Mother admits ending sons life

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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

I don't blame her one bit. That poor poor mother.
We should be allowed to do this under the right circumstances. I would want the same for myself when the time comes.

exactly

I cannot see how anyone could judge her negatively for this

I've watched someone die of cancer over a period of months, in so much agony she didn't know who she was or where she was, just wasting away into a fleshless creature of pain and suffering. I couldn't, wouldn't watch my child go through that. What she did was brave, and an act of love.

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

Surely of he was going to be in pain for months or years, then it would be worse not to let him go?

If my kid was in pain they badly I would wish euthanasia was an option, we do it for the pets we care about so much so it should be able to be done for people too. But I see the problems, you would have to make sure it was allowed in the right way. Unfortunately death sentence is only seen as a punishment in some areas rather than a release.

I know I would want my life to end in certain situations especially if I was in so much pain everyday .. it would be like being tortured.

I fully support her and wish I could tell her the same.

Whilst the majority here (thus far) respect her decision in very difficult circumstances I'd imagine she'll face a lot of hate on social media.

She was in an impossible situation, I think by speaking out she's making a much needed statement about where euthanasia has its place.

I would do the same as a mother. The ultimate act of compassion in the face of inevitable pain and death.

Please let me make it clear I am in no way judging her !! It's fucking awful for her and I don't know if I could be selfless enough to do it myself. It must have been so hard. The poor woman.
I just don't think a 7 year old meant I want to die. He just wanted his mum to soothe him
But I also know at that point that's the only thing that would end the pain

Good for her, we treat humans worse than animals. We keep people alive far longer than they should be, the quality of life is shocking.

I definitely think she did the right thing and I'd like to think that in the same situation I would do the same.
My elder sister died with Melanoma in the early 90s. She was mid 40s and I'm 10 years younger. She asked me and I agreed to stay with her (and assist if necessary) in ending her life, at a time of her choosing. She was most afraid of secondaries in her brain, and losing her cognitive ability. I was lucky, in that it wasn't necessary for me to do this. She died peacefully in hospital, being in full control of her mind until she became unresponsive.

I am pleased it wasn't necessary but I would have carried out her wishes if it had become necessary.

I also wish, with every element of my being, that I be allowed to choose when to die, if/when I become unable to be independant. I am not approaching 70 and fit, healthy and happy and in no rush to die. I live alone and have no desite to continue living if I can no longer maintain my independance. I think it is totally and morally wrong that I am not allowed to make this decision. My adult children both know how I feel. As my both my parents and the majority of my biological aunts and uncles lived into their 90s, I sincerely hope that the law has changed before I lose my faculties.

I have a four year old and it would break me to do that but I think I could if it meant taking away his pain (if he was confirmed terminal).
No judgement from me. She prevented her little boy going through prolonged pain.

Oh that was a painful read. Poor woman. You would have to be incredibly strong to be able to do that. I think many people would want to keep their child alive as long as they could and I feel that what she did was incredibly selfless and put her son first and ended his suffering.

But animals get put down for all sorts of reasons, some including the inability to re-home them or because they are vicious, unstable. It's not just that they are in pain and pain will be ongoing. With people that will be - and is in places such as Canada - mission creep. Where do you draw a line? At intolerable suffering? At misery because you are mentally ill? At misery because you are homeless/lonely/bereaved? Better to be compassionate to those who help a loved one, than allow 'assisted dying' which could quite easily become, 'Come on, mum, you've had your innings and now you are spending our inheritance on your care' - this is not inconceivable.

Absolutely.

I totally agree with this mother’s decision making and I feel she did the kindest thing for her boy. We lived on an oncology ward for 6 months with my baby son. Harrowing.

I can't think that I would act any differently in the circumstances and certainly can't condemn her for so doing.

When my dad was dying of heart failure I picked up a prescription for some very strong morphine for him and I was absolutely terrified of being responsible for giving him the right amount to be pain free and not being accused of ending his life early. Or being tempted to give him too much if he was in distress.

In the end he was fast tracked into a home, needing specialist nursing care, and had a "good death". But had a hospice charity not helped us considerably, my elderly mum and I would have been responsible for his end of life care and making those decisions.

I had a beautiful daughter, she was born with an awful condition that would never get any better, she lived 2 short, pain filled weeks before I decided to withdraw her life support.

She didn't deserve to go through any more, she had so much pain and couldn't even move or breathe unaided.

The second her pain ended my life sentence of guilt started.

Sometimes it's much, much kinder to let them go and take the pain on yourself.

Better to be compassionate to those who help a loved one, than allow 'assisted dying' which could quite easily become
I disagree, being compassionate won’t help in lots of cases, making someone just wait for death with incredibly bad dementia or in considerable pain is incredibly incredibly cruel and is not going to help with compassion.

the thought of having to just suffer until death brings its relief is absolutely awful, bring in checks and laws to prevent abuse.

I think it’s barbaric that we allow people to suffer, I would tell you about watching my father die but I don’t have the words to express how devastating it was.

I've administered palliative sedation many times at work and would hope someone would do it for me. I've taken pets to the vet and paid her to end suffering. I hope I would have the courage to do the same for my child, I'm not sure though

I also hope, if I am ever in unbearable pain with no quality of life and I have full capacity to make this decision, that I am permitted to be assisted to die. There is nothing cruel about that whatsoever - what would be cruel is perpetuating my suffering when I have explicitly asked for it to end. "Dying a good death" can mean many things, and will be different for each individual. And of course, there is the obvious risk that people are assisted to die in the interests of others. But safeguards could be put in place to mitigate against this. Perhaps the individual has to have a full capacity assessment and to privately state the same wish to three independent clinical professionals, and perhaps there has to be a thorough assessment of their condition and the chances of recovery before they are given the choice. But certainly, in my mind, assisted dying has a place as a humane measure for people suffering under terminal and unbearable conditions.

This has been my way of thinking for many years after having to watch my gran suffer. Why can it be the best for a pet but not for a human. I think it would have taken great strength and courage to do what she did. I couldn’t ever imagine what it must be like as a mother only being able to sit back and watch your child suffer horrendously

Me too.

This story had me in tears. Poor, poor little boy. And the poor woman. In this case she absolutely did the right thing, a child should not have to suffer that.

She must have been heartbroken, and also frightened at the possible outcomes for her. She's very brave. I do hope she managed to have some sort of life in the years since.

I am not generally very religious but I would hope that she and her darling boy will be reunited soon.

I think it’s the most selfless thing a parent can ever do. I can’t imagine it, and hope to god I would have been brave enough too.