Mother admits ending sons life

[vacay]

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I'm not sure how I feel about this?
On the one hand she didn't want to see her son suffer anymore. But surely a 7 year old when he asked his mom to take the pain away didn't mean to end his life?

Sorry if there is already a thread going I haven't checked

This is so sad. I have no idea as I’ve never been in this situation. Was it to ease his pain or ease her pain of seeing him in pain? We won’t ever know.

I hope I would have been brave enough.

I'd actually just been reading this on the BBC website.
I'm against euthanasia and assisted suicide becoming legal, with the provisio that any legal action taken against those assisting suicide is done with compassion and humanity.
I wouldn't like to judge this woman because she obviously did what she did with what she thought the best interest of her son. Watching him suffer must have been agony and death was inevitable.

we put animals down to end their suffering as it’s cruel to not, but humans in this country are expected to just suffer until the end, I can’t judge her, and hope someone would do the same for me.

That poor boy and his poor mother. How heartbreaking.

It seems pretty clear he had very little time left and it would all have been in pain, and the permitted level of pain medication wasn’t working. Under those circumstances I like to think I’d be strong enough to help my child end his suffering - even if the only way to do that was death - and I would want the law to permit this, with appropriate safeguards.

I don't blame her one bit
It's ridiculous that people are actually dying and we can't help them
I said this sitting watching my mum die, like she isn't coming back from this, we all know it yet we still can't end her life, she has to suffer through this process? That's called abuse if you do it to an animal FFS

Good for her. She stopped his suffering. Ultimate act of love for her child.

Totally this. Having seen someone I love with all my heart die in agony over 3 days, I hope tat by the time my time comes around the law will have change. No judgement for this lady.

I can’t imagine. Poor family.

She’s lived with this all these years.

Knowing your child is in pain, that it isn’t going to get better, that there’s nothing left except marking time. Desperately sad.

I 100% get why she did this, I don't know how I would cope if one of my children became terminally ill and was suffering soo bad and having to watch them go through it, firstly it would mentally and emotionally affect me having to see that and also knowing I was unable to help and feel soo useless too. Plus seeing them every day suffer and be in agony would just tear me apart I think for any mother this is an extremely difficult situation and I do believe they should allow people who are terminally ill to be able to decide when they want to go not when that illness decides. It must of taken a lot for her to actually do that too it's not something that would be done soo easily. 😞

This is a scenario with no right answers. Having to watch your child suffer in pain for months, knowing there is no cure, is unimaginable

I don’t think she did that lightly. I believe her, that he knew deep down. It’s just so sad. I believe dying people should be allowed to slip away on their own terms.

What's not clear from that article (unless I've missed it) is how long he'd potentially have lived otherwise.

If it was a case of the medical staff saying "there's nothing else we can do and he's got hours/few days maximum" and he was in a lot of pain then I don't think what she did was wrong.

I'm pro-euthanasia, and think no one has any business telling any other adult they must continue to live in pain if they don't want to. But with children that's a different situation and not a choice they can make. So I'd only see it as acceptable to ease pain in what was going to be the last few hours of their life anyway. And even then I wouldn't say it should be specifically legalised - I just wouldn't prosecute this woman if that's what happened.

Gosh that's upsetting reading. I think most mothers would do the same for a terminally ill child in great pain.

He was dying anyway. It was 1981 and the available treatments were massively less effective and more unpleasant than they are today. The choice was between weeks or months of increasing pain and suffering followed by a frightening death experience vs a peaceful going-to-sleep and death without pain. I would definitely choose the latter for myself. I would only consider not doing so for my DC if there was some sliver of hope for survival. Though I suspect I would be so traumatised by doing it that I might well end my own life too rather than living with the memory of my DC's death. But no judgement from me.

I hope that I would have the strength to do that. It would break me but I couldn't let my child suffer hopelessly.

I don’t blame her in the slightest. In the last 18 months, I watched my dad and my nan die slow and painful deaths. Gasping for breath and extremely distressed until the end. I will never forget it and if I’m honest it has very much affected my view of the medical profession, as irrational as that may be.

In total contrast, my elderly dog was in obvious discomfort and he was euthanised peacefully at the vets, surrounded by those who loved him. I know which I’d prefer.

I support her decision fully, and cannot imagine that it was made lightly.

I completely agree with you.

I've watched three close family members struggle with pain and agitation in the last few days before their deaths. If this was one of my pets, they would have been put to sleep to stop their suffering yet we can't do the same for human beings. We seem to value animals more than humans.

I choked-up when I read that earlier. The photo of the lad on his mum's lap, with a bald head and smiling for the camera is heartbreaking. The mother was so young and vibrant and her lovely boy was so ill.

I think it must have taken a huge amount of courage, sacrifice, and love for her child to do what she did.

I cannot imagine what it does to you to watch your child suffer in unbearable pain.

I don't judge her for doing what she did.

Leaving people to endure agony when death is inevitable is cruel.

I've sadly watched loved ones die, it's heartbreaking.

I would be able to allow a Dr to give them 'maximum pain relief' but not something to actually end their life & there's no way I could administer it.

i know myself well enough to know I'm (deludedly) optimistic (aka in denial) there's just no way I could do it.

i see this as a lack of ability, not a good thing.

i think she's very brave & strong. I'd want someone to do it for me.

Until you have walked a day in this woman’s shoes you cannot possibly pass judgement on her actions.

I can’t imagine anything worse than literally watching my child suffer with only an inevitable and painful death at the end of it.

We put animals down for lesser reasons, and actually a morphine overdose was an exceptionally kind way for her child to pass. He would have just fallen asleep.

Every morning my oldest school friend who had cancer.. would wake up and say " oh gosh I'm still alive"
His sister and myself were in mental pain watching him go through physical pain.
He was taken into hospital in the end.. given a palliative sedation.. while actually not legally euthanasia.. it is actually given until death.
Used often.

Palliative sedation is the continuous administration of medication to relieve severe, intractable symptoms. Palliative sedation induces a coma-like state when symptoms such as pain, nausea, breathlessness, or delirium cannot be controlled while a patient is conscious. This state is maintained until death occurs.