Assisted dying bill

Caleo

Granniesunite, there is medication to allay severe agitation of mood.
Please excuse me . My friend in hospital terminally ill was become agitated and I consulted ward sister who told me this.

There is but it often sedates so that the person just sleeps most of the time. That is not quality of life. We have investigated this for my Mum who has dementia and has become very anxious.

Galaxy

I wasn't talking to you caleo, I think generally those who support the bill have failed to address/ understand the risks. I am afraid I think it us a bill led by the privileged ( and I hate that word!)

Of course there must be safeguards but if we were able to write a living will giving the circumstances where we would like to determine our demise there would be a record of what people would like. For me, I don't want to put my children through what I have had to go through twice. I have seen some most awful deaths; my grandfather drowned in his own pneumonia after a prolonged period of advanced dementia, countless crippling UTI's and being really scared of anything that moved. Can you imagine what it must have been like not being able to breathe because there was insufficient passage for oxygen to enter your lungs for at least the last 24 hours. It was horrendous and cruel.
The bill might be led by the privileged because that is where the power lies but even the unprivileged don't want to see their loved ones die in such cruel circumstances.

I was born disabled with a rare hereditary neurological condition plus a hole in the side of my heart . And am capable of making my own decisions plus looked after my children. Nursed my husband,helped my mom with my dad ,then had mom and mother in law until they died.
Disability doesn't mean incapable. Yes some people with disabilities will need the protection provided by the law but their are far more many off us who can make our own decisions.

Yes but the ones who can't make decisions have been let down time and time again, those at risk of coercion have been let down time and time again, I have no faith in safeguards put in place by the govrrnments or the NHS for example.

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

Shinamae

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

I’m 72

Shinamae

Shinamae

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

I’m 72

you may change your mind if you really did get one of the quoted diseases and not want the injection then. However having put it in writing that, it was once your wish, a family member with POA could possibly use that against you and any treatment available when the time comes. (just used as an example of course). There are so many issues both for and against and I agree with them all.

Shinamae

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

But do you have the right to insist that somebody else should administer that injection? And are you not in any way a little bit concerned that anyone is queueing up to be able to administer said injection to you? I'd love to have faith that everybody involved had the highest motives but humans.........

Rosie I would not expect anyone to give me a lethal dose . I will do it myself when I know it's time . To be honest I already take a tablet that in a high dose would kill me . That's why I made sure may children growing up went no where my tablets do the same with my grandsons.

Whiff

Rosie I would not expect anyone to give me a lethal dose . I will do it myself when I know it's time . To be honest I already take a tablet that in a high dose would kill me . That's why I made sure may children growing up went no where my tablets do the same with my grandsons.

But that would be suicide which is already legal. The point of the bill is for the assistance that people need which is a different matter.

I think the will to live is a very strong one for most of us and it does seem to me that we need some clarification about the point you lose the ability to decide for yourself. I do think vulnerable people might be pressured but I suspect they would probably find that pull to live prevails when it came down to the nitty gritty.
Rosie, vets have to make that decision all the time as do Drs when it comes to abortions. Some people won't see it as murder, they will see it as a kindness. If they choose to assist, the process for permission is sound and the process for the actual deed is painless, I think that is up to their conscience. If their motives are less than pure, as long as they comply with the legalities, that is up to them. I'm not sure it should be up to a relative to do the deed.

Yes it is a different matter and I would have ended my husband's life back in 2004 as we had already decided what he wanted . Would have done the same for my parents if they asked . As none of them could have done it themselves. And I could have been charged with murder or manslaughter and imprisoned.for it .

I do not want anyone to have the responsibility of ending my life when I choose . But have no intention of dieing yet. To many things I want to do .
But I have seen my husband being ravaged by cancer and my mom turning into a monster through dementia . I do not want anyone who loves me to go through what I did . I don't want anyone to have my memories of what happened to them and my dad.

win

Shinamae

Shinamae

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

I’m 72

you may change your mind if you really did get one of the quoted diseases and not want the injection then. However having put it in writing that, it was once your wish, a family member with POA could possibly use that against you and any treatment available when the time comes. (just used as an example of course). There are so many issues both for and against and I agree with them all.

My brother died at 49 twenty two years ago with bowel cancer. He was in absolute agony. I was with him when he died he couldn’t speak. It was awful absolutely terrible. I don’t want my family to go through that with me. Should the time come…
I already have an advanced directive with my Doctor and with my papers to say that I don’t want any treatment if I faced catastrophic illness with no hope of any respite or cure

Rosie51

Shinamae

I SHOULD be allowed to go to my doctor now(while I am off sound mind) with my solicitor and request that if I get severe dementia or terminal cancer, I should be allowed to have a lethal injection to end my life……

But do you have the right to insist that somebody else should administer that injection? And are you not in any way a little bit concerned that anyone is queueing up to be able to administer said injection to you? I'd love to have faith that everybody involved had the highest motives but humans.........

Pierpoint managed to hang quite a few people and I’m pretty sure there would be people willing to administer a lethal injection after all they do it in the U.SA on death row….🤷‍♀️

My husband has asked me a couple of times to end his suffering after a severe stroke. It is heartbreaking to see someone you love and have been married to for 48 years so distressed.

I have no doubt in my mind that if he could use both hands he would have already done it himself. I have been sleeping on the sofa for about 2 months as I dare not leave him alone. Finally went back to my bed upstairs last week.

Copies of my advance directive are with my lawyer, and my GP medical centre. I have a third copy to be handed to the ward sister when I go into hospital .

At Dignitas you drink it yourself in a private room.

When doctor assisted dying is legal in the UK even poor people who cannot afford Dignitas will be able to die with medical assistance.

Whiff, I have felt the same about the "people with disabilities" objection.Just because someone is disabled doesn't mean they can't be assertive and can't self-advocate. Why they should be any more vulnerable to being pressured into agreeing to end their life than an able-bodied person escapes me. Yes they may need assistance with daily living but that is a way of life for them & probably has been for many years. It is less clear with learning disabilities and acquired intellectual disabilities, but when these affect the person's ability to make independant decisions, I think the Bill states they wouldn't be a suitable candidate for assisted dying.
I'm disabled & I support the bill for the reasons posters above have given.

Caleo

At Dignitas you drink it yourself in a private room.

When doctor assisted dying is legal in the UK even poor people who cannot afford Dignitas will be able to die with medical assistance.

A few years ago, I watched the documentary when Terry Pratchett accompanied aman and his wife to Dignitas(can’t quite remember, but I think the man may have had multiple sclerosis or Motor neuron disea,as I say I can’t really remember) But the important thing he was able to say right up to the last minute what he wanted to do
Right up to the last minute they were asking the man if he wanted to take it I think it was a drink and he took it and he sat by his wife on a small sofa leaned into his wife’and he was gone..
The thing is if you’ve got dementia, you cannot say right up to the the last minute whether you want to do this so if I get dementia because I would sooner pay and go to Dignitas rather than my kids lose there bit of inheritance for me to be kept alive for the sake of it. This is why I wish I should go to my doctor now with a solicitor and maybe even say that when I lose my mind completely I want to go to dignitas This is my opinion.

Shimamae. until it's not illegal to get an assisted death , my sons would be penalised if they accompanied to Switzerland so I could get myself pleasantly dead.

me

Caleo

Shimamae. until it's not illegal to get an assisted death , my sons would be penalised if they accompanied to Switzerland so I could get myself pleasantly dead.

Yes I know that,I’m really saying that part of it where people travel with you to such places should be decriminalised…
but it’s also the main factors that if you’ve got dementia and you cannot say at the last minute that you want to take the killer dose I should be able to tell my doctor he should be able to liaise and sort this out
So really I want my Doctor to liaise when I’ve given them instructions while I’m fit and mentally well and then for someone not necessarily a relative to accompany me but not be liable for prosecution …

Shinamae

Caleo

Shimamae. until it's not illegal to get an assisted death , my sons would be penalised if they accompanied to Switzerland so I could get myself pleasantly dead.

Yes I know that,I’m really saying that part of it where people travel with you to such places should be decriminalised…
but it’s also the main factors that if you’ve got dementia and you cannot say at the last minute that you want to take the killer dose I should be able to tell my doctor he should be able to liaise and sort this out
So really I want my Doctor to liaise when I’ve given them instructions while I’m fit and mentally well and then for someone not necessarily a relative to accompany me but not be liable for prosecution …

Wishful thinking I know, but can’t happen soon enough for me..

I will probably end up doing it myself and make a right bloody balls of it….😭

My brother died from bone cancer when he was 14 .That was over 50 years ago. Some still remember. I was 2 years old

Shinamae, join Exit and get instructions. I did but have forgotten the exact instructions. I do remember Exit tells how to make a simple comfortable face mask that suffocates you AFTER you take the pills, just to ensure the pills work.

It is very difficult to get the pills unfortunately unless online and that is not reliable, you could be sent rubbish.