Parliamentary consultation on Assisted Dying

[BoreOfWhabylon]

You can give your views on this important subject by completing the brief survey linked in the OP of this thread. It's very short and simple

www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4707907-please-give-your-views-on-assisted-dying-to-the-parliamentary-consulation-by-20th-january-2023-it-will-only-take-a-few-minutes?reply=122653412

Just emphasising it's a survey, not a petition. The consultation closes on 20 January.

And you have just demonstrated why assisted dying is so open to coercion and pressure.

You think that people who don’t want to die are inflicting pain on their loved ones. Nothing like playing the blame game is there? And by that very statement you have confirmed that actually people should be expected and prepared to end their lives because of others.

I think that's why we need to encourage people to be thinking about it throughout their life. Opt in. Opt out. Opt back in again. If you are "opted in" you are basically saying "if it gets to the point where I am X, I give Y person the right to choose an assisted death for me". Y person could be a trusted relative or group of relatives, a senior healthcare professional, a panel of independent people etc if one was set up. Personally I would convey my wishes to my daughters before the time came and trust them to fulfil them.

It wouldn't help those suffering now but it would give lots of people piece of mind before it happens to them.

People seem to misunderstand the idea of assisted dying.

It will never be made legal that family can choose an assisted death for someone if they are no longer capable of deciding it for themselves.

Assisted dying will only ever be permitted for someone with capacity, so if you want an assisted death then that assisted death will happen while you’re still lucid and have mental capacity.

It should never ever even be a consideration that someone can decide your death for you at a point when they feel it is necessary. Even if you’ve opted in or whatever.

So if you want an assisted death you will need to be there to take the medication in order to bring about your death.

No that’s not what she said at all.

An "opt in" register would surely solve their protests if they're so desperate to endure that torture on themselves and inflict the pain of watching it on their loved ones. what she said was very clear.

I'm neutral, but at a time when the nhs is buckling this makes me a bit uncomfortable.

There will be so many safeguards in place.

What are they? How will they work? How will we ensure they are robust?

There's a parliamentary briefing here that accompanies this inquiry. I would encourage people to read it before giving their views:

post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pb-0047/

There's also a really thoughtful article by Sonia Sodha here:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/01/assisted-dying-seems-humane-but-can-we-protect-the-vulnerable-from-the-malign

I am worried that this is being proposed at a time when both social care and the NHS are falling to bits.

I am also mindful that only a couple of years ago people with learning disabilities were all placed under blanket DNAR orders.

I am for a change in the law in principle but not without safeguards that are both very carefully thought out and very robust.

I'm not seeing much careful thought from some of the posters in favour here and that bothers me.

It will never be made legal that family can choose an assisted death for someone if they are no longer capable of deciding it for themselves

YOu can't say that something will never be made legal. You'd hope that the above scenario wouldn't but ten, twenty, thirty years down the road when the pensions bill is unaffordable and the people who like those saying that we let the elderly live too long (at least one person on here today) are in power - who knows?

Thanks I signed the petition. We do not allow dogs to suffer yet we allow humans to. Plus in many western countries including some states in the USA they allow it. If this country doesn’t then once again the rich in this country get the life they want by having the cash to go to dignitas while the rest bloody suffer in the U.K. .
It should be a choice and I don’t care about religion if you don’t want it don’t do it but leave it up to individuals

I am 42 I set up a power of attorney with my close friend so she now has my power of attorney when she needs to enact it on my financial and my health. Because she knows I want switching off and I do not want to be wasting away no way at all so that’s what I did

@somethinsomethin - I have an illness that will kill me in an unpleasant way. I'm probably 10 to 15 years away from that but people are already asking me when I will choose to go to dignitas.
The expectation is already that I will choose to take my own life rather than let nature take its course. That scares me a lot. Especially as I have never raise the idea of AD myself.

The safeguards against people who cant make the decisions for themselves are clear. What my experience tells me is that society is not tolerant of people who have a slow decline and may need support. This is what worries me, I'm certainly not against the individuals right to choose.

When I press people who suggest I don't want to be a burden when is that point? When I need a stick to walk? A wheelchair? When I'm blind? When I need feeding? Ideally this would be my choice, I would draw the line as to when my quality of life wasn't good enough. However my experience so far is that society wants to draw that line for me. That's why I'm so split on this issue.

Yes exactly so al, the Christian’s and other religious folks can sod off they may want a sanctity of life I just don’t wanna suffer . I heard so many people fight for this over their lives and to be denied and I think it’s not the law makers that are going through this. I get it if they don’t but leave it up to folks choice

You think that people who don’t want to die are inflicting pain on their loved ones.

That's not what I said or meant or think.

It's exactly like the abortion argument. Imagine it wasn't illegal and I said:

"If people want to keep their baby after finding out it has Down syndrome they should have that right but the rest of us should be able to choose an abortion."

You have just demonstrated why abortions are so open to coercion and pressure.

You think Down Syndrome children are a burden and people who would have kept them will feel like they should terminate.

Like no that's not how it works and I don't think that all. Personally I would never abort a child just because I found out they had DS. But I would never judge a woman who does. You should have the right to do what you want with your body regardless of how it affects other people.

Choosing to die before your time will inflict pain on your loved ones? Still your choice.

Choosing to live until you can no longer be kept alive will inflict pain on your loved ones? Your choice.

The law can change to make AD 100% legal AND mitigate"coercion and pressure" to the full extent possible - exactly how it has done with abortion.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · Today 16:55
People need to be able to control their lives and their deaths.

I totally agree.
I have also signed a living will but there’s only so much that can be done. A friend’s mother lived for several years with dementia and she never needed resuscitation or antibiotics.
I would go to Dignitas but I’m not sure they take dementia patients.

It’s irrelevant because in all the countries that do this you would have to go in front of judges etc or docs and say what you wanted it and why. The point is the state isn’t gonna just knock you off we r not quite soilent green territory yet. So you will always have a choice that’s the point