They don't want us to have a choice over death do they?

[Hunnymonster1]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lyl8jrvlo.amp

This is so bloody annoying why are we so backward compared to other countries? Other countries have this sorted like america.In some states, belgium, holland, Switzerland.
They are not gonna allow this to happen are they? Which means the rich will go and pay dignitas and the poor will suffer. I am starting to get so annoyed by the mps of this country
Am I being unreasonable into thinking that they are backwards and should have given maybe the British public a referendum on a subject matter so important to individual people. If not a ref why is our country so backwards

I think the reason why I struggle with this idea is that, while I fully agree that people should be allowed to die with dignity end not be made to suffer, I would want to make that choice for myself and I would want my loved ones to be able to have the option.

But saying all that, I don't trust any of the political parties in the U.K. to put this in place. I don't trust that that for some families it absolute would be encouraged based of what would financially benefit the rest of the family and the risk of vulnerable people with family or friends who'd rather not have their inheritance taken up on care home fees would encourage their family to take this option.

You don't have to look far on MN alone to see the amount of family dysfunction where large amounts of money is involved wnd how many people think another family member is exploiting an sick and vulnerable family member for money and inheritance.

@Thommasina Yes you can attempt to end your life if you’re physically able to. But it is messy and there are no guarantees it will work and you could end up maimed, disfigured or disabled.
Not to mention the trauma caused to whoever finds you hanging or witnesses you jumping off that building.
People who are for assisted dying want a clean peaceful guaranteed death in a bed with some dignity.

Exactly this.

I'm so sorry for what your son has been through.
I totally agree with you. My son has ASD, he is vulnerable, it would be incredibly easy to convince him that assisted dying is the right thing to do.

Writing through the tears on this one. I watched two loved ones die slowly from disease that robbed them of their dignity and their ability to do anything but lie in a bed waiting to die, no longer knowing anyone at their bedsides. Dementia took my dear grandmother long before her body succumbed to disease and she spent the last year of her "life" bed bound and doubly incontinent. She was suffering from advanced tissue degradation and was pumped full of morphine for her intractable pain. Watching her suffer was utterly horrific and she no longer recognised anyone or knew what was happening to her. She was in agonising pain. My other loved one succumbed to advanced lung disease that caused him to shrink to skin and bone unable to breathe. Neither had any quality of life and I would have done anything to have relieved their suffering. Instead I watched them both die a long drawn out agonising death. If either had been an animal I would have rightly been prosecuted for allowing their suffering to continue. There has to come a point where we ask that if we wouldn't allow an animal to suffer like this, why should we or our loved ones have to suffer an agonising drawn out death, losing our mobility, agency over our own bodies, our dignity and any semblance of quality of life. This is so painful to remember.

I agree. I also think as a society we have a poor relationship with death. We are deeply afraid of it in a way that I don't think people living in the past/who were better acquainted with it were. Rather than accepting it, we're afraid of the loss of control that comes with illness and old age. Infirmity is an inconvenience that we want to be able to overcome by buying death on demand.

What is a dignified death? Is it undignified to cry out in pain? To need assistance going to the toilet? Are we equating control with dignity? When we lament a loved one's undignified death, is it our dignity or theirs that we feel has been offended? I don't know the answer(s). But I am wary of ascribing my feelings watching someone die onto the person dying.

its such a strange arguement. We have terrible palliative care and you might choose death just to avoid all the suffering. No shit Sherlock. So the answer is what? Suck it up.

Improve palliative care???

Even if palliative care was improved u are still potentially gonna have agony morphine does not take the pain away not in all cases. You know I have been thinking that Liverpool pathway was worse as it wanted folks to die by withdrawing food and water so the docs that are arguing against this were fine to do that very bizarre isn't it

@TeaMistress dementia raises particular issues re assisted dying. At what point should the wish to end suffering be carried out? While the person still has capacity? But then they also still have quality of life, and presumably the ability to take their own life. Once the condition worsens is it ok to follow their previous wishes and end their life, when as they are now incapable of consent? It's an awful dilemma, and an awful issue.

Also it's about control maybe if I found out I had 6 months to live i don't want to live them 6 months knowing I am gonna be suffering as no one can guarantee pain free so maybe it should be my right to ask to go.

Palliative care is unlikely to improve massively. Also people still suffer horribly even if they throw everything at it. Honestly I’d just like to shuffle off if I’m diagnosed with something grim and incurable.

Why on earth do you think palliative care would no longer be available? Assisted dying is available in my country, and palliative care goes on just as it did beforehand.

My Nan had a slow, shitty, painful and undignified death in hospital last year. Everyone said how marvellous it was that she lived until 96. Except she didn’t. She probably lived for about 80 years, her last 16 were spent stuck indoors, with carers getting her up, washing and dressing her and putting her back to bed again. Day in, day out for 16 years spent in her chair in front of the tv. Not able to go out or do the things she enjoyed. Yes family visited but that probably only covered a few hours a week.

I don’t want that for myself. The minute I can’t do the things in life that make me happy then I’m happy to shuffle off this mortal coil. Just existing isn’t for me and I want a choice. If other people don’t then that’s up to them but don’t take the option away from those who do.

Another Canadian case:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/10/14/disabled-woman-canada-assisted-suicide-cancer-surgery/

I think for those who have watched loved ones die in agony it causes a fear that the same will happen to them. I never used to have any fear of death until I experienced this. I am now very preoccupied with the fear that the same will happen to me or my loved ones. It would be such a relief to know that I would have a choice if that were the case to end my suffering in a dignified manner. Yes, there is a worry that some people might be pressured to agree to end their lives , but there are far more people who would have a dignified death that would not traumatise themselves or their loved ones.

My DM since lockdown now hardly goes out. But she loves reading and the tv.
Before lockdown she would have said if she didn’t go out she would want to die.
I’m not religious but I’m against it.
I believe MP should have a free vote.

Assisted dying is murder. I pray to God we never get it.

Nobody has a "right" to have someone else kill them.

Likewise. My terminally ill mum went through absolute hell, and there was no prospect of anything other than a gruesome, prolonged, agonising death for her.

Forcing people to suffer like this is truly wicked and has no place in a civilised society.

For those whose religious beliefs are that God grants life and only God can take it away, just think about this for a moment. God has also given people the skill, the medical knowledge and the drugs to alleviate suffering and bring an end to life, so who are we to refuse to use what God has provided?

It's behind a paywall so no-one can read that.

I want the choice for myself in the future.

I hope I get the choice.

We own animals.

Have you no compassion whatsoever?

If only you had been sitting with me beside my mother's bed in hospital and heard her constant groaning in agony for four days and nights straight, and knowing that there was nothing you could do to help. That you, like I, had to sit there listening to her desperate agony and her pleading to God for it to end, and knowing that she had to suffer such dreadful torture through to the bitter end, then perhaps you might feel differently.

Pumped full of Morphine to keep me comfortable while you wait for me to die! No thanks.
I would like to be able to have a choice.