I have just seen this head line and it has really shocked me and I didn't even know this went on - euthanasia

[JustFabulous]

here

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium under certain criteria.

I know it was what they wanted but I just feel sad.

It is very sad, but I don't think I would be want to be deaf AND blind. Meaningful life would be over - FOR ME - at any least.

Even in Belgium this is an unusual case. Euthanasia makes up a significant portion of deaths in Belgium, but usually it is because of uncontrollable pain and suffering or known terminal illness.

It also depends which hosptial you go to in Belgium. Some hospitals are catholic and I don't think they carry out euthanasia at all.

I think ultimately it is up to the people in question. Euthanasia requests are not just waved through in countries where it is legal, they are scrutinised to make sure that criteria are met and that those requested have full capacity.

Personally I would not want to live like that either. It is sad, but it is a legitimate choice if you believe that our lives are our own.

Euthanasia is legal in several places, Holland (where I'm from) is another. My grandmother chose euthanasia and it gave her enormous comfort to be in control of her own death. She had her whole family with her, she chose her time and she went with her dignity intact.

My understanding though - is that there little hospice or palliative type care available in Belgium, so it does rather beg the question....if you really are terminally ill, or in pain, well how WOULD you want it to go? Even with birth, it is epidural or nothing. There is a high standard of healthcare here, but maybe it comes down to keeping things nice and tidy - good treatment available but not necessarily patient focussed? Om the other hand you would not wait weeks/months for an appointment, or lay in your own shit in a&e.

I don't know, porto. I can't even speak for the Dutch situation, since my gran opted for euthanasia.

However, I have an interest in this topic (obviously) and have spoken to many people who have seen people go through the UK hospice system with their relatives - and far too many of them wished that euthanasia had been available as an option at the end. There is only so much palliative care can do.

Personally I'd rather opt out whilst fully compos mentis than end up on the Liverpool Care Pathway - even with my consent - and end up sedated into a vegetable.

DH and I are planning to put money aside so that we can go to Switzerland if the UK doesn't resolve this.

I think that most people if they had a dog that was suffering for whatever reason, they would even begrudgingly have it pts. It is only humans that have to suffer life for life's sake. If that wish is freely given, which it appears to have been hear, and for a valid reason, who are we to judge.

I only worry in the case of the elderly, especially here where the estate inherits the debts, that some might be shuffled off before the care home bill cancels out the inheritance entirely. That granny might feel impelled to go for the injection and leave something to the family, rather than hang on in there.

Pointy - I am NOT talking about your gran here. Just musing, that if I was 80 odd and failing, and had the choice in paying care home fees vs giving my dd/gc something for the future and have them not watch me degenerate - weil I might choose that option too.

Still not sure if it makes it RIGHT or not.

Porto, and on the other end of the spectrum, no tax on monatary gifts here in Belgium mean that there are families who are desperate to keep their elderly relative alive at all costs, because if they die within three years of the 'gift' being given, then they will have to pay a huge inheritance tax. And being kept alive 'at all costs' and be very very unpleasant.

I am just speaking theoretically, but I imagine these things are happening...

porto I think we agree that there are no easy answers.