Assisted Dying

[niemeyjt]

So the UK parliament has started the ball rolling and voted for the bill.

Personally I think it is positive - we treat animals more humanely.

Will France follow?

[Headers]

There are so many ways this could go wrong. I hope there are sufficient safeguards to stop it being abused.

[Wilbro]

Animals have no say in the matter. There is no comparison and hopefully there is none as animals are put down sometimes when treating them is seen as too expensive.

[exile]

All the vets I have dealt with would be extremely reluctant to put an animal down for financial reasons. Indeed one couple adopted a cat that the owner could not afford to have fixed up.

But you are right that there are differences. People decide if the animal is suffering. In the human case, the sufferer will decide. In the statistics offered from other countries - including Dignitas - it is interesting to see the number of people who are approved for euthanasia at the appropriate time but decide in the end not to use that option. Having the option does however seem to create great emotional support for the victim.

[Pathca]

As a health care professional I have mixed feelings. I can see in someways it could be a good thing but I can also see the issues

[niemeyjt]

There may be issues dealing with the dementia-ridden - and following a living will written decades earlier.

However, for those wracked with pain in the end stages of cancer who are still compos mentis - the sort of person who makes up their own mind to buy a one-way ticket to Switzerland today - then it is a better alternative that would allow someone to die with all their loved ones around them.

[Pathca]

I have no issues with assisted dying for the terminally ill who will be saved suffering,but there’s a lot of grey areas and a lot of safeguarding will need to be looked at

[MAD87]

I also have mixed feelings, but genarally come down on the side of NO. My doctor daughter is opposed tout court on the basis that it's too open to abbuse and palliative care is sufficiently developed for the person concernedd to die in peace painlessly. One of my cousins in the UK died at 97 after some significant palliative care, still compos mentis and supported by her family.

The formerly taboo subject has been raised in France as a govt objective, but it'll be a while.

[exile]

I also have mixed feelings, but genarally come down on the side of NO. My doctor daughter is opposed tout court on the basis that it's too open to abbuse and palliative care is sufficiently developed for the person concernedd to die in peace painlessly. One of my cousins in the UK died at 97 after some significant palliative care, still compos mentis and supported by her family.

The formerly taboo subject has been raised in France as a govt objective, but it'll be a while.

But that view treats end of life as either:or. Either hospice/palliative care or euthanasia.

It must IMHO be both and currently palliative care in the UK is woeful - not in the wonderful care given but in the lack of care for all who deserve and need it but then don't get it because of a lack of hospice beds, nurses and other resources. UK hospices are very heavily dependent on charity contributions because the NHS/government contribution to their costs is only around 30% on average.

[Pathca]

Personally I would like the money that this is going to cost to be put towards developing palliative care services
I remember an old school GP of mine saying they regularly got patients asking the GP to hasten their demise yet there would be enough medication in the house for them to do it themselves without involving anyone else