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Original poster

Euthanasie, dont legalise in UK.

459 replies

MrsMarkieParkie · 08/04/2023 00:48

I just read that 8% of deaths in Canada last year happened via euthanasia. This doesnt sit right with me. Also, as described in the article, the protocol seems mostly the same as the US death by lethal injection.
Do we want this in the UK?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
pointythings · 08/04/2023 12:02

right wing*

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/04/2023 12:06

Euthanasia would be under supervision by doctors

Hopefully, yes; however that would be the same doctors who are currently unable to treat everyone as they'd wish because the money isn't available

I'd like to think it wouldn't happen, but never underestimate the use of money as persuasion, or forget what could happen if they were perceived to be "wasting it unnecessarily"

Thesharkradar · 08/04/2023 12:10

I think it has to be legal..... how else are we possibly going to manage the ever rising tide of dementia cases?

But it's an extremely tricky area!

Yellowdays · 08/04/2023 12:11

No. It would be used unethically by some.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/04/2023 12:11

that hasn't happened in those countries where it has been introduced with proper safeguards

I know, pointythings, but am not sure I'd call it whataboutery when we consider what happens with other "safeguards" we're supposed to enjoy

There's also the point that many others countries start from the position of having better functioning health services than we do, and while as said I back the idea in principle, I do worry about what may become accepted as the price of protecting the NHS

pinusscotus · 08/04/2023 12:20

My mum wished she could have chosen euthanasia. She was only 59, terminally ill, and had an awful quality of life in her final year. She was sedated and drugged up to the eyeballs by the time she died, and her actual death was awful and something I wish I hadn't witnessed. She was supposed to have a hospice bed but this was (rightfully) given to another poor woman on the ward at the last minute. This woman's daughter and I hugged and said we'd hopefully see each other at the hospice very soon, but my mum was too ill to be transferred in the end. We should have more control over how we die and I hope euthanasia is introduced in the UK in my lifetime.

Tockomtele · 08/04/2023 12:22

@Badbudgeter Or family coercing someone vulnerable in order to gain from them financially. The amount of threads/comments I read here about CF's (and these are the ones people realised they've been had, not even the ones who aren't aware) makes me thing there are far too many pushovers/people pleasers in the UK. Add to that increased vulnerability and dang... some people will get their money quicker. It makes me feel very uncomfortable.

BatsHaveButtcheeks · 08/04/2023 12:24

Yes, we should have euthanasia in the UK.

Tockomtele · 08/04/2023 12:25

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername And which vet will refuse if you say eg you can't afford to look after it? When shelters are full already.

Not sure what it has to do with humans, you can't compare the two.

Tockomtele · 08/04/2023 12:27

Puzzledandpissedoff · 08/04/2023 12:06

Euthanasia would be under supervision by doctors

Hopefully, yes; however that would be the same doctors who are currently unable to treat everyone as they'd wish because the money isn't available

I'd like to think it wouldn't happen, but never underestimate the use of money as persuasion, or forget what could happen if they were perceived to be "wasting it unnecessarily"

This.

Plus, I say again, doctors will be leaving the profession if asked to do this. Or there'll be specific 'death doctors'...
What if a doctor pushes their own agenda on a patient?

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 08/04/2023 12:28

oakleaffy · 08/04/2023 01:34

I'd want a peaceful Euthanasia for myself if I became so affected by Dementia {That's the one most people fear} that I couldn't recognise my own son.. and had trauma with it..

A lovely woman locally had Dementia that caused her to rant and rave in a very upsetting manner, as if she was locked into an eternal ''Bad Trip''..That is absolutely awful.
Poor woman no way needed to suffer like that.

However...One needs to give informed consent.

If one is so far gone with dementia..can one do that?

Animals aren't allowed to suffer if they are terminally ill.

A kindly vet can come to the animal's house or field and end their life before symptoms become distressing for the animal.

I want to be "put to sleep " if I get dementia. I have no kids of family who would miss me.

It's too bad we can't make a video now in our right minds, with a judge or something as witness, asking for that.

RideACockHorseToSunburyCross · 08/04/2023 12:38

"I think we should have it. Also a maximum age by which you have to check out by somwhere between 75 and 95. Then the government and families can plan more easily financially. If you want to you could do something like 'buy' extra years. Or there could be like an annual lottery or draw where you can put your name in to get extra years. Something like that. I have often mulled on this during insomniac hours of the night"

You want to kill David Attenborough? That's just fucking twisted

dcbc1234 · 08/04/2023 12:40

Youdoyoubabe · 08/04/2023 02:51

I think we should have it. Also a maximum age by which you have to check out by somwhere between 75 and 95. Then the government and families can plan more easily financially. If you want to you could do something like 'buy' extra years. Or there could be like an annual lottery or draw where you can put your name in to get extra years. Something like that. I have often mulled on this during insomniac hours of the night.

Isn't this a bit 'Logan's Run' or 'Children of Men'?

benten54 · 08/04/2023 12:46

Felixss · 08/04/2023 02:06

The government will legalise it not because they want to give citizens bodily autonomy but because we have an aging population with increased comorbidities and it's very expensive to keep people alive with a lack of young adults paying taxes. The government will view it as a way to save money It's coming so it's best to prepare for how it will work with safeguards. I think it shouldn't be allowed for functional MH issues it should be for progressive terminal conditions.

Exactly right. The world needs significantly less people to avoid catastrophe in our lifetimes and I advocate for people having less children rather than fiddling around the edges with recycling which does absolutely nothing.
In that sense there will be less humans around when I'm older so I have to do my bit by not needing to 'have my arse wiped' when I get older. I would choose to be euthanised when I am no longer useful or my life has become unviable.
Why can I not make that choice? Why is my choice of anyone else's concern?

Thesharkradar · 08/04/2023 12:49

What will happen is this....
Us peasants will be culled when we get to our mid 70s and the super rich will benefit from life extension technologies and live to 300 +

zingally · 08/04/2023 12:51

It should be legalized, but I'm not the expert to decide the hows and whys and whens.

All I know is that we show mercy to animals when they near the end of life, so why can't we offer it to humans?

Back in February, I went to a funeral for my 97 year old auntie. She made it very clear that she was long since done with life, and would happily have taken a pill to end it all the day after her 90th birthday party.

My great-grandma, on hearing that my mum was pregnant with me (having just celebrated her 90th birthday), wrote in a letter to my parents that "I better hurry up and die to make room for the new little one." I was 9 years old when she eventually died.

Elphame · 08/04/2023 13:20

MrsMarkieParkie · 08/04/2023 00:48

I just read that 8% of deaths in Canada last year happened via euthanasia. This doesnt sit right with me. Also, as described in the article, the protocol seems mostly the same as the US death by lethal injection.
Do we want this in the UK?

Yes of course we want it.

I don't want to die in pain, or having lived for years unknowingly with dementia. If we treated animals at the end of their life like we treat humans we would be rightfully prosecuted

TicTac80 · 08/04/2023 13:22

FWIW, for myself, my own choice would be to have the right to choose when I die. I don't want to linger on with no quality of life, in pain, being wholly dependent on others to breathe, eat, drink, get the basic care etc. Particularly if I was to be diagnosed with a terminal illness.

I've looked after enough patients over the years I've worked in healthcare to understand and see what people go through, and this is why I feel the way I do.

I think that there should be a legal pathway in place for people who do wish for assisted euthanasia. I think that people should have that choice. I am putting together an Advance Decision for myself. I've spoken about it to my family and children. I don't want to be kept alive at all costs, if there is no hope of me having a good quality of life. I hope that by the time I need it, if I need it, medically assisted death will be available in this county

Weallgottachangesometime · 08/04/2023 13:22

A family member has just been diagnosed with MND- I absolutely wish that he was able to choose euthanasia as he wants. I do think it need to be very strictly and carefully regulated.

defi · 08/04/2023 13:23

Go spend a week in an dementia ward. There is no quality of life. People are just waiting to die. Only redeeming thing is they're mentally gone. No sane person would want to live like that.

Yabadabadoooooooooooooo · 08/04/2023 13:24

We absolutely do want this. Why should we die in agony when our cats and dogs are humanely saved from suffering? Death would not be as scary if we knew this was available.

Badbudgeter · 08/04/2023 13:30

Tockomtele · 08/04/2023 12:22

@Badbudgeter Or family coercing someone vulnerable in order to gain from them financially. The amount of threads/comments I read here about CF's (and these are the ones people realised they've been had, not even the ones who aren't aware) makes me thing there are far too many pushovers/people pleasers in the UK. Add to that increased vulnerability and dang... some people will get their money quicker. It makes me feel very uncomfortable.

And you are happy to put your comfort above that of the people who will die horrible deaths from cancer? I find that a really selfish viewpoint. No one is suggesting it’s compulsory, it’d be a choice for those with unbearable suffering.

gelatogina · 08/04/2023 13:33

Absolutely 100% want the option to end my own life in a comfortable, safe way. You wouldn’t let an animal suffer like we allow humans to do.

we must be allowed the choice, with the proper safeguards in place.

HarlanPepper · 08/04/2023 13:39

8% seems like a totally reasonable and unsurprising percentage to me. I'm in favour of assisted dying.

DameKatyDenisesClagnuts · 08/04/2023 13:55

Yes, we do want it here. If you don't want it, don't do it. I think it would be telling on this sort of thread if posters cited their religious beliefs. I don't share the belief that human life is sacred and I suspect that many people against euthanasia are Christians etc