Assisted dying. The right to be assisted to die if you want.

[stui magpie]

This could be a touchy subject so I've decided against doing a poll option, but would be interested in people's thoughts on the topic.

For some ground work, on QANDA last night they discussed this. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4325242.htm

I've also heard Andrew Denton on MMM talking about the subject and he speaks well. I agree with him.

I've seen the question framed in the manner "Should the government have the right to prolong your life against your will and subject you to mental and physical torture" (not a direct quote, my clumsy reinterpretation)

At present doctors are legally hamstrung from assisting people who are mentally competent to make the decision to check out. People can choose to refuse medical care which means they effectively starve to death. That's a disgusting option IMHO, people deserve the right to be able to choose to die with dignity.

If you want to subject yourself to a long read, Scott Adams did a blog piece where he got an anti euthanasia advocate to put forward arguments and putt the whole lot though what he calls a rationality engine. Go here if you want. http://blog.dilbert.com/post/118799040916/death-with-dignity-verdict.

My Dad's health deteriorated rather quickly towards his end, he went from at home to in hospital to deceased in the space of a few weeks. His final days were hastened (I believe) and his end made as comfortable as possible by the morphine drip.

Personally, I do not want to end up slowly dieing in a palliative care ward, I'd much rather take the option to make the call that the party was over, I enjoyed it while I was here but it's time to leave and spare my kids the shit. Ideally, I'd like to have the option to set a time and date, sort out stuff and then it just happens.

If a dog is that crook we can have it put down and stop the suffering but we deny the same benefit to a human.

As I said up front, I expect this to be a touchy and emotive subject, please try not to tip petrol on peoples emotional embers.

Should people have the right to be able to choose the time of their own death and be assisted in that? Caveats, qualifications......

[KenH]

Not much to say, but I would love to help my parents to die when they wanted and the same when it is my turn. Hopefully it will be allowed to happen sooner than later.

I think that we will find more and more are along our line of thinking Stui!

[stui magpie]

Cheers Ken.

There are legitimate concerns but i think they're able to be overcome without a lot of difficulty. Getting over the christian ideology that makes abortion still a subject for debate when it should be a clear cut right is one hurdle.

Hopefully I haven't shat in my own bathtub with that last comment, I'd like this thread to not be about abortion.

[David]

I support euthanasia and I think most Australians do. Not sure what the issue is or why the major parties don't want to touch this. Obviously a great number of people want to die with dignity and not spend the last years of their life as vegetables or in excruciating pain, so what reason could we possibly have for denying them their wishes? I understand that it gets tricky with coma patients and others who can't give consent, but let's at least allow people who express a clear preference for euthanasia to die as they choose.

[The Prototype]

I have been on the side of allowing people the right to die if they have no other options, for me there is no need to prolong people already suffering. If there is no hope of recovery then it's just cruel, both my grandfathers suffered a lot in their last few days with terminal illnesses, the only fair thing there would have been to allow them the right to die.

I had this debate on my aunts page once as she posted a story about it, or a picture about allowing them to dig with dignity. There was a mother in the United States that fought for the right to commit suicide, her reasoning was so that one day her daughter didn't have to come and find her dead, she could go when she wanted to as cancer was killing her.

[Morrigu]

Why isn't a compassionate and responsible policy allowing competent patients the right to decide available in this country - the medical profession!!!!

The "God" complex rules here and it is so wrong - NO YOU DONT ALWAYS KNOW BEST and it is NOT YOUR DECISION to make

[think positive]

I miss my mum every single day. But when people tell me they are sorry, I tell them If she was a dog I would have put her down a year earlier. Make no mistake, she suffered. Fear, pain, grief for what she knew she was missing in her more vivid moments, loneliness, and complete and total desperation and hopelessness. It still breaks me sometimes. I don't know if I'll ever get over it. That phone call when they asked me for permission to withhold any treatment that would prolong her life, and to consent to only pain medication. Having to say out loud, and then write down the word....YES. And then watching her suffer for two more weeks, as she wasted away to nothing, and finally succumbed to pneumonia, and thankfully, massive doses of morphine.

Nobody should have to suffer like that. That's not living. There is no quality of life, and yes, no dignity.

I think you know my vote.

[Morrigu]

^ hey Jo I know it was tough and it will always stay with you but you did the right compassionate and love wthout strings thing for the person you loved -not the best most comfortable for me thing - always remember that!

We make it harder so much harder than it should be for all people who should have the choice and the choices of competent people should be respected not only for end of life but also for organ donation - in the immediate environment of impending death families who sometimes cannot make ( or agree) the choice for a myriad of reasons are put in positions that often are at odds with what the loved one wanted ( turning off a ventilator when the person wanted to be an organ donor but the family could not consent is one of the toughest things I have done in my career - it has always seemed to be disrespectful just my take)

Palliative care has come a long way which is brilliant but with the best intentions and care many people still suffer - prolonged and gradual increases in opioid dosage administration do not necessarily mean a lack of suffering or humane dignified death unfortunately.

Denton has researched extensively all sides of the argument and should be listened to IMO - he articulates the facts with compassion and understanding - without need for control that many medicos desire to retain!!

[mandy]

Where do we draw the line? How physically sick does someone need to be? How bad the prognosis? How long the life expectancy?

Pfft. None of that matters to me. As far as I'm concerned nobody should have the right to force someone else to live longer than they choose to. For whatever reason.

[think positive]

[ronrat]

A dear friend of mine watched her mother die in agony and devoted her life to the Dying with Dignity organisation. She featured in an SBS doco on the subject a few years ago. She passed away in her own bed of a heart attack the day Australia had its first woman PM.As her daughter said at the service "Mum died the way she wanted, at home, suddenly, and pain free". RIP Mary.

The problem is that the politicians have had many chances to do something about it but won't because they are scared of the churches upsetting the electorate. When the last vote was held in Victoria I sent a letter to my local Member and then Minister for Health stating my support for the bill.I never got a reply and the <snip - no need for that>, despite saying she was all for it, voted against it. Whether the palliative hospitals in the Caulfield hospital got to her I don't know but as a result I joined the Australian Sex Party which has Voluntary Euthanasia AND taxing religions on its platform.

[HAL]

Oh, you are a poet.