Assisted Dying

[marlaxo]

Yes 100%. I hope that option is available to me should I ever need it. To be able to slip away peacefully at the timing of my choice instead of suffering.

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

It’s not a given that this bill will become law! I sincerely hope it doesn’t!
It will be scrutinised line by line, and lots of amendments suggested. Also, it still has to get through the lords.
If there’s no full proof safeguards for coercion, then many of the mp’s who voted for it today won’t do so at the second reading.
---
Leadbeater has said, this is the most pressing issue if our time.
No it’s bloody not. It’s her pet project!
What an arrogant self serving women she is. Only got elected on a pity vote, and now trying to make a name for herself on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society..

I sincerely hope it does pass the Lords and becomes law. We have a duty to allow people to choose a safe and dignified death. No one should have to suffer the pain my dad went through, it's inhumane

 

[Pinkblush]

We have that kindness for pets so why not humans.

 

[Jemadah]

I lost two friends - one 30s, one early 40s - who both suffered horrific, drawn-out deaths due to cancer. I don't want the same for myself or anyone else I love.

 

[Sibz]

I feel it should be allowed, but strictly only in a medical setting, where at least 3 or more doctors and next of kin and person themselves if able to agrees that there is no chance of surviving with any quality of life and prolonging the patients life would just bring needless suffering. I'm totally against people who are otherwise healthy but feeling low at the time deciding they want to end their life and being allowed to. That would be such a tragic waste of life and cause so much devastation to the people around them who love them

 

[MaineCoonMama]

My husband is older than me, his mum is in her 90s and hasn't recognised him for years. He no longer visits because she gets agitated at this big beardy man trying to talk to her. She used to spit at him. She lies in a bed clutching a teddy and staring at the ceiling not knowing her own name. He doesn't want to bump her off for a house cos there isn't one. He just wants her out of this locked in pointless purgatory.

Oh, man. It's so horribly cruel for all parties. My mum would be ok then all of a sudden she'd look really frightened as if she didn't know who we were. She didn't get to the violent stage but she wasn't the woman we knew and loved.

I don't want to put anyone through what my step dad went through trying to keep her at home as long as he could. I don't want to be lost and frightened, it must be hell on earth.

 

[Fishwife]

I am a retired nurse and am now reaching an age when these issues might become personal. I worked in nursing homes and looked after some patients who no longer felt their lives were worth living. I remember one lady who had lost the ability to walk and was gradually loosing the ability to use her arms. She refused antibiotics to treat pneumonia knowing that she would likely die as a result. Her death was slow and painful and very distressing for both her family and for the staff. She would not have qualified for help under this legislation as she was not terminally ill.
If I was terminally ill I would not choose a slow and painful death. I would also not want to cause unnecessary distress to my children. I would be willing to have those sort of conversations with them. A lot of people seem to not understand the difference between having a disability and being terminally ill.

 

[Foxvint]

It's usually the family rather than the patient objecting to a DNR even though Ethel is 92, blind, on a drip, suffering with no hope of improvement and her baby bird ribs would be smashed to bits with resus. We seem to have collectively forgotten that people do die. They don't last forever.

 

[Milliemoo99]

Having had to make the heartwrenching decision to put my elderly dog down yesterday, and having seen my elderly dad die a few years ago of age/ complications/from cancer. I am entirely in favour of some kind of assisted dying! Of course there needs to be appropriate checks and balances in place.

Some of my feelings come from the advanced medical knowledge that we now have, that enable people and animals to live way longer than they would in previous days. IF someone is capable of living independently without medical intervention, then no assisted dying shouldnt be allowed. If I was severely ill, with only 6 months or so left to live, I would want the option to end things so that I wasnt a burden on my family, and so that they could remember the good times, not the painful ones.

If machines or medicine is necessary to keep someone alive, and they are suffering then surely offering the option of a way out is only fair?

We arent actually a very kind or compassionate society at times, some elderly people are left in almost criminally neglectful situations suffering from dementia or unable to live independently. Or some families care for extremely ill relatives at massive personal or financial cost to themselves.

The lovely communal family where all ages live together, and all support each other to care for terminally ill relatives, is a lovely idea, but rarely exists in practice.

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

Fantastic news. I'm so pleased people can now choose a safe and dignified death

 

[Millennial Pink]

I would absolutely want the choice of assisted dying if I were terminally ill or extremely unwell and elderly and unable to do the job myself. The end of life procedures i've seen (morphine overdoses, withdrawal of food and water etc) seem to do the same thing, just far more slowly and imo cruelly. I don't see why people can't be afforded the choice to take control of the situation in this day and age.

Euthanasia is a more complicated discussion. I think I'm broadly for in extreme cases, but who should get to decide that for someone else?

 

[TheMiceInTheShed]

Wow no posts on the thread since 2021, might be talking to myself here but here goes.

I think it's very telling that the people who've watched a loved one die are almost unanimously in favour of assisted dying. Same for all the nurses I've met.

Of course there's massive ethical questions and the law would have to be water tight with certain strict conditions to be met. Did anyone watch the brilliant bbc documentary Better Off Dead with Liz Carr? She's fabulous and I appreciated her arguments but they didn't persuade me.

I think most opposition goes back to deeply entrenched religious ideas of how only God gets to take you. This is a secular country but that concept is still a powerful force that makes a lot of people uneasy with debates around AD. But it's coming, it has to. My body my choice.

I think it's very telling that the people who've watched a loved one die are almost unanimously in favour of assisted dying. Same for all the nurses I've met.

I think most opposition goes back to deeply entrenched religious ideas of how only God gets to take you.

I watched both my wonderful parents die long, drawn-out and horrible deaths from cancer. My lovely grannie died with hideous dementia, no longer the woman we knew. Would I have released them from that if I could? You bet! Do I think it should be brought into law? NO!

My opposition has nothing to do with my Christian faith, and everything to do with the fact that the "watertight" laws surrounding it would very soon be fudged and abused until people were being guilted or pushed into assisted death, or governments began killing people who were going to cost too much to provide healthcare for.

I greatly fear these conditions (or similar) for myself and would truly rather be dead than be in such pain or, in the case of dementia, giving such grief to my children - but I still oppose it.

This is a very steep and slippery slope and I dread the country stepping onto it.

 

[Foxvint]

The problem with that is, if I felt like a burden to my husband or kids, that'd be a perfectly valid reason for me. We all have different expectations from family so I'm not saying it should be valid right across the board for everyone but the idea of someone not wanting to be a burden is perfectly acceptable to me. There's a limit on the care we can expect from our loved ones.

 

[bluefoot]

I put no as you absolutely cannot prevent coercion and persuasion as human beings can’t help it. See what’s happening in Canada where people are subtly and not so subtly nudged to make this choice because the state won’t care for people adequately. It’s not surprising this is coming up now when there’s a large aging population we can’t support. It’s also very telling that conversations about assisted dying chosen freely by the individual very quickly turns to conversation about euthanasia chosen on someone else’s behalf. This is a very dangerous path to go down. People will definitely make the ‘choice’ to die rather than go into care and have to sell their home in order for children to inherit. This will almost certainly be encouraged within some families

 

[Lizzie Mintdrop]

I'm entirely in favour of assisted dying. For any reason you choose. If you want to end your life you shouldn't have to do it in a way that may cause you or others more pain. No one should have to throw themselves off a bridge, no one should have to throw themselves in front of a train and no one should survive a failed attempt and now be profoundly disabled by it, further enhancing their suffering.

Ethics committees exist, there's no reason to assume that doctors would persuade people to end their lives when it isn't in their best interests, they swear an oath now and we don't suspect them of not following those promises now, do we? Doctors don't force women to have abortions so why would they start forcing the elderly or the disabled to choose a quick death?

 

[mochibean]

Yes, we do it for animals and humans should have that same option. The people in these situations where they are needlessly suffering are often very aware of the fact all they can do is exist in pain and misery. That's not worth living is it..

 

[Notworthy]

I'm CofE (and am a licensed minister) but frankly I have no respect for "Wokeby" or any of his opinions. He's not infallible and in my personal opinion is destroying the Church of England.

I do oppose assisted dying - but only because I fear that it will be abused in ways that we can't predict, and will end up being a legal imposition of eugenics, and a way of getting rid of "useless mouths" in the general population.

I know that they say "Oh, we'll make the laws watertight", but that won't happen. Look at the current "trans" carry on. No-one defined "woman" or "man" in the legal documentation because it was obvious what these groups were . . . and to sensible people it is still obvious, but people with an agenda have gained enormous political power and muddied the waters so much that everyone is frightened to speak out about it.

Look at surrogacy. All of those restrictions, all of those caveats to protect women from exploitation, and babies from being trafficked, and yet women are being exploited and babies are being trafficked.

The same will happen with assisted dying. It will start off all good intentions, then profit will rear its ugly head, and then we are ALL lost.

There's almost certainly more profit in keeping people alive.

 

[Holidaybobs]

Most definitely yes.

My grandma has had dementia for the last 10 years and is now living in a specialist hospital. It’s beyond cruel watching her and the other residents. She is no longer a fraction of the woman she once was. She was a very proud woman and adored my grandad, for years she thought he had left her and would cry most days. It’s as though their own minds are torturing them.

My mum believes it runs in the family as my grandma, her sister and their mother have all had it. My mum openly says that if she is diagnosed then she would hate to go through it and would rather be dead. It’s such a shame that it is not regulated in this country. Of course, as previously mentioned, we should have great regulations and restrictions in place for it. But, given our building regulations and H&S laws, surely we could do something similar for this.

 

[ProphecyGirl]

I voted maybe but the more I think about it I mean yes.

People who are suffering should be able to choose. But I think only when they are really suffering, bed ridden or too weak.. along those lines.
Some people who do have a terminal illness still have a good few years left in them before they get to that stage. I say this for a selfish reason though because I wouldn't want anyone to make that choice who I care about if I still had years left with them

But I also wouldn't want to see them really suffer. It's hard

 

[Foxvint]

Right now I am on Day 6 of sitting at my husbands bedside on Nil by Mouth waiting for him to die, what an ffing way to go, it is horrendous. The staff are wonderful doing everything they can to make him comfortable and out of pain and looking after me and now he doesn't move, speak or open his eyes and seems comatosed. He has Parkinsons, Lewy Body Dementia, Dysphagia, Pneumonia and Sepsis - how much more does he have to have for someone to put him out of his misery, it is grinding me down, I am not sleeping, depressed and upset but for goodness sake I am sure there should be a way out of this in a couple of days. I was told on day 1 he was going to die but it is dragging on which should not be able to happen.

Dear God I am so sorry. All love to you

They say if you come into the world knowing someone is there who loves you and go out with the same, everything in between is bearable. I'm sure he feels your presence and your love. Peace will come x