Assisted Dying

[Nordione1]

I dont know what section to put this in. Im more upset about the vote for it than I thought I'd be. I feel like we have crossed a rubicon somehow.

Yes, my DH's uncle died with MND. He begged to die but nobody could help him, so he died in agony instead.

I don't think, for me, it's having a say over how other people die. It's just that the state now sanctions that death and assists in it by providing the pill. I struggle with that concept but as I've said, it's a personal view and I think this issue is something people just decide how they feel based on personal experience perhaps or belief or whatever.

And I also think the State isn't up to it and able to provide a humane death for everyone.

I'd be happier if the voting more nearly matched public opinion. Bit close for comfort.

I agree but in 2015 only 117 voted for a similar bill and 329 against.

We'll get there.

Most people change their mind when they are there and find they still enjoy life.

I understand why people feel so upset about this. It’s a very emotive subject and none of us want to spend any time thinking in depth about our own mortality and that of those we love.

I deal with a lot of death in my job, not sure if this is the reason I’m in agreement with it and would perhaps even encourage further measures. I feel quite strongly that your life is your own and if you wish to end it then you should be make the decision and die comfortably and with dignity without going through the pain and horror people currently have to which is awful for all involved.

What's your evidence for saying most people change their mind?

What doesn't seem to have been mentioned is that clinical staff are making decisions about people's end of life right now. Some of them do it after careful discussion with the patient or with family members, some do it out of their own care and ethical beliefs. I am not talking about the Shipmans and Letbys of this world but normal caring clinicians who genuinely want the best for the people in their care. I don't believe that this should be happening and hope that giving more agency to the person who is doing the dying will put the choice and the decision making where it should be.

Listened to some of the debate i actually cried hearing the stories I can't get some if it from my mind it's so sad. Palative care won't take all the pain away that's the issue and it can be drawn out that story that said it took 10 days to die. Plus right now wealthier people can go to dignitas so just poor folk have to suffer.
so I am glad this has passed

That’s exactly why I want assisted dying as this is the alternative. I had to watch my mother starve and dehydrate to death with dementia over 10 years ago. They can no longer swallow and don’t recognise food so it helps speed it up. Tube feeding has been proven to be ineffective as they simply die from terrible infections. By the time you are at this stage you are dying..I just don’t want it prolonged. My mother thrashed the sheets.

I'm so sorry @Radiohorror

I hope in time you'll be able to remember the good life, not the awful death.

In which case they won’t need to take advantage of this law. But that should be their choice, surely?

But as Kim says that's okay, if you change your mind because you don't have to go through with it, you don't have to go through it at the point that you get told you about 6 months you go through with it when you're finding it hard.

Could my child kill me if they have power of attorney?

I too sobbed with relief when the Bill passed, though there are still many barriers. I'm old now, but I've always thought I didn't want to die without my dignity being intact. Now it's become a necessity, because I'm old.

Some MPs and people think, it seems to me, that it's ok to coerce me through legal means to stay alive when I don't wish to but are so very much afraid others will coerce the other way.

Well,if coercion is wrong it's wrong whichever side is doing it. Just because one side has legal backing, didn't mean they aren't coercing me into a painful death.

I don't want to die vomiting up fecal matter. I want the back stop that allows me to feel I have a choice. So when I'm told (which I will be if I'm lucky cos we all have a terminal illness, it's called life) that I have six months to live, how good would it then be to know I could enjoy most of that being with my loved ones, knowing I could opt out at a time of my choosing?

If you agree that we each of us have autonomy of our bodies, then surely you should also agree that those who are in intolerable pain or have a condition that will inevitably lead to a very distressing death, should be able to have the right to alleviate that distress by ending their life.
As an aside, when I was a student I worked in a geriatric hospital during the summer holidays. There were many people there who had terminal illnesses which were distressing for them and their relatives. I'm absolutely convinced, just by my observation, that some were assisted to their end, by the means of large quantities of pain relief. All unofficial, but it ended their suffering. Having seen the agony that many of them endured, I think the right decision was made. No sentient being should be left in intolerable pain, and even if the relief given causes death, I can't think it's wrong. The absolute terror of knowing that death will be agonising pain is not conducive to a good death. Being able to choose to die before that happens is surely a kindness.

I cried with relief. Just knowing an optional may be availability to avoid a long painful and destressing death giv es me comfort.
I had to watch my father die in pain of cancer he had begged for someone to speed it up which obviously couldn't be done. He was so scared , angry and in pain. .Then we sat for over 48 hours by his bed with him chain stoking and gurgling . At the end we had some awful moments of him choking as he died. He had been unconscious but seemed to wake up. syringe driver palliative care team the lot and no it was not peaceful ( although obviously that's how it's described " died peacefully with family at his bedside" bollocks bollocks bollocks)
That was despite being a medical family, they literally couldn't get on top of his symptoms.
If I can avoid my own children having to go through that experience of watching me die like that and the awful memories it has left I will be grateful.
I do not want to die in pain scared and without the dignity I hold so dear.
In my father's case being allowed to go a week or even a few days early would have avoided so much pain and upset. He didn't need his life being preserved he needed to die with dignity.
As he said at the time if we had treated one of our pets like he was being treated we would have been considered cruel. We literally have given every animal we ever had a kinder death than my darling father got.

No you are not

Not under the proposed law. You have to be mentally competent and confirmed to be so and making an independent choice by two doctors and a high court judge, each confirmation to be on a separate occasion. I believe there has to be a week betweek each then two weeks before you can have the medication which you have to be able to take yourself. Its all in the media, go check.

Hugely relieved.

Agree with this, I suspect that if and when i’m terminally ill I will be more able to make the most of my final weeks without fear, and might be able to get more value and enjoyment out of the time I have left, safe in the knowledge that i have the option to end things on my own terms if and when i feel it’s the right choice for me.

I agree with you, so very sad.

Where to start?
It’s not hard to find out how it’s gone completely wrong in Canada. Do a bit of a google about MAID and you will see.

This is the thin end of the wedge. Before we know it, it will being offered to the homeless, to people (even teens) suffering from depression, the elderly will be guilt tripped or coerced into it by relatives who want to get their greedy mits on inheritance before it’s swallowed up in care home fees. Also makes a nice little saving for the NHS doesn’t it? Frees up a few hospital beds. Less pension to pay out. Would also help to solve the problem of our ever growing aging population 🙄

Sorry but I think some of those calling for this aren’t doing so out of genuine concern for people who might end up having a so-called assisted death.

I have seen this too. I don't think that decision should be left to the medical staff and certainly not without discussion which cannot happen under the present laws.

That’s a rather sweeping statement! How do you know this, Why do you think that? Have you experience of this? Judging by interviews with such people when this topic has been in the media, it seems to me that many want to choose when they end their lives in those circumstances.

Unfortunately. Even if they made it clear while they were able to do so that it was something they didn't want to endure.