Assisted dying bill in Scottish Parliament

[Charlie Gill]

i started the thread, but really I have no opinion. I know I don’t want to spend a long time in pain and death itself doesn’t really bother me much - oh, I suppose I do have an opinion.
Funnily, what really worries me, the fact I just haven’t gotten this French language as I had hoped, is spending, possibly years, in an old folks home and not understanding anyone

That'll be the time to take up cannabis - you'll think you're fluent and won't care about the expressions on the faces of the other residents

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Sturgeon voting for a trial run? Or is that a bit harsh? Perhaps just bugger off in the free carawagon. On a more sensible point a lot of terminally ill would be very relieved to have the option.

If it gets rid of the SNP and it's supporters then is it a good thing???

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Yes it’s a vexed issue for sure. do we have the right to take our own lives or pa others do it for us? I see both sides of the argument but for those destined for.a dwfinate painful or uncomfortable end to life tou ca. understand it I guess.

Its a fine line between by choice and voluntary or involuntary and expediency. The latter more than likely needs to be clearly defined and not controlled or influenced by politics.

 

[Martin Holden]

My dad had been on morphine for a while. He was going rapidly downhill (August bank holiday weekend), the nurse who was looking after him wanted to make sure those of us who had been regular visitors were there next day (Sunday), she gave a dose and left us. My dad passed away, I went to find the nurse; she wasn’t the leas surprised.
i have never been in any doubt about what happened and that it was rather regular; it did strike me that they were taking a huge personal risk

My daughter is a physio in the NHS. Talk inside the “firm” is that in the past doctors may have helped speed up a death but this is here say but you do wonder. Today their is no chance as this would be jumped on for financial gain no doubt.

 

[czechmate]

My daughter is a physio in the NHS. Talk inside the “firm” is that in the past doctors may have helped speed up a death but this is here say but you do wonder. Today their is no chance as this would be jumped on for financial gain no doubt.

it was only 12 years ago

 

[br jones]

upped the dose on the morphine driver ,we encouarged the nurse to do just that ,as dad was in immense pain from his cancer riddled body .
if i could of done it ,i would of
certain circumstances this would be a good thing for all involved

 

[ollie989898]

upped the dose on the morphine driver ,we encouarged the nurse to do just that ,as dad was in immense pain from his cancer riddled body .
if i could of done it ,i would of
certain circumstances this would be a good thing for all involved

I believe people should be given the choice and not have to be left to this kind of end. How in the world have we not wised up and adopted some more pragmatic thinking- plenty of other countries have it already.

 

[Martin Holden]

it was only 12 years ago

I was trying to not be alarmist but I think what I eluded to isn’t all that historical according to my daughter

 

[kiwi pom]

It's a very very important debate that needs to be had in all the regional parliaments and in London. I would be pretty pished if Scotland passes it and nothing else is done anywhere else. New Zealand, Canada and several other places allow this. Some places even allow people the option for voluntary euthanasia for cases which I believe they describe as involving long term or refractory conditions resulting extreme distress or poor quality of life. I knew of a case of a very young person opting for this because they had fought through years of depression that had proved impossible to alleviate.

The UK needs to have a pragmatic and reasonable debate about this because I believe the voting public would be strongly supportive of this, irrespective of what any ethics expert or the Archbishop of Canterbury had to say on it.

Saw something about it in the news here today, it's up for review this year I think, and it has a mix of opinions. How the process is actually done and whether everyone has the same access to it seems to be an issue. I saw somewhere there's only one hospice in the country that supports it on site, which surprised me.

 

[ollie989898]

Saw something about it in the news here today, it's up for review this year I think, and it has a mix of opinions. How the process is actually done and whether everyone has the same access to it seems to be an issue. I saw somewhere there's only one hospice in the country that supports it on site, which surprised me.

That doesn't sound ideal either but I suppose better than nothing at all.

 

[Wombat]

Having watched my mum die of MND, she always said she should have gone to Switzerland as soon as she could have after diagnosis rather than have been 5yrs of been almost locked in. Fortunately she kept her voice so could communicate.

 

[kiwi pom]

That doesn't sound ideal either but I suppose better than nothing at all.

As I understand it when a patient mentions doing something to a medical professional, they are supposed to inform the patient of their options. I'm told that doesn't always happen.
The process is long and complicated, anyone with a fairly short but painful illness would be gone before the paperwork was done and permission given.
For longer term but still terminal illness it must surely be a good idea?

 

[ollie989898]

As I understand it when a patient mentions doing something to a medical professional, they are supposed to inform the patient of their options. I'm told that doesn't always happen.
The process is long and complicated, anyone with a fairly short but painful illness would be gone before the paperwork was done and permission given.
For longer term but still terminal illness it must surely be a good idea?

I don't know how it works in other countries. Something like that would likely need to agreement and signature of two doctors, one of which was independent of any previous care of the patient.

 

[David.]

Have The Church put someone up to accuse them of "Playing God" yet?
Eminently sensible to allow one a dignified way out. The only serious other option is suicide way too soon, whilst the patient's ability to do so remains; and leaving some poor soul, probably family, to discover the mess.

 

[Danllan]

I know of two GPs, both now long dead, who 'helped' patients pass away, at the patients' own requests.

Obviously this was entirely Criminal, there was and is no legal way to give somebody something to end his life in a peaceful, painless and dignified way, regardless of the miserable, revolting pain he is in and the inevitable death he faces relatively soon anyway; it was also entirely humane.

In this country we have an absolute human right to life; for about sixty years we have had the right to kill ourselves too - suicide being decriminalised in the early 60s, just think on that for a moment.

But that right to die is only there for those able to do it for themselves, we can't be helped, and we may not help others... despite the fact that many of those with the greatest and least arguable reasons for wanting to die are the least able, indeed, often unable to achieve this without assistance.

The irony is very great... the self-righteous prigs in Parliament - and elsewhere - who, at the first hint of discrimination by others against the terminally ill and most severely disabled, would be screaming about it left, right and centre, are the very ones stopping these same people, literal victims, from sharing one of the two most fundamental rights we have...