Assisted suicide/volutary euthanasia

[Stan_Lite]

According to this BBC article, guidelines will be issued to clarify prosecution criteria for people involved in assisted suicides http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8268709.stm.

What are your views on assisted suicide/voluntary euthanasia and do you think you would be able to help someone you love to take their own life?

Personally, I have no problem with assisted suicide in cases where the person has poor quality of life (i.e. in constant pain etc.) and has no reasonable chance of recovery. I do think strict guidelines would be essential to ensure that the person wishing to commit suicide was of sound mind and hadn't been coerced in any way. Also, the method used would need to ensure that no unnecessary pain or suffering were caused.

I've had this conversation with a member of my family who asked if I would be willing to help them die should the situation arise. This person is in favour of assisted suicide and wanted to secure the support of someone who loves them in advance. Personally, under the right conditions, I would consider such assistance an act of love and would like to think I would help if no other option was available. It's one of those things you can only really think about hypothetically and hope it never arises. Whether I could actually do it if asked - I truly don't know. I'd like to think I would fulfil my promise. Let's hope I never have to find out.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Me

Working in a nursing home has only compounded my believe in the right to die.

One of the main things we get inspected upon at work to dignity and choice; we must provide residents with dignity as much as possible and must encourage them to have a say and make choices as far as they mentally can.
In some cases we have to start what is referred to as the Liverpool Care Pathway which is palliative care. This is where we no longer try to treat the resident, merely "make them comfortable". A resident can be in this state for many many weeks, flitting in and out of consciousness, experiencing excruciating pain when the drugs no longer work, unable to even speak, sometimes experiencing delirium due to the medication. Where is the dignity in that? Where is the choice? Where is the humanity?

I know doctors have a duty to preserve and protect life, but that isn't life, that is just existing. In some ways it is no better that prolonged torture, not only for the resident but also for the families who have to watch and wait while their loved one looses everything which made them them. Link

My opinions and thoughts are still the same - we can "do the right thing" and "do what is best" for pets when they are suffering but we can't do the same for ourselves.
I know that I would want to die if that situation arose, it would be selfish of me to expect someone to help me and not be willing to assist another.

[Pheebs]

Having watched my Nan die a slow, undignified, painful and horrendous death, I am all for assisted suicide. In her final days her tongue was flaking and ulcerated it was so dry and she could only blink to communicate... and even then we didn't know whether she full understood what we were saying.

They said she was dosed up to the eyeballs on morphine and couldn't feel a thing but if that's so, how come when they moved her in the bed she cried out in pain and had tears streaming down her face?

I would have given anything to end it for her weeks before when she started throwing away drugs/spitting them out when doctors gave them to her because she just wanted to pain to be over quicker.

Same with my cousin. When I went and saw him he had turned from this healthy man into a skeleton with little ability to talk/move etc. He was in constant pain. HOWEVER, he wanted to make it to Christmas and kept reinforcing that. After that, he said "I just want to die then by whatever means necessary". Sadly he didn't make Christmas day, but he did die at home.

Depends on the situation really but if the person is terminally ill and their life is deteriorating rapidly and they cannot and do not want to live any more then yeh.

[Briggykins]

Absolutely. I understand the arguments against it with the danger that someone who doesn't want to die might be coerced or forced into it, and there should be safeguards against it. But the sanctity of life rubbish doesn't stick - there's no Earthly reason why someone should be put through such pain when they don't want to be. I know if it comes to it, I'll certainly be asking for some help.

[Desmo]

I don't have a problem with this at all. As already said, there would need to be some very strict guidelines to make sure that it is only the very/terminally ill that can make the choice. This would need to be backed up by years of medical reports. This is not something that should be decided on a whim and should possibly include regular long term meetings and interviews although I understand that's not always going to be best or even possible. I guess things like that are what makes this such a hard task to find a decent solution to.

[Del Lardo]

It seems very strange to me that we have no issue helping an animal with a painful terminal illness die yet we don't extend the same compassion to humans.

[iCraig]

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

It seems very strange to me that we have no issue helping an animal with a painful terminal illness die yet we don't extend the same compassion to humans.

Without trying to be insensitive to animal and pet lovers, human life is generally regarded as far more important. If you put a rabbit down and it turns out it wasn't terminal after all, you'll have an upset family and an apologetic vet, but that's about it. That's even if the dead rabbit isn't just buried and forgotten within a few weeks.

With humans, the backlash would be massive if a terminal patient in pain was put down and a few weeks later it came to surface that with medication X, Y and Z he would have probably made a recovery. His prognosis was false, basically. Stranger things have happened in the medical world.

In order to do it, I'm guessing they'll need to be without a shadow of doubt that it's the right thing to do, and/or have plenty of legal tape to protect themselves if the family decide to sue or something if new medical evidence comes to light. The person is put down on the agreement that all parties believe it's the right decision and they're acting on information at the time, the family is ultimately responsible for the decision etc etc

[Glaucus]

In principle I agree and would support it. But having a hard time seeing how it can be effectively implemented.

If you have extensive checks then people with aggressive problems wont benefit. But then there's also a need for such checks to make sure the person wants to do it, that there is no coercion from other parties and that it is not just depression/mental illness.

[semi-pro waster]

Provided it can be implemented sensibly and with adequate checks and balances then I have no issues with assisted suicide/voluntary euthanasia. The main problem for me is under what conditions it is offered - as a rough idea I suppose the illness would have to be terminal (although then again I'm in favour of people having the right to choose so maybe that should be extended to anyone who wants to die) and the person must have expressed the wish to die on more than one occasion, let's say three separate occasions for the sake of argument and be clear and lucid when they do it. I suppose the mental conditions are relatively similar to those you could draft a will under.

Switzerland seems to have found a workable solution, maybe we could look to them on this one.

[Treefrog]

Originally Posted by AcidHell2

... there's also a need for such checks to make sure the person wants to do it, that there is no coercion from other parties and that it is not just depression/mental illness.

And that really is the whole sticking point as far as I can see. And to a lesser extent the possible misdiagnoses that iCraig mentioned.

I think that it would be necessary to have opinions from two sides as to whether a person was deemed to be acting voluntarily and in full understanding of what they are intending. The two sides would have to be a: those with personal knowledge of the suicider and who would testify as to their state of mind, both as it is and comparedf to how it was previously, and b: professional opinions from medically and/or psychologically trained people.
Only if both opinions agree could it go ahead, possibly with a suitable person appointed to preside over the decision making process in the event that not all of either a: or b: are of the same opinion.

Would I help someone who wanted to end it all?
If they convinced me that they were fully aware of what they intended and the consequences thereof and had good reason, then I wouldn't have a problem with assisting someone.