not sure what to think of this

[2shoes]

poor couple
but i do hope it is never allowed over here

I do agree with you 2shoes but at the same time, it is their choice and i'm sure there are lots of people in the same situation who would do the same.

I'm sorry I am campaigning to ensure it's available over here, I do not want to spend 10 years in a nursing home singing along to some idiot playing oasis and blur badly on a keyboard whilst pissing in my pants.
Equally I don't want to have to trek over to switzerland but if needs must.

I agree with Sorrento. I wouldn't want to suffer in old age. DH and I have made a deal.....

I'd like this option to be available to me if I was in their situation. But I think the safeguards needed to stop it being misused could make it very difficult to get the law changed, unfortunately.

If it does become allowed, how many old people do you think will feel obliged to do it just so as not to be a burden on their children? Or even so as not to waste the inheritance on nursing costs? That thought frightens me.

agree cory - and as MIS says the safeguards to make sure it's not misused would probably be extremely difficult to control.

Well yes cory I have to admit that's part of the appeal, if I am going to work my socks off all my life to buy a house, shares whatever there is no way I want to see that all go on nursing home fees and that's my opinion at 33.
If I'm sat in a chair on my own wishing the days away then lets get it over with.

my granddad was ill for a long time before he died, in and out of hospital. I would have been absolutely devastated if he'd decided to use assisted suicide to quicken his end, thankfully he lived long enough to meet DS3 and I have those precious photos to treasure for ever

but who's to say that our children will feel it's burden - that's simply making assumptions about how children (or grandchildren depending on what age we are at the time) will feel.

So if he was in pain and suffering you rather he carried on so you could get your photo
I doubt that's what you're saying at all but you take my point ?

Very but I'm firmly in the camp pro assisted suicide having seen a friend die an agonising death of cancer.

Btw, the rugby player was called Daniel James - pretty crap that they got his name wrong .

and fwiw - I don't intend to leave any inheritance for my children - if I've got anything to show for myself once I retire I fully intend to spend it on ME. Then my children can work to have the same as me- like I'll have to do if I want to have anything "surplus" to spend in my later years.

well he also wanted to meet DS3. Infact when I went to visit him in hospital a few months before died (as we thought he was going them) I got there to be asked "where's DS3"......I told him at home (200 miles away) with DH.

I was then blanked for a few minutes until he decided that perhaps it was rather nice that his granddaughter had come to see him even if it was without his 3rd great-grandson.

Imo it would have been much sadder for them to die horrible deaths from cancer, to watch one die before the other, to be seggregated onto different hospital ward, to be lonely.

They died together, they had control over what happened, it was their choice.

i have mixed feelings about this
it is terribly sad, but i do believe that people should have the choice to do this if they are 100 per cent sure that its right for them, and i think the families have to respect and accept their decision
we wouldnt let an animal suffer, would we..we would have it put down [horrible term to use i know]
its so sad watching someone you love die a slow and painful death

Having watched both my sister and a very close friend suffer through the agonies of terminal cancer I sincerely hope I won't be forced to do the same. I worked with alzheimers patients for many years. DH is under strict instructions to investigate assisted suicide should I ever get to the point my grandmother did, a dribbling vegetable.

I think it is unutterably cruel to prolong life just for the sake of it without giving any thought to the quality of that life.

As long as people would also be allowed to insist on recieving longterm medical care to keep them alive even if in pain, comatose, whatever, should their viewpoint be that while there is life there is hope etc then I think people should be allowed the option of assisted suicide. Our lives/bodies belong to us, not our families, nor the state.

Solid i think that is my main concern I do not want to be kept alive because the state says I can't die or because my daughters decide that they want to hold onto me, if I'm not having any quality of life then I think it's selfish not to let people die with their dignity.

but my worry is when will it not be up to the patient!!
when will it be the cash strapped NHS trying to free up beds

As opposed to the cash strapped NHS spending scarce resources keeping people alive and in agony who don't want to be?

reality - just to point out that the scenario you describe is NOT legal and above board, it is deprivation of assets (to try and avoid paying for services that you would otherwise be ineligible for).

you also point out that the government pay for care for those vulnerable people who do not have the assets to pay for their own care. the government does not actually have any money other than taxpayers money, therefore if nobody worked and saved as you describe there would be NO money at all in the public coffers hence NOBODY would get any assistance with care costs.

i will never be in a position to benefit from free care - i, like many people, am in the bracket where i earn over the threshold for assistance but am by no means well off. however, i get by and am firmly of the opinion that i, and others like me, should continue to pay for services to ensure that free care etc is available for those who really need it.

I agree with slug, Sorrento, solidgoldbrass and others.