Wendy Duffy heart breaking but understandable

[youalright]

What a brave lady i hope she's holding her son right now.

I'm not condemning anyone to anything.

I just dont believe the state and medical professionals should be aiding and abetting suicide. And especially when the person concerned is mentally unwell.

The medical professionals should have been dedicating themselves to helping her with her mental health. If she then killed herself by her own hand then so be it. But it shouldn't be with the collusion of those who have taken the Hypocratic Oath.

Anyway, I think it's incredibly dystopian and a little insane that as a society, people are now praising a woman killing herself only four years after a terrible loss, and saying that it was brave, and that the woman made the right choice to die.

I also don't think that a government or organisation should be providing death on demand for people suffering from mental health issues, and I think it's a slippery slope from that to other things.

But for those pp who are so keen on assisted suicide for depression, I do hope you're not hypocrites, and you recommend it to all your young family members as they go through losses, trauma, and tough times. I (happily) suspect you won't, though.

Plenty of people have explained that if unsuccessful you risk disability which makes your life worse or if you are successful then someone has to find the body.

If you are happy for people to kill themselves, what is your objection to them doing it in a controlled way with minimum chance of involving innocent parties!

I can’t help think that the one thing we SHOULD be able to control is how we die. We cannot control our conception or our birth, but we should all have the right to make living wills and have our wishes upheld.

Much like watchful waiting which is considered a management approach in other chronic conditions, I think there is a place for it with mental illness. People who have a terminal condition can obviously arrange their euthanasia alongside their pain management. With mental health conditions there should be a period of time to see if the patient can benefit from interventions, but if after a certain period they are still in acute mental anguish I think they should be allowed to say ‘enough.’

It’s a personal choice, that’s the point. Nobody is talking about recommending it FFS. I wouldn’t ‘recommend’ abortion to someone but have had one and agree strongly that they should be available.

Exactly this, it’s depressing that people think they have the right to deny someone a medically controlled death that they opt for.

Becquse people are able to empathise and place themselves in the same position. You might not be able to do the mental gymnastics to do similar, but I know that if my only child passed away I would be following them as quick as I could.

Because she is involving other people.
It’s a slippery slope, I don’t agree with involving other people! People are allowed a different opinion!

Feelings are high about this subject, and understandably so.

For the people saying that no one has the right to stop another person taking their life - that’s fine, but they need to do it themselves.

And harsh as that may sound, that’s to protect the most vulnerable in society. At the risk of sounding like an extra from Hot Fuzz, it’s about the greater good.

Canada introduced assisted dying in 2016 with strict safeguards. They have already been pushed aside as Track 2 was introduced which allowed people to end their life even without a terminal condition. In 2027 that will be extended further to include those suffering from mental illness.

And why this matters is coercion.

It’s not always easy to identify coercion. Sometimes it’s hidden entirely from view.

What has been seen in Canada is medical professionals not attempting to re-engage patients. Not connecting them to social care. A passive acceptance of someone expressing the will to die - even though there are treatments and services that may have been of use.

And then there’s societal pressure. People thinking they need to choose to die to avoid burdening their family. Or because they feel worthless to society. It even because there’s now such a thing as “duty to die”. It may sound ludicrous but it’s been happening in Canada since 2016. There are plenty of real life cases.

There are wider implications than simply “someone has the right to take their own life and it should be made as easy as possible”. That leads to much greater risk for vulnerable individuals and as we’ve seen already in Canada, gradual creep of what’s included.

This is just one link that gives examples of what’s happening in Canada - but there’s much more out there. blogs.bmj.com/spcare/2025/10/02/canadas-shortcut-to-death-how-assisted-dying-fails-our-most-vulnerable/

Do you mean involving medical staff?

I wouldn’t want to live if my children were gone. How tragic. My son is the age her son was, it’s heartbreaking. I’m not sure I’d have the courage to end it like she is doing. I think I would just fade away from not engaging in any aspect of life anymore.

Then there needs to be better access to reliable methods

She paid 10k.

I would have done it for 8.

The op is. She is not society, she is not representative of society. In fact the thread shows, the op is an anomaly In praising suicide.

Awful thing to say, suicide is not cowardly. Begging someone to live because you can’t bear them to die is cowardly. I’ve been that coward.

Mental illness is living torture and this poor woman was suffering from the deepest grief. She may have lived to accept her loss, but she may have had more years of unimaginable pain. For what?

Right decision for her, nobody else’s business.

I actually agree with you on this.

Poor lady, she must have been in such pain. To lose your child must be the worst pain ever, and I guess it all got too much for her to bear.
I hope she is now reunited with her beloved son now.
So terribly sad for all involved

It is evil.

Mental health should never be a reason that someone can access assisted dying. I was on the fence, leaning towards favourable, for people dying soon anyway and in pain.

But for this? No. Not something as transient as mental health.

I was in a very dark place years ago. Saw no way out. Attempted and failed. Thank god medical professionals put all their effort into helping me instead of offering the quick get out I surely would have taken then.

I wouldn't have had my beautiful life now and I thank every day that I failed. This woman will never get that chance, and another mother has needlessly lost her child.

Do you think any state is going to bother with much research or funding for mental health treatments, when there is a far quicker cheaper solution they can 'offer'?

Yes, agreed, suicide is far from easy. If it goes wrong you may be permanently severely disabled and if you choose certain methods there will be trauma for train drivers, council workers, members of the public, family etc.

Staff at the clinics in Switzerland are trained to help people carry out their own wishes in a calm environment.

They don’t anyway. Many people are just left to get on with it. I have always had suicidal ideation and it’s been in the back of my mind as a backup plan for the last 40 years.

Yes my life improved but I still wish I had had the bollocks to do it when I was 15.

I’d like to think she is, but in reality I don’t believe in an afterlife. Her pain must have been unbearable and time isn’t always a healer.

Absolutely agree!

It seems like a slippery slope, especially given social contagion and the way these suicides are being glorified. I'm glad these things weren't publicised when I was young and in a dark place myself, because it might well have influenced me to think suicide from mental anguish was a valid, brave choice.

It's a shame she couldn't do that but leave healthy kidneys, heart, liver corneas etc
I'd guess whatever they use destroys healthy organs.
Her body her choice but dozens of wasted organs.

But is that not already available? I would argue that there are plenty of successful ways available.

It’s that balancing act for me - people should of course have autonomy but being in a society where vulnerable people could be encouraged to opt out too soon doesn’t sit right with me.

It’s not about being encouraged to though.

Short of blowing your head off, I can’t think of any method that is guaranteed to succeed.