'Assisted Dying'? Yes or No?

[WifeOfMacbeth]

Am thinking about this one at the moment.
Are you in favour? Against? Not sure?
I'm also wondering whether views change as we get older....

I can see the reasons people believe in it but watching my dad die, and on his horrendous days him talking about dying and then, a day later saying‘god yesterday was terrible but thank goodness for today’ I just think how can people possibly really really know

Yes. I'm in favour. To me it's like abortion - if you don't agree with it, you don't have to do it, but that doesn't mean you should strip body autonomy rights from other women. Likewise assisted dying - if you don't approve or agree for moral or religious reasons, that's absolutely fine, and I support your right to have no part of it. But that shouldn't mean that no-one else can choose it. I especially think of people with life limiting illnesses, living daily with unimaginable pain and discomfort. Who are we to sentence them to that sort of existence? I completely appreciate that not everyone shares this view (but you asked).

Not the way they're apparently doing it in Canada.

Having seen both parents die horrifically and drawn out with an understaffed environment.
I am for it

You wouldn't allow a dog in this country to suffer like that..so why a human.

Yes.

No, due to religious belief, but I don't believe that we should strive for life at all costs, particularly when someone's quality of life is very poor. I know people will argue that quality of life is a subjective thing, but it can be addressed by people setting up an Advance Directive. Refusing certain treatments and opting for comfort care only can be as effective as assisted dying in many cases. There is no reason why people have to die in acute pain and distress in cases of cancer etc., it happens due to inadequate dosing in most cases, and that's the fault of the medical profession.

No.

No

Wouldn't it be better to address the short staffing problem?

No. I would prefer to see better palliative care, hospice places for everyone that needs one. Dying in hospital is very different to dying at home or hospice.

Caroline Criado Perez wrote an interesting piece from the female perspective. It has a bigger negative impact on women, and as we gave seen in Ada bade, starts off well meaning but rapidly becomes a way to remove vulnerable people from society.

I would love it for myself but am undecided about making it law due to the chances of abuse. I don't agree with keeping people alive, young or old, when they have no quality of life or ability to look after or do anything for themselves however I don't agree with persuading Granny/parent to do it because she's a burden aged 85 and has to be checked on every day or is in a care home that's costing money.

I know someone in Canada whose step mother in law died through the new law and by all accounts it was perfect. She chose the day she would die and settled everything before she did - she had cancer and was losing control over her body. Her husband (bit of a twat by all accounts) also decided he wanted to die 'because he couldn't live without her' but once the doctor said 'yes I agree you meet the criteria, what day do you want to die' he decided he didn't actually want to die and pulled out of it. he was doing it for attention and once nobody was weeping and wailing and begging him to live, moved onto something else and now spends all his days moaning about how miserable his life is.

Yes, but if every application has to be approved by a judge who's paying for that? I doubt it will be from public funds so will be for the well off only.

No. I was watching a triggernometry podcast about how Canada's assisted dying laws have been eroded to such a minimal level now and with so many loopholes that you can make the argument that it is a tool to kill off the most vulnerable and costly members of society.

I was quite convinced about the ethics around euthanasia in my twenties. The concept is sound. But I don't think that we could hope for a better implementation in this country, with a dilapidated NHS, an aging population and welfare costs that are increasingly burdensome.

Yes it absolutely should be an option for the terminally ill. I watched a family member die of brain cancer in complete agony last year, with no chance of things improving, and begging to die every single day.

Unless you’ve been through that on a personal and visceral level, you have no idea how much assisted dying should be available for those that can lucidly choose it.

Sometimes death is long and painful and there's nothing to be done. It's unnecessary.
Absolutely in favour of it.

No. As awful as the process of dying can be sometimes, this isn't the solution. Once that line is breeched there's such obvious and disturbing room for scope creep that I think we need to hold the line where it is, and improve life and end of life care. Already the proposals that were debated in parliament don't go far enough for some campaigners.

Totally agree, and I think advanced directives should be honoured for people who lose capacity.

My mother died with dementia, she would have absolutely hated the shell of a person she became, she wasn't suffering from pain, but she had no dignity at all. I don't want to end up like that, effectively dying as a person years before physical death, and I don't want to be a burden for my kids.

No, not until we have a functioning NHS with good palliative care as an alternative.

Currently I don't trust that people won't feel forced in to it due to lack of options. Otherwise I would be supportive of it.

It's a tricky one.

My dm watched her dad die a horrible death from cancer, it dragged on for weeks and he begged her to help him die. She couldn't do it but she said to me "if ever I get to that stage I hope someone would be brave enough to finish me off".

Someone else I know had a tragic accident and was able to make the decision himself for the hospital to turn off the machine that was helping him breathe (he had a catastrophic spinal injury)

So I can see why it could be a good thing to end people's suffering. I can also see how it could be abused though, so I understand why people have doubts and I see it from both points of view.

My belief is we should all be able to stare when we would like the plug pulled, so to speak. Some people can live happily having lost their physical ability but still being mentally agile. Others vice versa.
In my opinion, we should be able to agree this with a medic and a lawyer present. Then, when the time comes, a medic and a lawyer sign it off.
I do not want to be a burden to my kids.

I'm absolutely for it. Life should not be preserved at all costs; there's no natural justice in the world that will prevent any of us from dying slowly in horrific pain. It's not what I would want for myself, my loved ones, or even a mangy old dog.

Absolutely for it.

Yes, absolutely. So long as the legislation is careful so that people aren't pressured into it. I definitely want it for myself.

I don't even think that proper staffing would solve anything. When my Dad was dying he was very well looked after, but over treated and I wouldn't want that. For example, he had terminal cancer but also had kidney failure. He wasn't eating much because he had little appetite but he would choose something from the hospital menu that he might like. Every few days a different meal would turn up because he should have been having the renal option, but then he wouldn't eat it at all because he didn't fancy it. Everybody (his endocrinologist, his oncologist, Mum, the nursing staff) spoke to the hospital dietitian about it because he was going to die before the bad diet would have any effect on his kidneys. The hospital dietitian said she understood, but then 5 days later it would happen again. I think Mum got a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter to the hospital in the end. The trouble is that even in fancy private hospitals each specialist treats the symptoms that are in front of them not the whole person, so the dietician reviewing all the patients saw a dialysis patient ordering the 'wrong' thing and intervened automatically without considering the whole diagnosis.

My Dad never said that he wanted to die, but he was desperate to get out of hospital and once he was out he just stopped eating and died relatively rapidly. Had he stayed in hospital they may well have put him on a drip or possibly a feeding tube.

I have some serious health issues and really good medical insurance but I don't want a long death like Dad had. I want to stay as long as it's worthwhile and then just shave off the horrendous last six months or so. I know that if I end up in hospital they will keep treating me and won't let me just slip away when I can't be arsed anymore.

Not the way it's being done in Canada.

The problem with assisted dying is that there will always be a lobby for more. It starts with the very terminally ill and in pain and more and more amendments come in to the law that we the people have no control over until anything that causes 'intense distress' can be valid. It's a slippery slope down to what is capacity to consent and disguised eugenics.

I think there's a place for it but I wouldn't trust the UK with the legislation or the NHS to enact it.

In theory I’m in favour. My own close up experience of people making this choice and successfully ending their lives shows me how complex and difficult is for those connected to these events. They were not in terrible pain or leading obviously difficult live (yes, subjective); it’s what they wanted, and what they were able to do.