seems very odd to me.

Well - I think she said that in the article I read - that she wanted to go out in her prime. She had a partner who apparently endorsed her decision and went with her to Dignitas.

I think it must be extremely hard for her daughters, who, whatever she said, must feel that they had failed her (or were expected to fail) in some way.

In some ways, although her decision might seem unselfish (the desire not to be a burden to her family) it could be construed as a selfish decision, because it leaves the family to deal with complex emotions (as do all suicides).

She said her partner and D supported her but it was not their choice for her. If I am being really cynical, and may be shot down, she appeared to be a very attractive woman and said she didn't want to be pushing a Zimmer frame around . There could have been an element of vanity and wanting to go out in her prime. Yes that is cynical I know.

Of course , we don't know her family circumstances, but I imagine her children must be heartbroken,as she appeared healthy and happy.