Euthanasia

It was so very sad for one so young but I feel that we must have a choice.
What particularly annoys me about this case is that the poor girl was assaulted (more than once - what does that say about modern society?) so this is letting the attackers win iyswim. I don't know if they faced justice for their crimes.

Well said Jura. When will people start to check out the "Newspeak" before they continue spreading it. You know these papers lie and checking takes such a short bit of time. Can you imagine how those who have be caring for this poor young woman feel knowing that lie has got its boots on and, for some, will never be corrected.

Can a person with severe depression make a calm, reasonable decision?

My daughter jumped from a bridge into the river, if I had been there I would have done anything to stop her taking her life.

So sorry Anniebach, this must be painful for you.

No apology needed rafichavran most on this forum know.

I bring it up on discussions such as this . I understand why some believe the girl had a right to choose to die, but I question can a person with a mental illness such as this poor
girl make a rational decision.

One fact about many suicides, the person doesn’t want to live , doesn’t want to die , but believe they only have these two choices so choose death because it will end the pain.

It is understandable that you feel like that Annie but I feel sure that in this case, as the young woman seems to have been under medical care, the appropriate cognitive assessments would have been done. I am sure we can all think of instances were suicide may seem, to a rational person, to be the right a proper course for them to take. We cannot deprive someone, who is able to make such choices, from doing so just because it isn't what we want, however hard that may be.

Just don't know how to respond Annie- as your pain must have been so immense, and still be so raw.

If I ever saw someone on a bridge waiting to jump- I'd hope I'd have the courage to go and talk to them, hold them if possible - but this young woman's situation was totally different.

As said, would you have found it humane, knowing her full history, to either tie her to the bed and force feed her through a tube, with her fighting to stop. Or, again, put her in an artificial coma against her will to force feed her? Surely not.

I don’t know Jura, my daughter tried to take her life several times cut her wrists, took an overdose. We talked about it, she said ‘Mum I don’t want to die but i am too tired
to fight’, I want help ‘. The night she died she wrote messages on her living room wall, one said ‘ I’m too tired to live’.

I cared for her for ten years, I watched her suffering, but I would still have tired to stop her jumping. Selfish? Perhaps,
But I never in those ten years gave up hope .

Sorry to make this personal but still ask can someone with mental illness make a rational decision?

If this unfortunate young woman hadn't had anorexia then the chances are that her mental state would not be so precarious. Anorexia is the mental illness with the highest mortality rate.

Annie, the answer to your question is very probably 'no'- but - and sorry to say this again- do you think the young woman should have been, again, tied to the bed and force fed, or, again, put in artificial coma and force fed... and for how long, and how many times more? This would be totally inhumane.

jura I don’t know, I don’t know what treatment she had received, I know nothing about her life so I can’t in all honesty say yes or no.

Jane10 it (the anorexia) would appear to be effect rather than cause.
Her mental state was fragile, to put it mildly bad she had been raped at the age of 11 and then again by two men just three years later.
Ultimately it was a considered decision to stop eating and drinking and deemed to be suicide.

“As she had been raped”

A young woman known to me was in a similar situation. She was sectioned and, pretty much as Jura2 has luridly described, 'tied to the bed and force-fed'. Except she didn't need to be tied to the bed as such, because her body condition was so poor she was too weak to move and she was in danger of cardiac arrest if she made any effort. The 'force-feeding' was via a vein in her arm, so not quite what the suffragettes endured. She was very close to death and one of my own Dd's in fact visited her to say her farewells.

Thank god, no one gave up on this young woman, who I've known since birth, and now, two years on, she is fit and well and training to be a nurse, having been so inspired by those who cared for her.

Annie of course the answer to your question about the ability of someone with a mental illness to make rational decisions maybe yes, maybe no and, for an individual it's both sometimes yes and sometimes no and even that simplifies the issue.

What you cannot do is take away someone's right to choose without showing they do not have the capacity to do so. I would - and have - fought very hard for the right for someone with a mental illness to be able to make their own decisions and that to me, both personally and legally is far more important than imposing on them a decision that makes me feel better. Society is not a tidy thing, sadly.

gillybob I don't believe that many suicides are "spur of the moment" decisions. People are often totally in despair, and they plan to leave their lives long before they actually do it.

I fully support anyone who wants euthanasia - it can't be an easy decision for anyone, no matter what their age is. This young girl could have jumped off a bridge , or taken on overdose, and you'd never hear of it. It's only because she wanted to do it with her family around her, that it made the news. Bless her, she wanted to go and she achieved her wish.

I agree with Stella this must have been such a dreadful time for the young lady and her family. If I am honest I'm not sure how I would have dealt with this had it been my seventeen year old daughter. So very sad.

I certainly didn’t want my daughter to live to make me feel better.

Indeed sodapop, doesn't bear thinking about, as a mum.

Perhaps we can conclude that it is a massive pity some sections of the Press chose to use this tragic case for sensational headlines- and mis-representing the facts. Very sad.

But it appears that would be your choice, not hers Annie. We do not legally have that choice unless the person is found to lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves, however dreadful it seems.

Jura Thu 06-Jun-19 09:22:26 ?
stella1949 Thu 06-Jun-19 03:10:35 ?

Combination of events predisposing this poor young woman to develop an unmanageable, untreatable depressive illness resulting in death seeming like a positive end to her suffering MawBroon. Complex combination of negative issues. Very sad.
I've seen girls 'control' their eating after a catastrophic event as it's one thing they can take control of. It helps them to feel a bit better but soon has a deleterious effect.

Because it appears so to you GracesGran it does mean it is so

It is the law Annie. You are not the only one with personal experience I just don't want to share mine with all and sundry. However, experience does bring knowledge (for those who chose to learn) however much we would rather not had it.

Once again this becomes all about you. It isn't! It's about appalling journalism and a very sad situation for a woman and her family.

What a cruel post GracesGran , uncalled for , but typical