To think voting for assisted dying legalisation could be a huge mistake???

[MyLimeGuide]

In Scotland they are voting to legalise assisted dying. Looking likely to pass. I am worried this will come to England now. Kier is already proving he doesn't care about old and disabled people so this scares me.
Obviously there are 2 sides but how can people be so ignorant? If passed this could be one of the biggest opportunity for corrupt evil behaviour of saving money on the NHS, care, people literally getting away murder, playing god! No not good. It's so scary.

I believe the Dr can't give you the medication so if you're completely paralysed I'm not sure how it would work.

I understand the frustration for some, people are arguing against something you want and society is less altruistic.
It must be incomprehensible that some are arguing for the vulnerable.

@Englishsummerblues and @godmum56 I know end of life care isn't the be all and end all, that's why I'd like this bill passed so people can have the option.

me too.

But the legislation is nothing to do with the Scottish Government.
The Bill at Holyrood is a members bill, which will be amended first by MSPs on the Health Committee, although it will be open to all MSPs to submit amendments. After that stage it goes through more amendments, with the Parliament as a whole voting on them. Then MSPs would vote on the Bill, as amended.
throughout the whole process MSPs will have a free vote - ie they won’t be told by their party which way to vote.
so it really doesn’t have anything to do with the Scottish Government

I really hope the bill goes through. If you don't want to take the option OP then that is absolutely your choice, but others who do, who are living in terrible pain and without dignity deserve to be able to make this choice for themselves.

I hope it does.

Nobody has any business to force people to carry on for everyone else’s benefit whilst they suffer horribly - we treat dogs better.

Also, because this is bugging me, when people say ‘the Bill’ could they specify which one - because there are two, one in Holyrood and one in Westminster
Or is Mumsnet doing its thing of pretending Scotland is just the same as England again…

I don't think arguing against people's right to make their own decisions about their death is in any way arguing for the vulnerable. Prolonged suffering is worse than death.

This is the point I'm making, you find it utterly incomprehensible that others are concerned about people being coerced and the criteria widening.

I think that it would have to have consent and signatures in place, like a DNR document.

Have you ever watched someone die a slow painful death

But that's not because I don't care about people's wellbeing or safeguarding. The difference is in what we find a worse risk (for me, keeping people alive and suffering when they would rather be dead is indefensible, and a worse risk than people being coerced). I can't see the care/concern in forcing people to stay alive.

Evidently it is. There was a report before the bill was debated about elderly women being coerced into death by abusive husbands. There's the risk of people feeling like a burden on the NHS or their family. There are unscrupulous family members who could coerce their relatives to end their lives because of inheritance. There are Drs who can bring up AS as it's expensive to keep people alive and there are cases of misdiagnosis or people recovering as well as the fact that it's not possible to give an accurate length of time left.

Some of us are concerned about the risk the bill and a change in criteria poses to others.

I feel like there’s a difference in wanting to choose for yourself and in deciding you know best for everyone.

It’s not going to be mandatory if it’s not for you that’s fine.

Again, it's not about me.

Yes, and I am concerned about the risk/reality of suffering that people are going through right now. The difference isn't that you care about others and supporters of AS don't - it's that you think the risk of unwanted death is worse than the risk of unwanted suffering. I disagree.

I already understand that. Your right to choose is more important than people losing their lives.

No, I don't think you do. You've somehow convinced yourself that you have the moral high ground, when it's just a difference in what we think is the right thing. I fully believe that people who are against it care about other people, so I don't see why you can't see that people on the other side of the debate do as well - just that what we think is in humanity's best interests is very different.

YABU and I don't think so.
I would like to think that if I was terminally ill and suffering, then I could make the choice to have a peaceful death surrounded by my family if that is what I wanted... instead of a traumatic and triggering suicide attempt.
We treat our pets better... in that we say better a week too early than a day too late. We have them PTS on a good day, instead of on their worst day. Yet we let people get to their worst days. Who does that benefit?
With pets, we make that choice for them. Actual humans are begging for a release, and are told no.

Because you evidently don't care about the real risks that this bill could be exploited and people's lives could be cut short. People aren't expendable.

I'm 100% a believer that our lives and bodies are our own, and with that comes choice.

Nobody else has to endure the pain or suffering that we have individually, so I would have no right in telling somebody that living their life is to be lived. I watched my dad die of cancer, it was such a cruel death - and would have supported assisted dying for him if that was his choice (and if it was available)

As long as there are strict measures on who it can and can't be offered to, and is policed properly then I'm all for it, and would want the option to be available to me if god forbid I was in the same position as my poor dad was.

I hope assisted dying is allowed, it’s overdue, let’s allow the elderly to choose a peaceful death if that is what they want, it is the morally right thing to do.

My grandad died at 87, but he said if he could have opted to end his life, then he would have at 75. Was miserable for all those years.

This is such a difficult issue. My heart says I wouldn’t allow my farm animals to suffer in the same way I saw my grandmother suffer with cancer at the end of her life.

But then I heard a thought provoking program on radio 4 where they ran some number. I can’t remember the exact figures but the government are expected tens of thousands of applications within a year. Of those, they were estimating that hundreds would be people that wouldn’t fall under the “last few months of terrible cancer pain” that we instinctively imagine is who it’s for and is ok. Wish I could remember the program!

Terminal illness is far more than cancer.
Some illness are decades long with an awful end. People want to avoid that awful end.