Euthanasia, should we ?
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-47047579

I long ago decided that if I could both summon up the courage and find the "right" way, that I end my life at a time of my choosing. I told Mrs LOM back in the 80's that if the doctor ever bought me the Morphine / Heroin / Alcohol mixture (which I think was called lordium) then she was to give me the lot and I'd be off. Obviously access to compounds like pentobarbitone is very restricted in the UK (I used to make it and phenobarb in the 70's), but I'm sure a quick search of the web would find some.

Discuss

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

unless you can self administer then no. i would not like to place such a burden on someone else even if they are willing.

i was recently taking to someone who was pretty much dead as they could only use 20% lung function, they were seriously thinking about suicide. their doctor put them on a new drug which now gives them 90% lung function, their life has changed that much they have got back to work and now enjoying life again.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

Tough one. I think I agree with Lance.
If you are terminally ill and have no other chance of improvement, then if that is your decision and you are able to do it to yourself then I don't have an issue with it.


Me personally, I'd like to be there for my kids as long as possible.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

My mum died from dementia. When her brain function got so limited that she was no longer able to have a swallow reflex, she was put on 'the pathway' (to death I assume this means) whereby no further treatment except sedation to 'keep her comfortable' was offered. She then basically died from lack of water This is my understanding of what happened, no one has yet contradicted me. I have a friend going through this horrible and cruel process now with his mum.

During the early stages of dementia, when my mum had long lucid periods we were able to arrange power of attorney, care preferences, who would accompany here on hospital visits etc. If euthanasia was available in the UK, we could have discussed it then recorded her wishes. Our family would have respected her wishes, whatever choice she made.

I support the option of euthanasia where death is inevitable, for all debilitating conditions.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

Nothing worse than watching someone suffer when there is no hope of things getting better. It is a fine line though, and having the 'service' available may put pressure on people who 'don't want to be a burden to their family'.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

From an engineering perspective it's relatively straightforward to kill yourself painlessly without difficult to obtain drugs. I can think of a couple of alternatives.

Whether we should is a much more difficult question. Any kind of legal euthanasia runs the risk of pushy relatives encouraging someone to take it.

The Swiss approach where candidates have to take two interviews with qualified psychiatric specialists decent time apart before they are considered for euthanasia makes a lot of sense. It wouid be interesting to see some statistics about how many are rejected at that stage.

Just my thoughts,

Keith.

P.S. If I thought I was heading for a situation where this applied, I wouldn't rely on the government. I'd do a spot of online shopping.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

how does that work with a degenerative brain function issue?

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

As the story relates to a dementia sufferer, and having witnessed my mum's decline before she passed away, then I wouldn't want to end my days that way, but the biggest problem would be when?

My mum's dementia accelerated when she broke her hip, it's a known cause to accelerate dementia, and she was a different person on my first visit to see her in hospital, it was like someone had flicked a switch. She only lasted another 7 months, a bout of pneumonia was the final straw, even though she recovered from that.

She wasn't compos mentis to say that's enough, and before that, she would have carried on in her own world?

I'd just like to fall asleep and not wake up, rather than go through that.

A colleagues dad was in the same care home, he's also got dementia, but he's still going strong, and causing mayhem because he's such a big bloke, and he's been there 2 years or more.

Again when is the right time?

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

My Gran had dementia a couple of years back and then quite a serious stroke that we were told she would never recover from. She survived the stroke but as far as I can understand she was then left off medication and couldn't feed herself and the doctors chose not to feed her. A lot of this went a bit unspoken in our family, but as far as I can tell they just let her go by natural causes. Seemed a very drawn out prolonged process though. Over a week in hospital. We were told she would know nothing about it as she wasn't properly concious any more. Seems a bit barbaric still though that that's the process that has to take place as the alternatives that would shorten that process are illegal in this country.

Re: Euthanasia, should we ?
 

If you want to commit suicide, fill yer boots.

If you want someone else to kill you, bugger off.