Vocal Voices

Every one has read my views and ramblings over the years, to some people's denial and anger at my posts and views on Euthanasia that has been practiced surreptitiously under the counter for years under the name of Pathway.
It is now suggested that Euthanasia could become legal within ten years.
Enough said!!

I personally don't have an issue with it.

I would rather die than be kept alive by drugs and machines and have little or no quality of life.

As sad as it is I know that my dad on most days would prefer to not be with us anymore. His quality of like is so poor. It isn't so much the blindness but the rheumatoid arthritis and the drugs that he is on to keep it at bay. He has very little mobility. Whilst it would be devastating to not have him with us anymore at least he would be out of his constant pain.

I do; because the potential for it being misused is immense.

It is not an easy problem to solve because of the potential for misuse, but that can happen both ways.

Ariel Sharon, former Israeli PM, has just died after suffering a stroke and dropping into a coma eight years ago. Some might say that he "died" eight years ago and has been artificially kept alive simply because that is what we are now able to do.

Whichever side of the Euthanasia debate you come down on it is hard to argue that Sharon, and others in his position, have had a life.

As Cromwell says, the potential for misuse is immense, and this would need to be carefully looked at. However, I personally would not want to be kept alive in a coma or so dependent upon heavy doses of drugs that I was unable to live a normal life.

Even in the drugged unconscious state the patient can be aware of everything being said in his or her presence,
I would fight to the end like my darling husband and my son did. The inconvenience to relatives should not even be considered. If you wish to go on a higher plain then tell the doctors, if you don't make your preferences known.
My darling used to say that I would be put down within 24 hours if I was interned in hospital,!!! He could have been right
I was an absolute pain, still slightly under following breast surgery demanding to go home. I won! the surgeon agreed following coming onto the ward. They were glad to get rid of me. Lol
I am sure you can understand why.....

It is not easy or always black and white, and that makes it so difficult. What if you are in a comative or Persistent vegetative state or, like Tony Nicholson, compos mentis but paralysed from the neck down? The first two cannot make an informed decision, Mr Nicholson could, but was denied.

Workingman wrote:It is not easy or always black and white, and that makes it so difficult. What if you are in a comative or Persistent vegetative state or, like Tony Nicholson, compos mentis but paralysed from the neck down? The first two cannot make an informed decision, Mr Nicholson could, but was denied.

Exactly; my guess is that some years down the line, the state will take the decision. We have a 'managerial class' set over us to rule us. They think they always know best, so in the fullness of time, the state taking the decision will be the de facto outcome.

cromwell wrote: We have a 'managerial class' set over us to rule us. They think they always know best, so in the fullness of time, the state taking the decision will be the de facto outcome.

Is that not almost where we are?

The state already makes the decision, and the decision is "no". It is not much of a move for it to say "yes" in some cases - and that is what campaigners want.

What I fear, and I guess that I am not alone in this, is that people will be persuaded, or forced, into making a decision which is for "their" benefit and not that of the patient.

How, and what, safeguards can be put in place to always put the patient in charge of the decision remains a mystery to me.

I don't think you can put effective safeguards in place, although we will doubtless be told that it is possible.
I can just see a situation where someone is thought to be dying... the hospital needs the bed.. no point in prolonging the situation, and so on.
And no one is infallible; so people who could have lived will (imo) end up being euthanised when they should not be.