Euthanasia

[thatstupidcat]

I remember the Liverpool Care Pathway. It was horrific.

It was a national scandal and an example of the lengths medical staff in the NHS would go in order to free up bed blockers rather than arranging proper care and palliative facilities to discharge frail patients to.

 

[BettyCrockerr]

Anyone remember the “Liverpool Pathway”? Up until 2014, NHS Trusts were starving the elderly to death without pain relief and sometimes without the families’ knowledge.

I love the theory of euthanasia - everyone should be able to have control over their death in the same ways as they have rights to life.

However the shades of grey settled in after watching my dad go into hospital with a broken foot and be kept there following weeks of exceptional incompetence and nursing mismanagement and come out half his weight, bed sore ridden and ill. I wouldn’t trust any of those night hags masquerading as nurses or their doctor / consultant lemures to have any input over any practice of euthanasia. Pretty sure the last thing the staff on that particular orthopaedic ward needed was the power to put down patients they have taken against or consider a waste of resources.

You also have to keep in mind that the old fashioned approach of death by morphine ended properly with Harold Shipman and it will not be coming back. It’s also a terrible burden to stick on others to kill you, even for those NHS “Angel” types and the idea of the kind of person who’d be skipping between euthanising patients lives leaves me cold.

Perhaps artificial intelligence is the answer?

So sorry to hear about your experiences with your Dad, that’s absolutely horrendous and goes without saying is completely unacceptable


I don’t think it could be something that would happen on a daily basis on a regular ward in reg hospitals and i don’t think it would be right for staff to be working as you say to save lives one minute and help end them the next. That just wouldn’t work. It would have to be purpose built wards/facilities with trained staff in the field of assisted dying with a robust team of trained social workers etc and it would all have to be signed off etc so there was no room for any abuse of the system etc

 

[glasgow27]

I’m very pro euthanasia, it should absolutely be legalised. I think it’s disgusting that we can’t allow people to die of their own volition and instead make them rot away in pain, that is inhumane!

There’s also the question of what happens when really old. I’m young just now but my biggest fear would be becoming elderly and wasting away in a care home. I never want that to happen to me, I’d far rather bow out at 80 having lived a good life than spend the next 5 or so years in a home. I know that some of my family were slightly relieved when my grandmother passed a few years ago because she was just getting frail and I think that was difficult for her and them.

 

[JoeBloggs]

I’m also very pro euthanasia. I’ve watch all of my grandparents lose all dignity and desire for their lives living well into their 90s. All asking for it to be over.

I have a family friend who was put on the Liverpool pathway without their families consent, horrific and can’t quite believe anyone signed it off.

I believe there must be a way where people can request and be approved to effectively be put down. We do it to pets to put them out of the misery, why can we not do it to humans. I always think of the man who has a life long illness where he is trapped in his own body. He’s begged the courts and they have said no, how is that fair. If he was able to he could commit suicide but he doesn’t have the ability due to his condition.

 

[Merpedy]

I don't see many negatives to euthanasia tbh

I think there would be very very few people who would want to do it for unreasonable reasons, or would feel 'forced' into it. I also believe that this would be picked up by whatever evaluations you need to go through

Mental health is an interesting situation, but I think it could be a possibility if you've tried all the treatments accessible to you and they just haven't worked. Again, I feel like this would apply to very few people

Honestly, I think if your quality of life is just so bad due to your medical condition you should have the choice to pass away on your own terms

 

[Felix08]

I live in The Netherlands where it´s legal. I also work in a place where euthanasia has been done.
It´s also not very easy to have it done, it takes time.
There is also an end of life clinic here who decides if you can end your life.

I also know cases where people had bad mental health problems and wanted euthanasia. They did not get it because they were required to get proper mental health help before being referred to a clinic.

 

[kittenattack]

I was a nurse for 30 years. I worked in care of the elderly and adults with neurodegenerative diseases. I could tell you things which would keep you up at night they were so awful. Terrible suffering which no one should have to go through.

Assisted dying is like termination of pregnancy. If you don't agree with it, don't have it, but don't force your views on others. No one should be forced to remain alive against their will.

 

[hydeist]

Assisted dying is like termination of pregnancy. If you don't agree with it, don't have it, but don't force your views on others. No one should be forced to remain alive against their will.

This feels like a very perfect way to sum it up. Thanks

I think it is also a fair-ish comparison to make that some people who are against abortion also say things like, what if people take advantage, what if they make it legal to abort full term babies, what if this leads to LITERAL CHILD MURDERING and none of that has happened. We can't scare ourselves out of things that improve lives or reduce suffering because we are afraid of an imagined bogeyman who is going to come destroy it.

 

[Speckledpebble]

Euthanasia should be provided for those who want it. I’m currently caring for my mum at home and on an end of life pathway. She has widespread cancer including her bones and it’s honestly so cruel to let someone die in this way. She’s like a skeleton, in constant pain and is vomiting faecal matter because of a bowel obstruction. You wouldn’t leave an animal like that. It’s horrific.

 

[BettyCrockerr]

Euthanasia should be provided for those who want it. I’m currently caring for my mum at home and on an end of life pathway. She has widespread cancer including her bones and it’s honestly so cruel to let someone die in this way. She’s like a skeleton, in constant pain and is vomiting faecal matter because of a bowel obstruction. You wouldn’t leave an animal like that. It’s horrific.

So sorry for what you & your mum are going through, sending love & strength

 

[CharlieTYBT]

I absolutely think euthanasia should be legalised. Why should animals get to die without suffering, but we can't? I also believe that for mental health issues you should be allowed to also, but have lots of proof that it is unbearably bad on you and your life and has been going on for a certain number of years.

As someone who suffers from depression and has done as long as I can remember, I'd rather have that option there than people who commit suicide in a public way where members of the public find them or witness it. Many people have low times in their life and have moments where they're down and wish the world could end, I don't agree having it done then, but certainly if a person has medical evidence and personal evidence where they're unhappy and cannot live their life to a satisfactory level due to how bad their physical and mental health is, it should be considered.

 

[Speckledpebble]

So sorry for what you & your mum are going through, sending love & strength

Thank you It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

 

[jackolantern]

After watching my Dad die at 53 with unimaginable suffering and my Grandma follow not long after, I am 100% pro Euthanasia being an option for people. Both of them would have chosen to die earlier to avoid the pain they went through and at the end my Grandma quite literally grabbed by hand and begged me to let her die. If only I could have done. It's a pure evil that in a world where we do not chose to be born, we aren't even allowed to chose to die with dignity and as much comfort as possible. They both died in hospices, wasting away to nothing, riddled with cancers with symptoms that little could be done about. In my Grandma's case, as lovely as the staff were, they did make it clear that if she didn't die within a few days she'd have to leave as they needed the bed. She didn't die quick enough for them. The very people who were keeping her alive against her wishes. What about the fact she didn't die quick enough for her?

It's unethical beyond belief to force someone to stay alive when all they have left is pain and discomfort. We do it for our beloved animals and it is the absolute kindest thing you can ever do, to end someone's suffering for them when there is nothing else left.

 

[MyLittlePony25]

I’m very pro euthanasia. My Nan suffered horribly with lung cancer that spread to her bones.
myself and my parents have had the conversation about euthanasia and all agree that people should have the right to die with dignity if terminally ill.

I’ve just watched ‘Mary Kills People’ which is a drama about a doctor who provides assisted suicide and it actually is really good. It’s on channel 4OD for anyone who may want to watch it.

as for euthanasia for psychiatric disorders, it’s a hard one. I myself have mental illnesses and have attempted many a time. But am I glad I haven’t ‘succeeded’, yes. Right now I am. But maybe in the future I will decide that I do not want to live and should I have the right to decide? I guess it depends on the length of illness and impact it has had on your life. I certainly do not want to experience such dark times again and will do all I can to stay well, but if I could have the option? Possibly. It took the girl in the article posted previously, years to get the go ahead for assisted suicide but has since decided not to go ahead with it.

 

[Danni_louu]

I watched my grandad die of cancer. I remember him being in that much pain I was begging the nurses to give him that bit more medicine to overdose him.
I agree with it. Obviously not for little things

 

[Begborrowsteal]

Euthanasia should be provided for those who want it. I’m currently caring for my mum at home and on an end of life pathway. She has widespread cancer including her bones and it’s honestly so cruel to let someone die in this way. She’s like a skeleton, in constant pain and is vomiting faecal matter because of a bowel obstruction. You wouldn’t leave an animal like that. It’s horrific.

Im so sorry, its beyond cruel xx

 

[blackmasque]

I know this is going to be a controversial opinion but I think people should be able to die peacefully and with dignity whenever they choose to, regardless of whether or not they have health issues or mental illness (and regardless of severity if they do have them).

 

[Kmacg]

Pro-euthanasia here too.

I had cancer at 23, with 2 young children, which i luckily caught in time and beat but during the months of treatment, the thought crossed my mind that if I got too poorly to enjoy my last months with my family, I would rather end it myself than put anyone through watching me die. I wouldnt want my babies last memories of me being in a hospital, too tired to speak, wasting away. I know most people would cherish every moment they could but I couldnt do that.

We treat animals with more dignity in death than we do fellow humans. Something has to change.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

I am quite frightened of dying, and I’m not really sure why. If I was in the situation where I was terminally ill and nothing else could be done, I would like to be able to choose the time to go in the place I would like to take my last breath - it doesn’t sound like a lot to ask to me.

I understand this would be a complex, tricky law to introduce but it doesn’t sit well with me that it’s an outright “no!” without any debates (or at least that’s how it looks to me).

My mum was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in the September and she died in the May. She was in a lot of worsening pain throughout that time and I just know she would have wanted to go sooner because it was unbearable - and a lot of people have a lot lengthier battles with cancer. There’s nothing worse than seeing a loved one waste away in front of your eyes when you know what the outcome will be anyway.

We obviously have to be extremely careful to protect vulnerable people. But at the moment, the only people who have that last act of control are those who have the time and money to go to Switzerland.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

Euthanasia should be provided for those who want it. I’m currently caring for my mum at home and on an end of life pathway. She has widespread cancer including her bones and it’s honestly so cruel to let someone die in this way. She’s like a skeleton, in constant pain and is vomiting faecal matter because of a bowel obstruction. You wouldn’t leave an animal like that. It’s horrific.

I’m so sorry you are both going through this. Sending you love