endrop - for all your online needs

Euthanasia

Currently reading:
Euthanasia

'Suicide is the act of ending your own life. Prior to the Suicide Act 1961 it was illegal to commit suicide and anyone who tried and failed would be subject to legal proceedings and possible detention. The Suicide Act 1961 brought a change to the law so that suicide is no longer a criminal act.'

i always thought it has been illegal, i think to a certain degree euthanasia should be legal- when there is obvious suffering or someone has said that when that get to a certain state turn off the life support. BUT if people are making decisions for someone who can't communicate, then there is a problem.
 
Sorry but, yet again, I must come down on the opposite side of the fence to Paul :) . Seven years ago I was rushed into hospital unable to walk for more than 5 foot with out being breathless and totally wiped out. I must admit this had been creeping up on me for a while but being ignored:eek:. I was found to have no immune system and few red blood cells and was given a 7 pint transfution to stablise me. A few days later when the consultant had the results back I was told if I was lucky I would have 3 months left as every part of my immune system was shot and my bone marrow was totally inactive. But they would start me on a chemo treatment to see what would happen.

I will not go into all the details but just to say over the next 12 months in hospital I put up with a lot of pain much of which if the option being discussed was available would have been the 'easy' way out, as it was,with my stubbonness and my hospital teams skill, I ended up in remission and lived an active live for 5 years before it returned and ended up in hospital again this time started with the treatment which worked last time so stay and discomfort was much shorter than last. So I am still ticking along WOULD I HAVE BEEN IF THIS ROUTE HAD BEEN AVAILABLE?

IMO it should be left in the hands of the doctors they know when you are passed the point of no return and will help you throught it. We are all weak at times when ill and if this was law none of us would be strong again.

Sorry for the essay but I used to support this idea until I went through it.

Steve.
 
Steve, I am not talking about 50/50 cases, I am talking clear cut cases....


I.e. You were offered treatment which worked, fine. However, a cancer patient who has a few months to live without being able to eat, constantly throws up, can't talk, has her teeth rotting away and is constantly having fits who has gone through 3 operations and chemo to try and fix it (all of which eventually failed), do you really think they will miracoulsy fix? They won't.....sadly she would be kept alive despite her wishes.
 
I haven't read the entire thread, so sorry if this has already been said.

In the examples that were given in the first page, of people who know of people in such circumstances. The family of the people who are suffering most likely do not want the sufferers to die, and will fight very hard to ensure they get the care and attention required to make their lives better, and more comefortable, I hardly think that such a descision would be taken rashly (over a few days for example). This would take months, if not years of sole searching, research into the illness etc... before a descision could be made. Each case would no doubt have to be dealt with on an individual basis.

Euthanasia is after all the hardest thing to decide upon, for two reasons, not least of which, nobody knows anything about death, what happens when you are dead, etc... and the other which is the fact that euthanasia is a complete oxymoron: you're killing somebody for their own good.

EDIT:

I neglected to mention that the last thing the person suffering from whatever is causing them pain wants to do is die premeturely. Therefor the sufferer must want to die.
 
Last edited:
pghstochaj said:
Steve, I am not talking about 50/50 cases, I am talking clear cut cases....


I.e. You were offered treatment which worked, fine. However, a cancer patient who has a few months to live without being able to eat, constantly throws up, can't talk, has her teeth rotting away and is constantly having fits who has gone through 3 operations and chemo to try and fix it (all of which eventually failed), do you really think they will miracoulsy fix? They won't.....sadly she would be kept alive despite her wishes.
Click to expand...

Paul, can't she make the decision to NOT take the medicine she is given? I am sure that patients can refuse to be treated and therefore die of 'natural' causes rather than suicide - does that make sense?!
 
Alex said:
EDIT:

I neglected to mention that the last thing the person suffering from whatever is causing them pain wants to do is die premeturely. Therefor the sufferer must want to die.
Click to expand...
Sorry mate but in my own case I have to disagree after a period of time pain wears you down and if the option was around I think people would take it which in may case would of been stupid with the end result I had.

I believe in the medical team making the decision ( in my opinion they do anyway ) of when it has become impossible to maintain any level of comfort or treatment for the person to allow them to pass away with dignity.

Paul sorry to see about your GF grandmother I hope she does not suffer to much in her fight to live, which I believe she is doing. As from experience, on a terminal ward, the patient makes the decision of when to give up the fight I have seen people fight over long periods of time to stay alive for a personal reason and when this has been achieved they have passed away peacefully. When your GF's grandmother decides it is time for her it will happen why should that decision be taken away from her.

Sorry if this does not make much sense but I have never before tried to put these thoughts into writing. But I truly believe that the individual makes the decision to depart not the illness.

Steve
 
You could say treason is something you can only commit once, if you get caught, because it is the only offence still punishable by death.

As far as the other debate is concerned, it is obviously legal to some extent otherwise abortion would be illegal. Yay, now everyone can argue with me about whether or not abortion is murder. I would have to say that legalising euthanasia is more humane than the current do not resussitate policy. Doctors are currently allowed to remove all life support and let someone spend hours, day or longer dying in agony, but are not allowed to put through the venflon that would stop them waking up, how can that possibly make sense. I know that people argue that, if it is legalised it would be impossible to control, but if the patient or relatives had to appeal to a court and the act was performed via IV by a Doctor, why would there be a problem. Obviously the system would still get abused, but if the courts had independent Doctors to review each case, a judge could make an informed decision based on facts. That kind of process would be expensive, but considerably less expensive than the current medical costs of keeping such people alive.
 
Neo, no capital offences anymore :) It was on QI :) Abolished in '97 if I remember correctly anyway.

You can't kill your parents twice.
 
Neofolis said:
You could say treason is something you can only commit once, if you get caught, because it is the only offence still punishable by death.
Click to expand...

If only that was true, one of the first things Tony Blair did when he got into power was to change this law so it's not punishable by death anymore. I wonder why?
 
Steve, she isn't fighting to live, she is dying, she lost her husband 18 months ago and has no reason to live in her opinion, she has multiple cancers and is dying, she won't and can't live, it's an impossibility, she doesn't even have a stomach as we think of a stomach now, it's awful.

As Neo said, when they withdrawl all the life support systems she will still live for days/weeks in absolute agony - the though is just not one I want to consider. If you're ill like this (when I think euthanisa is acceptable) the fact is you can't pass away peacefully, it's just not possible, what you can do is avoid the worst of it.
 
pghstochaj said:
Neo, no capital offences anymore :) It was on QI :) Abolished in '97 if I remember correctly anyway.

You can't kill your parents twice.
Click to expand...

I suppose I should really watch the news, then I might keep up to date with that kind of stuff. Funnily enough I was thinking along the lines of you can't murder the same person twice, but many people these days have more than one set of parents, so you could argue that you can murder both sets of parents. Apart from which, murdering both parents is already two crimes, isn't it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top