Assisted Suicide

elizabeth wrote: I think people have the right to choose when and how to die.
As long as they make that decision by themselves.

Is a decision made by yourself that is prompted by a decision made by nature really yours?

Jestor wrote: I think, if ones death is (seemingly) going to be premature, from a situation that is unexpected, and the quality of life is going to be less than desirable, I see this as an alternative...

Quality of life is the determining factor, and that is subjective....

I am not saying that this is wrong...however, if one is faced with a death sentence determined by nature, I'd posit it a test of some kind put before us. But would quality really be less, or would it be more because you truly do realize the value of life, now that you're dying? Perhaps people's views should be more carefully evaluated from a different perspective...

Edan wrote: This subject is such a grey area, and I don't feel like I'm fully able to come to a conclusion as to what to think.. It's been debated here in the UK recently-ish... While some people who might currently be in the position to choose it were for it, others were saying they should learn to find the desire to live.

My general feeling is that people should have a choice, but I'm not sure, if I were in such a position, that I would take it.

I just picked your comment Edan, bit not picking on you...

Its a sliding scale of tolerance, I think..

Like so much of life...

Would my wife sleep with a millionaire for a million? Two? Ten?

It is all in what you can live with...:Huh:..

The line is different for each of us...

Where is the line for you?

If you know my story recently, this is a thought that has crossed my mind more than once...

Just pondering....

My Grandfather passed away four days shy of his 96th birthday. We visited him in hospice days before he passed. It wasn't age that got him, he had fallen, broken his leg badly and they did a full knee replacement on him. He never recovered from the surgery.

Now without getting into a lot of crazy details my Grandfather was certainly the patriarch of our family. He stopped riding horses at age 89 because he thought a fall might be a bad idea. He was married five times the last only being four years ago now. He passed last September.

Hospice was amazing. The staff was great, attentive, understanding and caring. I was deeply impressed with all of their professionalism and support. However it was terrible to see my Grandfather wither away. Many times he begged all of us for a gun, he didn't want to just sit there and die he wanted to be done with it. It was extremely difficult. When he got angry with us they would offer him more pain medication because he would get belligerent and then hurt because he was angry. He would then panic when he saw the medication and scream it was going to kill him. (Now something most people don't know, but euthanasia solution; the stuff they use to put down animals including horses is pink) The medication they gave him came in pink vials. It wasn't until I quietly talked to the nursing staff and said that my grandfather was a horseman and knew what that color was in a vial and was upset about it that they covered the vials with a piece of colored paper.

My Grandfather held on for two weeks, begging everyone for that gun. In the end he passed in his sleep but it was terribly hard for everyone involved. I really feel people should have this very personal choice. If they take it or not does not matter but if they chose it, then it should be there for them. It is a gift that we can give a dog we love and we feel no shame. Sadly in America we have made death a business and hold on people long after they have gone. It was awful to see my Grandfather reduced to a poor man in pain in a bed screaming for help that wouldn't come.

I feel like it is one person's life for no one else to decide. Why is there such a stigma on this issue? I think that the law should have nothing to do with it honestly, or even just a little so and only to regulate.

Lightstrider wrote: She needs to get some cannabis oil........ so sad

http://www.cureyourowncancer.org/cannabis-compound-destroyed-incurable-brain-tumors.html

Or some blushwoord berry, it looks amazing though I doubt nothing will ever be a silver bullet for all cancers;

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-07/queensland-scientists-discover-cancer-fighting-berry/5796106

My point is I might try to wait it out and cross my fingers something is discovered or worked out to solve the problem before solving it terminally myself.

As sad as it is, having that freedom is a beautiful thing. It should be legal everywhere. It is true there is a time and place for everything but the law can't try to judge morality. People who are that determined will find a way regardless so should be allowed the peace of mind of not dying shamefully.

Blushwoord berry is definitely an ingredient to the cure all if not the only. I hope we find it soon. I'm starting to take a great interest in herbal remedies.

We've all got to go some time. Better on one's own terms than in intense pain, slowly becoming someone you're not.

Having cared for two people who would have been ideal candidates for assisted dying, I'm all for it in the case of terminal degenerative illness. No-one should have to suffer indefinitely "just because".