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

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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.

This leans towards my question.

If we want to improve things for people at the end of their life having a hideous time, what realistically 'better' is there that we're not doing? Than death, i mean.

We're thinking about offering death. Some people are saying no - we must just make what's left of life 'better' than we are now. But is this even possible? Or is it just a case of drugging until unconscious?

Can't come soon enough. I have a grandparent with advanced dementia - doubly incontinent, doesn't know up from down, scared of his own shadow but strong as an ox. If he had had the choice, he wouldn't have let it get to this point.
There's no reason to assume we will go down the same supposed slippery slope as Canada. People are still arguing that abortion will lead to legalized murder of newborn babies- hasn't happened yet has it?

But it will only apply to people with a terminal illness with less than 6 months to live.

People with depression do sometime die by suicide, which is no longer illegal. Do you think it should be?

I’m all for it providing robust criteria and systems are in place which I believe there will be. People should have the choice to die with dignity at a time of their choosing. My dad had MND and to watch him deteriorate and see him suffering was horrible. He didn’t want to live like that and often said he wanted to go but of course he had to wait it out until nature took its course. We wouldn’t keep an animal alive like it so why shouldn’t humans have the same dignity

I'm confident enough that we will have learnt from Canadas mistakes and that the legislation will be robust enough to not allow that to happen. And to be perfectly honest I'd rather take that small risk and give people with terminal illness the choice.

I have seen my own family suffer with a terminal illness. Looked after people with it as a care assistant. All I know is if I get terminally ill I'm on the first available flight to Switzerland. I would never put my family through watching me die inch by painful inch

YANBU OP considering how disgustingly ableist UK society still is. Look at all the anti-PIP discussions.

This kind of thing plus new laws on assisted suicide will drive some disabled people who are vulnerable to feel forced to ‘choose’ an assisted suicide for lack of social and financial support.

I’m shocked to see our Parliaments having these dangerously elitist discussions about the primacy of personal ‘choice’ at end of life, which is a consequence of financial privilege, considering these issues as separable from the discussion about the social support of disabled people. Which is facing devastating funding cuts. This is not a safe environment in which to bring in assisted suicide.

After seeing what is happening in Canada with MAID I have huge concerns.

The Scottish government constantly show that they ignore harms to certain groups if it challenges their naive ideological worldview, so i can't see them introducing a robust framework that would provide sufficient safeguards.

My cousin was sectioned recently, suffering from severe mental illness. He tried to strangle himself with a shoelace on his 2nd night in hospifal. He's in his 40s and has a wife and kids.

Does anyone seriously think the correct, moral response to my cousin wanting to die would have been "oh OK, you want to die, off you go then, let's do this the tidy way - here's a lethal injection"?

Most people would obviously disagree with that. But proponents of assisted dying are saying that there are some cases where that is the appropriate response.

Where do you draw the line? Whose lives are worth saving from their own suicidal feelings, and whose lives aren't? I've found it difficult to formulate a response to that which isn't ableist, ageist, or doesn't judge the value of people's lives based on their ability to work or create economic value. "6 months to live with an illness that causes terrible pain" seems arbitrary to me.

It wouldn't apply because it needs consent and six months to live.

But what if it means in practice that 100 people get the death they wanted and 100,000 or 1,000,000 are forced into it as 'a kindness' or 'their duty' or 'because they took from the state without giving back'?

Not going into detail but for many terminal circumstances,yes the reality can be increasing narcotic medication. What people don't mention is that this needs to be accompanied by other interventions eg NG tube to keep stomach fluids draining. I absolutely agree that palliative care needs to be administered equally and to a high standard across the UK but anybody who thinks that this alone will end terminal suffering and give everyone a painfree and comfortable death is either ignorant of the truth or wilfully ignoring it.

I would love assisted dying to be legalised everywhere. It's completely barbaric to force people to suffer.

It is also worth pointing out that pain free and comfortable deaths aren't part of this bill. The type of death depends on the drug administered which hasn't been determined yet, but would make sense to be the most cost effective.

I don’t think assisted dying should be a devolved issue. It’s something we need national unity on. And given the horror stories coming out of Canada, I’d like to see considerably more parliamentary debate before any legislation proceeds. It is vitally important it doesn’t become coercive dying.

And if sufficient medical staff are willing to do the deed

Obviously it wouldn't apply now. But he has been diagnosed for a while. He was a farmer and a pragmatist, we often wonder what would have been had his gun not been taken.

But people with depression are already ‘allowed’ to take their own lives. I don’t think this bill would make any difference to them.

They don't currently have access to surefire and painfree methods.

This is utter nonsense and does not apply for the Netherlands.
The option of assisted dying for patients with mental illnesses would have prevented a lot of trauma for my family. My parents would not have the horrid image of my brother hanging in the staircase in their minds, for the rest of their life.
With his broken leg.
And his cut arms.
From earlier attemps.
Where was the assistance.
I understand you find dying scary, but leave the decision for everyone to make individually. You're mad if you think you can go see a doctor and ask for your death please, and that the answer will be ofcourse please come back in a week.

My worry is that people with terminal diagnoses will feel pressurised to “do the decent thing” for the sake of their family so they don’t have to watch them suffer.

And they do. Often violently, causing trauma to their families, to train drivers and train passengers.

Is that what you want?

I'm not sure why people keep using dementia as an example. You need to be able to consent to doctors.

It just goes to show how people are already trying to push the boundaries of the bill.

People in the early stages of dementia still have capacity.

I don’t understand why this is a devolved issue either