Anyone watching Louis tonight? Assisted dying.

[Mrskeats]

Anyone watching? What are your thoughts?

I think the Final Exit people were very ... odd. I kept thinking if Debra had no one, who was going to sort all her stuff - there was sooooo much stuff. Watching Gus die is awful.

And he's dying surrounded by all his family and friends, slowly and gently falling into sleep. She was with those two odd people with a plastic bag over her head.

Agreed who

The thought of the plastic bag over her head made me feel really uncomfortable.

I have just sat with my step mum who has been given days to live. They are starving her and she is dehydrated and we basically have been ignored on a noisy ward. It is bloody heart breaking and she is in agony. I would like to go like Gus when the time comes.

salsamummy I'm so sorry you and your stepmother are going through this. So sad. I wish people who are in there right mind were allowed to go in peace and free from pain. It's heartbreaking 😢. Hope she doesn't suffer to much. Take care xx

Very sorry to hear that salsa, hope you are ok.
I agree about Gus.

Just watched it - heartbreaking. I would like to go like Gus though. Debra’s story was s sad and you feel that if she had been able to find an organisation to help her meet people rather than those oddballs, she may have had a different quality of life. It was just so sad to see a woman like her with no family and no friends. Certainly made me count my blessings but I definitely need to restock the Kleenex!

My impression was that Louis felt very uncomfortable about Deborah’s situation - she was deep in the loneliness and grief of her recent bereavement, and the ethics of those pushing at the boundaries of the law to facilitate her suicide seemed pretty dubious.

Just watching it now.
Watched my Dad die very slowly from dementia. Food & water was stopped a day after he was admitted,but it took him nearly 4 days to die. It was fucking awful & I would never ever want to put my friends or family,or myself for that matter,through that.
I understand it's a very emotive,complicated subject,but I'm very pro 'right to die'.

I agree fully about Deborah. It seemed to me she was depressed and grieving for her husband. I think that’s what Louis felt too.
All very sad.

It was sad when Gus' friend who was a Dr spoke with Louis outside and suggested the amount if meds Gus had been given might not be enough

I think Deborah was depressed & grieving

Gus' death made me cry. I support people's right to die, though personally I think I'd rather hang on and keep taking the happy pills. Though of course none of us really know how we'd feel in that situation.

The onset of dementia sounds scary, so I don't judge Deborah for her choice, although once all lucidity has gone I imagine it's like being a pet - you're warm, fed and looked after but you can't really reflect on your own existence. The bigger concern for me would be being a burden on others.

The most difficult thing in this seems to be timing it right. Has anyone seen the film "Alice"? The scene where she's trying to commit suicide but she's too far gone to can't focus on the task has always stuck with me!

"Still Alice" that should say. It's about a woman with early onset Alzheimer's

Still Alice was a very poignant film. I think she had different choices to many people because of her families wealth.
This was implied with the documentary last night because of Deborah's financial situation too.

Just watched it. I agree completely with what pps have said about Deborah. Suicide is a permanent solution for what could have been, for her, a temporary but terrible amount of pain. Gus' death made me cry but it was as he wanted, he'd obviously held on longer than he would have wanted for his family. I'm so glad the dose was enough

I watched my maternal grandmother disintegrate with dementia and my paternal grandmother shrink and shrink from a large personality to not quite a whole person who would sit in the corner, not speaking, just looking overwhelmed. Neither of them would have wanted it but I don't know whether either of them would have done it a different way if that way existed for them

I agree about Deborah - she was still deep in grief her decision seemed to be much less reasoned than Gus and the other lady. It was interesting that the lady whose name I've forgotten eventually died naturally.

WRT to assisted dying, I would like it available here (subject to strict regulation, obviously) - sometimes it seems we are more civilised in our approach to sick animals than we are to terminally ill humans.

I felt so sorry for Deborah, at one stage I said out loud I’ll be your friend. Those people were deeply odd

Very much in support of it. We are living longer/being kept alive longer with often little family or state support or funding. The sums just do not add up; even with the large fees they charge care homes are going out of business, beds are being blocked and no plans are in place to care for an aging population. I do not wish to be a burden to my family or the state living in pain or in some twilight world. I pray that by the time comes for me to need it assisted dying will be available and I am very pragmatic about it.

I watched it, cried my eyes out.

It was the shot of Gus's dog sitting in the corridor that tipped me over.

In theory I'm very approving of the concept of choosing when it's your time to go, but it affected me in a way I wasn't expecting it to.

It was a really hard watch. I have been there with family and dementia and know that I would like the right to die on my own terms. But the programme showed that that is also a huge burden. Really challenging stuff.

Gus' story was so sad but he got to choose is own way to go and didn't just fade away in too much pain. I knew someone who passed with that type of cancer and her last days were difficult for her family and her with most of it her sleeping.

Deborahs story was so difficult, like others this seems like a permanent solution for a temporary problem.

I fully support the idea of being able to safely end your life when the time is right. But those final exit odd bods to not seem qualified to tell the difference between illness and depression 😩

Yes Roystonv completely agree. Assisted dying as an option makes sense to me. I am not afraid of death but I dread a horrible death where the body and mind deteriorate and where there is great pain or indignity.

I got the impression that Lori wanted to have some control, to know that she had a choice - after being told for 3.5 years that you only had 6 months to live, to be able to put an actual date on it would have been "nice" Initially I thought they were over sharing with her 10 year old but who knows.

Just watched it. I've completely mixed feelings about it all. I agree with everyone that deborah was depressed and grieving and counselling may have been a better option. It's weird because in my line of work I've been trained to pick up cues on someone who may be thinking of ending their life with the view to support them and organise the right professional support and the two exit life people were doing the complete opposite which really upset me.

I think gus's situation was different he was dying and was just ensuring it was quicker and less painful then his natural death might have been.

My biggest concern with end of life policies like this is that vulnerable adults may be coerced into it or do it because they feel a burden so should do it even though it may not be what they really want to do. I'm very concerned about it being abused.