Assisted suicides

[Bill Sikes]

Originally Posted by OpenMind

Debbie Purdy 'ecstatic' as she wins House of Lords appeal over assisted suicide

All she got was a ruling that the DPP must set out the circumstances in which it would prosecute people for procuring a suicide abroad. Nothing else.

[Odie]

this is illegal in Canada......pity.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by Bill Sikes

All she got was a ruling that the DPP must set out the circumstances in which it would prosecute people for procuring a suicide abroad. Nothing else.

Quite so. The article prompted me to start a thread here on the subject to explore mine and members' thoughts on the subject.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by kazalala

I dont think it should be just "allowed" to assist in suicide without proper supervision, rules etc.. I mean the ones now that go to switzerland have to sign forms etc,, the "assistance they need is probably assistance in actually getting there,,and of course the asistance from proffessional doctors to aid in the final process.
It would have to be done i suppose while the person still has enough faculties to make it known its what they want,, and maybe when it is proven that the act is only bringing on the inevitable in a more controlled way.

It's a complex issue. Let's say a perfectly healthy young man who had not made provision for an assisted suicide had an accident which left him in an intolerable condition, psychologically, physiologically, intellectually, or otherwise, and unable to communicate by any means. His life would be sustained by any means available as required by law. Let's further compound this and assume his parents are dead, he has no siblings, and is neither married or engaged to be. In other words, he has no one to petition on his behalf.
Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life like this. At the moment, a hospital has to sustain him if he needs medication. A hospital is not required to sustain a man if he does not require medication.
If he did have even just one family member, then that one person would be morally obliged to nurture him for the rest of his unbearable life.
I respect that this is supposition. Nonetheless, I would not want to have my life sustained if that was me.

[kazalala]

Originally Posted by OpenMind

It's a complex issue. Let's say a perfectly healthy young man who had not made provision for an assisted suicide had an accident which left him in an intolerable condition, psychologically, physiologically, intellectually, or otherwise, and unable to communicate by any means. His life would be sustained by any means available as required by law. Let's further compound this and assume his parents are dead, he has no siblings, and is neither married or engaged to be. In other words, he has no one to petition on his behalf.
Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life like this. At the moment, a hospital has to sustain him if he needs medication. A hospital is not required to sustain a man if he does not require medication.
If he did have even just one family member, then that one person would be morally obliged to nurture him for the rest of his unbearable life.
I respect that this is supposition. Nonetheless, I would not want to have my life sustained if that was me.

yes unfortunately scenarios like this probably happen ,,, even if the young man has family ,, sometimes depending on circumstances they are asked to make the decision to either carry on sustaining him or to turn off life support,,, the hardest decision for anyone, I suppose its good to talk about these things to friends and family so they know your feelingsbut if you had no family ,, it would be left in hands of doctors i would assume,, and maybe a court?
in this issue though, that you have brought up in your OP ,, it might make things a lot easier and clearer for some people in the future to be able to at least make a decision without worrying about thier loved ones they are leaving behind are going to end up in jail. Thats assuming of course they can afford to do it. The next step,,, a long way off i think is having some sort of facilty in the United Kingdom.

[Bill Sikes]

Originally Posted by OpenMind

Let's say a perfectly healthy young man who had not made provision for an assisted suicide had an accident which left him in an intolerable condition, psychologically, physiologically, intellectually, or otherwise, and unable to communicate by any means. His life would be sustained by any means available as required by law. Let's further compound this and assume his parents are dead, he has no siblings, and is neither married or engaged to be. In other words, he has no one to petition on his behalf.
Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life like this.

There are big difficulties with ideas like this - in particular, above:

He's unable to communicate - how do you know that he's in an "intolerable condition"? You don't.

There is no-one to petition on his behalf - even if there were, it would be unfair to expect a relative to sanction "assisted suicide", not knowing whether this was desired by the person concerned - it would be an extremely dangerous action to take in any case.

He "had made no provision for "assisted suicide" - even if he had, it might be the case that he'd changed his mind.

"Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life like this"? That is also a dangerous idea. People have recovered from unconciousness after years and years. Medical advances are constantly being made.

It is unsafe and unsound to make assumptions such as those made in post#14.

[minks]

I am all for assisted suicide. I wish we could have aided my ex FIL it just is not fun seeing someone you love drugged up on morphine so they don't know they are going to die.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by Bill Sikes

There are big difficulties with ideas like this - in particular, above:

He's unable to communicate - how do you know that he's in an "intolerable condition"? You don't.

There is no-one to petition on his behalf - even if there were, it would be unfair to expect a relative to sanction "assisted suicide", not knowing whether this was desired by the person concerned - it would be an extremely dangerous action to take in any case.

He "had made no provision for "assisted suicide" - even if he had, it might be the case that he'd changed his mind.

"Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life like this"? That is also a dangerous idea. People have recovered from unconciousness after years and years. Medical advances are constantly being made.

It is unsafe and unsound to make assumptions such as those made in post#14.

I agree and the example exemplifies the complexity of the issue.

[Odie]

a couple of years ago, my mother had a miracle happen, sure glad we never had the chance to decide..........


now...........maybe it would be much better for her.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by Odie

a couple of years ago, my mother had a miracle happen, sure glad we never had the chance to decide..........


now...........maybe it would be much better for her.

Did you know beforehand that a 'miracle' might happen?