Baroness Meacher tried in 2022 to change the law to allow assisted dying, but she didn't manage to do it before the end of the parliamentary term, when it fell by the wayside.
The actor Diana Rigg strongly supported assisted dying before she herself died of severe cancer in 2022, after months of miserable suffering. She didn't understand why people were expected to go through such suffering rather than dying at the earliest opportunity.
Of course there are people who fear that a law permitting assisted dying would be exploited by those with bad intentions like wanting to get their hands on someone's money. But they would surely be a tiny minority, and appropriate safeguards would be built into the legislation.
There is clearly widespread support for assisted dying. A 2019 poll of over 5000 UK adults found that 84 per cent supported some form of assisted dying. In which case MPs should stop dragging their feet and legislate for it.
I would hate to have to be looked after for months while I waited in agony for my death to arrive. Being permanently incapacitated for no good reason except "allowing nature to take its course" would be dreadful.
I'd just want to say goodbye to my wrecked and ravaged body.
Pic: Diana Rigg
Definitely. Here in the US the situation is even worse because this country is much more religious, and some sects of Christianity have a taboo on suicide. I think my own state (Oregon) allows assisted dying, but most don't.
ReplyDeleteThis is one reason I'd be very reluctant to go into assisted living, no matter how old I got. Once you're in that situation, you're no longer in exclusive control, and I couldn't risk having that final decision be taken out of my hands.
Infidel: As you say, once you're in assisted living you've lost some control over your life. My mum was in a care home for nine months and it just sapped her sense of independence.
DeleteNick, you touch on the strides we have made in medicine which allow us to extend life beyond the meaningful. It's a truly difficult subject to discuss, and I am careful who I discuss it with. For all I know I may be strung up the next tree for my views - which, come to think of it, would be a grand shortcut; oh the irony, Nick!
ReplyDeleteWhy we let people in old age suffer against their wishes; worse, why we prolong a life not worth living any longer, that of humans who just exist with little consciousness of themselves and their surroundings, functioning only bodily, ticking over, is a mystery to me.
Oh to be a pet! It's easy. Pet gets taken to the vet; vet will give you diagnosis, will assure you that if you (selfishly) postpone the inevitable you'll condemn them to suffering. The solution presents itself. I tell you, it's great. All you need to do is nod, vet inserts needle, pet dies in your arms (which, actually, is no big deal - I mean practically speaking). £80.00 later (now probably more) you carry an empty basket or a limpid leash. Humans? You should be so lucky to be afforded the luxury of being released quickly, painlessly, compassionately.
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Ursula: Indeed, pets have a much better deal than humans when it comes to being put out of their pain or misery. I don't understand why human pain is somehow seen as something to be endured rather than ended.
DeleteAnonymous Fly, yes all in favour of being allowed to die while still in possession of my faculties, rather than being deprived of food and water by medical ghouls. The Liverpool Pathway still exists, under other names, and those responsible should be strung up. Much better for legislation to permit euthanasia....but with safeguards to avoid the Canadian situation.
ReplyDeleteMother and her friends would do anything to avoid the local hospital in old age - one gentleman even climbing out of an ambulance - such was their fear of being killed by deprivation of food and water.
Fly: I didn't know there was any regime of denying food and water. Climbing out of an ambulance is a mark of extreme desperation!
DeleteHere we have MAID (medically assisted dying) but it's causing some controversy in that depressed and/or impoverished (particularly senior women) are using it to opt out in assisted suicide. It's a complex issue Nick. I'm all for it in the terms you lay out above, but others just might need therapy and financial assistance as a state of hopelessness can be engendered by many factors and not just health/aging challenges.
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www: Good point about some people just needing therapy and financial help. But is it wrong that desperate people have found a way of opting out? It's a complex issue certainly.
DeleteWe put pets out of their misery but refuse to do the same for humans?! Where is the humanity in that? My Health Care Directive is written is such a way as to allow me to die with dignity including giving me pain relief even if it hastens my death. It irritates me that medical personnel worry about a dying person becoming addicted to drugs. They're dying!
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Linda: Yes, why on earth the worry about someone becoming addicted to painkillers when HALLO they're dying.
DeleteI think it's important to have safeguards around assisted dying or voluntary euthanasia.
ReplyDeleteVulnerable people could be easily talked into departing this life and the legislation won't necessarily stop that.
I think that ultimately I'd prefer people to die a natural death even if it was achieved by withdrawing treatment. But obviously I don't want people to suffer needlessly
Kylie: Yes, strict safeguards would be needed to avoid misuse of the legislation. I absolutely wouldn't want to die a natural death if it meant months (or years) of pain and suffering.
DeleteNick, it was indeed sad to read that Diana Rigg, a favorite actress from The Avengers and Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, was not able to lessen her suffering. I agree that no one should be kept alive by "whatever means" if the quality of their life is so diminished that they no longer have any enjoyment or participation. Being made to "hang on" is not my idea of living by any stretch.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Yes, why on earth should I "hang on" if my quality of life has been blown to pieces?
DeleteIt's weird to me that we allow animals a more humane and dignified death than most places allow human beings to have. If someone is terminal and doesn't want to suffer, then they should be allowed to make that decision.
ReplyDeleteDanielle: Why should anyone have to endure months of suffering if they just want to put a stop to it and die?
DeleteMary says "We don't have assisted euthanasia in my state like some other states. I do think it should be allowed in all states. But I did sign a DNR earlier this year that way if something happens to me they can't do CPR or put me on a ventilator."
ReplyDeleteMary: Very sensible. I have a living will myself, which specifies that I don't want to be kept alive at any cost.
Deletei dunno - my mother's body died in 2020 but in hindsight maybe her 'essence' died w/my brother in 2014; but the last 'version' of her i could have had an adult discussion of all of this & its ramifications wrt assisted dying [at a moment of her rationally choosing] might have been as far back as 2010 or earlier. Would she have chosen to have left us at the height of her facilities, a choice unintentionally made by my late brother at age 55, or would she have waited for the eventual decline? Her last year especially after Covid was miserable. Personally (now 67) i would have skipped out on the assisted living years, and we're in OR so that's an option...
ReplyDeleteDarms: This is the dilemma, isn't it? Whether to die before your health drastically declines or whether to "let nature take its course". But why hang on if it just means pain and misery?
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