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

Same.

When death is inevitable why would you let someone you loved suffer. I'm grateful to the Dr who let my DM slip away quietly rather than in pain. I think this poor woman was very brave and kind to let her child go in peace

We let people have the most horrifying deaths - the same death that we spare our animals. Over and over, mostly without good care or adequate medication - I can understand why people take it into their own hands. Seeing your child dying painfully must be the most traumatic experience a parent can endure.

I wish this woman peace and hope she finds her Hamish when her time comes.

Oh, so he was terminally ill, with 3 months to live. Yes, I'd like to think I could take the pain away for my son. I suppose i might have a different perspective to some as I watched my father die from cancer. Once you've been through that, you wouldn't wish a slow death on anyone.
Yes, he probably didn't mean kill me, but she probably felt that was kindest, since he only had suffering and death ahead for him anyway. Why prolong the suffering? As pp have said, we do it out of kindness to animals - it's so odd that we don't apply the same empathy to our own kind!

Assuming that she knew it was the right thing, and that she and he were prepared and ready. Mums of children can be very close, esp if one is ill and very dependent, caring for him 24/7, and anticipating his needs. I trust her.

I don’t judge her - this sort of thing shouldn’t be criminalised

I agree.

Oh, so he was terminally ill, with 3 months to live

He was initially given a 3 month prognosis, but had then endured 16 months of treatment. He was only 5 when he was diagnosed.

This quote from his mother is enough for me:"She replied: "I feel very strongly that at the point of Hamish telling me he was in pain, and asking me if I could remove his pain, he knew, he knew somewhere what was going to happen."But I cannot obviously tell you why or how, but I was his mother, he loved his mother, and I totally loved him, and I was not going to let him suffer, and I feel he really knew where he was going."' (source: BBC)

Awful situation. I can only think she took the pain so he no longer had to. Poor family.

This. Why do we put animals down who can't speak and tell us tho maybe show us that they are in pain

But can't with a human who has had enough and begs to die

Her child shouldn't have been left in that much pain. Poor nursing care.

However the poor nursing care should have been addressed before any action by her to administer her son an unprescribed dose of morphine.

Difficult- will watch with interest. Child palliative care was a thing 40 years ago. It wasn't war time.

"Life is tough and full of horrible circumstances, but we are required to at least do our damndest to preserve life despite the worst."
I don't agree. The hippocratic oath includes 'do no harm' and 'act in the patient's best interest'.

The patient's best interest is not served by allowing them to suffer in pain and lose all their dignity.
Whilst I don't think anyone should be coerced, not wanting to be a burden is a very valid reason for some people.

It was certainly your mother's right to not want her life ending - as it is yours, FOR YOURSELF.

Your belief in GOD does not supercede my belief that there is no god and that I I alone should have the right to chose a pain free and dignified death.

@FatmanandKnobbin I am so sorry for the loss of your baby. That's a terrible and deeply traumatic situation to find yourself in. You acted out of love for your child, that's all any of us can hope for if we are dying as a tiny baby or at age 99.

I recall many years ago reading the published suicide note of a formally extremely fit young man who due to an accident, was paralysed from the neck down. Not only did he have to deal with the indignity of not being able to take care of his most basic needs, or the loss of any sort of freedom, but he lived with tremendous pain. He said how much he hated the phrase 'At least you arent dead.' Because if we could choose the death of a loved one, would we hope that our mother passes peacefully in her sleep, or perhaps our spouse was hanging out the laundry on a warm and breezy day and a random rock fell from the sky and instantly killed them - or would we string them up in a basement to be tortured every single day for the rest of their life? Would we say 'Well, least they aren't dead?'

I know without shadow of a doubt that if I could take away the suffering of a loved one, I would. We were fortunate that my dad was heavily dosed to alleviate his death. I have friends whose parents have suffered horrifically.

What a brave lady, full of love and compassion for her son. It can't have been easy - she put him first.

100% this!! 👏👏👏

I wouldn’t even think about letting my pet suffer, even though it would break my heart.

So why would I let my child (who I’m supposed to love more than an animal) suffer.

This. You wouldn’t let an animal stay alive when their death is imminent and they are suffering in pain. It would be inhumane to do such a thing and the kindest possible thing would be to have them put to sleep to end their suffering.

With a human? Nahhh keep them alive for as long as possible when they’re suffering and I’m so much pain!!

In years to come (when euthanasia is legalised!) I think we’ll look back at these times and be disgusted that we never have people an option to end their own life and forced them to go on suffering in pain. It’s barbaric

No judgement from me. She loved her child she could not bear to see him suffering.
This lady is dying herself now. She said on the news if they want to arrest her they had better hurry up.

I had my cat put to sleep when he had incurable cancer because, as much as I wanted him to live, allowing him to go on when he was clearly suffering so much was cruel. I cannot even begin to imagine what that must feel like when you are a mother watching your child go through that. I know the arguments against assisted dying are that it could be abused. But I fully support this mum in not wanting her child to suffer with no chance of improvement on his quality of life.

Imagine as a Mother not only having to
go through the pain of your child receiving a diagnosis, having painful and debilitating treatment and accepting you were ultimately going to lose them and THEN having to justify showing them the last kindness and taking their pain away. The end was inevitable for her child.

Cant imagine the heartache in having made that decision and then having to go on and on justifying yourself to strangers.

I truly believe a day too early is better than a day too late and agree that I wouldn’t want an animal to suffer in this way, let alone a human.

I hope this Mother has come to terms with her loss and is sheltered herself from criticism.

What an awful secret to carry around for so long

The poor mother. I hope she finds peace

I cried reading this , because I am also a mother who chose death for her child 💔 although completely different circumstances altogether the outcome was the same my heart breaks for her . My 17 year old daughter ended up in critical care on Christmas eve a couple of years ago with a very serious hypoxic brain injury, non survivable and was packed with ice to cool her down especially her brain and treat her and see if there was any brain activity behind the massive brain swelling but judging by the trauma even if she did survive she would be in a vegative state for the rest of her life . Not something I would want for my fun loving free spirited fashion loving popular kind hearted beautiful curly haired beauty ! She wouldn't have wanted that either and so i didn't fight it when she was pronounced brain stem cell death on boxing day instead she donated her organs . The hardest decision of my life signing that paperwork to end her life and I still struggle to this day with it but I know it was for the best for my daughter given her circumstances. A mother's love knows no bounds and as much as it hurts us sometimes we have to set them free 🦋 sending love to anyone who has lost a loved one 🌹

Shall I just do you or should it be a qualified and experienced medical professional acting within legal boundaries?

The poor woman shouldn't have needed to do it herself, there should be some pathway (euthanasia) that we can go down when humans are suffering as this little boy would have been. As a pp said, we treat animals better than we treat humans during the end of their lives.

You speak for yourself. I (as well as many others) don’t believe in his so why should we be forced to suffer on the basis of someone else’s faith and beliefs?

You wouldn’t need to chose to end a life and I can understand why you wouldn’t want to but you cant dictate what others can do.