Thread: Euthanasia an option for me

Originally Posted by newhue

You'd imagine if it were to become acceptable, there would be some pretty clear perimeters. Intentions would have to be drafted well before any illness. Family sign off on intentions with appropriate milestones of failing health. All acknowledged by a Doctor or 3 and family members and or a third party like a lawyer.

Society seems to get very interested in physical pain and relieving it with drugs. But mental pain, which can't be measured largely goes un-talked about.

I think with a massively ageing population it's a matter of time before a political party puts it on the agenda. My folks already know of several people who have secured there own final solution tablet from the USA. Euthanasia is already happening in peoples homes, and has been in hospitals for years with morphine. So perhaps it's time we all get real about it and don't use any religion argument to blur the pain and reality of suffering.

The problem is that any process gets manipulated by those with self serving ends.

You forget, or maybe never knew, that I have worked in intensive care units and emergency departments for almost 30 years so have been exceptionally close to the practices you mention.

Sometimes, in retrospect, it should have been called murder and others the lack of it, bore a close resemblance to torture or cruel and unusual punishment. If you ask, yes I did withdraw my labour from those particular places.

Diana

I am certainly in favor of euthanasia. If we treated animals the way we treat humans we would have the RSPCA on us like a ton of bricks.

I would love the option of being able to end it, if I became a burden, and had no quality of life. I am pretty sure I also speak for SWMBO, who would agree.

Originally Posted by olbod

the last of my friends died in 2011

I'd like to think you have plenty of friends in here. Maybe not as close as those who've died, but those who are happy to lend an ear or a hand if needed

Originally Posted by Ranga

I'd like to think you have plenty of friends in here. Maybe not as close as those who've died, but those who are happy to lend an ear or a hand if needed

I appreciate that, thanks.

I want to come back to a quote by Newhue

Originally Posted by newhue

... Society seems to get very interested in physical pain and relieving it with drugs. But mental pain, which can't be measured largely goes un-talked about. ...

... So perhaps it's time we all get real about it and don't use any religion argument to blur the pain and reality of suffering.

There have been a couple of times in my life where I was very depressed, times where the very act of continuing breathing seemed too much to bare. Not because of any physical disorder but because of the place I was in my head as a result of numerous friends dying and other events in my life. I would have been happy the ask for euthanasia although that very act of asking was too great an effort for me to be able to complete. Another time I sat on the outside railing of a 12 storey building wanting to step off into space. It was justified in my mind at the time as my mental suffering was too great.

If I had done that I would not have met any of you online or many of you in real life, the enjoyment and companionship those contacts created and that would have been more of a tragedy than the absence on me on this Earth.

So, no I don't agree with euthanasia in general but I do believe in being humane to people with real physical suffering.

R-U-O.K.?

Diana

Very thought-provoking post Diana. Just shows how complex an issue this is.

Cheers,
Jon

I guess that the original topic was about two choices, going through the experience in many of the "care" institutions or euthanasia.
I come with this dramatic title to the thread to highlight what it is going trough in these institutions and assuming that the sick does not have any other choice.
It is easy for us to look for options but for a physical incapacitated old person without any family that love or care for what he is going through, the options are very limited.
As I said, if I have only the two options I go for euthanasia.
Do not believe that there are possibilities to correct the way that these institutions operate any time soon. By the time that the politicians do something hundreds of old or incapacitated people will died going trough a mental and physical torture.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

I guess that the original topic was about two choices, going through the experience in many of the "care" institutions or euthanasia.
I come with this dramatic title to the thread to highlight what it is going trough in these institutions and assuming that the sick does not have any other choice.
It is easy for us to look for options but for a physical incapacitated old person without any family that love or care for what he is going through, the options are very limited.
As I said, if I have only the two options I go for euthanasia.
Do not believe that there are possibilities to correct the way that these institutions operate any time soon. By the time that the politicians do something hundreds of old or incapacitated people will died going trough a mental and physical torture.

It is choices not rules I feel should be the goal. Rules and regulations are prescriptive and not really useful. Wasn't suicide illegal at one point. Nice idea but locking some one up after they died clearly is not an effective deterrent to the two groups of people who might like to end their lives. The RUOK - mental health/depression or people who are at the end of their lives who want some choice are in my opinion very different.

The first group needs medical and community support. The later group should be able to choose. I do not mean be told or pressured to remove any "inconvenience" being older might bring. Being prepared is different for many people. Who am I or who are you to tell some one that cannot or must spend the end of their days in a manner you or I prescribe?

Respect, dignity and Choice is my vote