Ones right to die....

[Bielzibubz]

After just seeing the Channel 4 news with a segment about a young 30 year old woman with a severe terminal illness and the start of her legal battle in the courts to grant her the legal right for doctors to give her the right to die with dignity I wanted to get others views on this very sensitive subject.

Her story here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6353339.stm

IMO every life is sacred but, and I say this from personal experience, I believe that in exceptional circumstances an individual should have the right to decide whether they wish to go on living with a terminal condition and all the pain that goes with it. Call it assisted suicide if you wish, there are various terms for it, and I appreciate there is a whole host of problems, both ethical and moral, that could stem from the courts granting this young lady her wish but I truly believe that in certain circumstances every person should have the right to decide that they don't wish to go on living and just waiting for their body's to give up and the only way that that can happen is with the help of either a caring doctor or a very brave carer.

It should also be remembered that assisted deaths go on every day up and down the country by well meaning, caring, understanding doctors but it's such a taboo subject it is never really discussed or recognised out in the open.

Discuss........

 

[MK Shrimper]

Absolutely people should be given this right... if they're of sound mental state. A device where the patient has to operate the "trigger" to end their own life, or give consent to a doctor if this isn't possible.

I'd rather end it all that end up a vegetable in hospital with machine keeping me "alive".

Scatter half my ashes over Fossets Farm, the other half in Amritsar India, I'll be happy ghost.

 

[canveyshrimper]

A very emotive subject indeed. Although not paricularly religious I have always believed in the santity of life. However I have come to think that if I ever lost possession of such marbles that I have, then I am sure I would like to end my existence with as much dignity as can be mustered. I am of the opinion that I may be able to live without the odd limb or two, but remaining in full command of one's mental faculties is and must be the defining criteria.

Taking this a stage further, and slightly off topic, one thing that does concern me very much is the way older folk are treated in hospitals. It seems to me that our government does not want anyone who may possibly be a burden on the state. I have a lot of recent experience with this, and to be fair the staff at most hospitals are brilliant, but they do not have the time to dedicate to individual needs as many care homes or rehabilitation clinics do. Therefore many people can go without food, and proper sanitary assistance when required. Also if a patient has restricted mobility the most exercise they receive is being moved from bed to chair and back again some time later. It is a fact that people must have dignity, and they also have the right to proper treatment, and probably the right to die with dignity when they see fit, rather than laying there waiting for the inevitable moment.

 

[the_forgotten_man]

I think in the right circumstances (and there are a huge number of criteria that need to be satisfied for this) then people should have the right to end their lives.

It seems odd that in a society where so many people have their animals 'put down' to prevent them from pain, the same pain-relief cannot be used in far more important cases, humans...