Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies at age 83.‏

Terry Pratchett – BBC 2 tonight.

Indeed. The original concept of human rights as applied after the war has been totally lost in the miasma of legal argument and diminished as a result.

Wholeheartedly agree with the majority of things said in this thread. For all the words bandied around in the name of Human Rights nowadays, is it not appropriate that should you be unfortunate enough to suffer an terminal illness, which condemns you to a painful and degrading demise, you should be allowed to choose the time, method and place to die.

Better an assisted suicide that works than a failed non-assisted suicide. I did a medevac once of a guy who blew his face off but didn’t die. (obviously he wanted to commit suicide for the wrong reasons but it illustrates the point I hope).

The man done good.

Absolutely agree.

R.I.P. Mr Kevorkian.

You called God a ‘git’ from the pulpit of a church?

No. Just the mortal that claims to be his representative here on earth and who had in the course of that broadcast paid so little attention to a dying woman that he couldn’t even be bothered to remember her name.

Interesting in that there is an on-line transcript of that broadcast somewhere on the interweb

That particular moment has been expunged from the historical record as if it never happened.

Moggy

“Informed”.
Well, I’ve made some pretty bad decisions in my life because I was informed by the wrong people. Or rather, the right people…with some other agenda.
That is people, Governments, Banks, Lawyers and Top Neddy at my (Very recent) ex place of employment.

But yes, we do need to read all the sides. Sometimes it is very difficult because “We know we are right”, with our own baggage.
I’m never one to sit on a fence, I try and understand both sides but I will come down on one side and stand for it. A wrong decision is better than no decision at all. Or, as Patton said “A good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow”.

There is never a one solution fits all, I vote for informed choice.

Currently on the ITV drama series Emmerdale a character who is wheelchair paralysed is heading towards his death aided by his mother and best friend. In this fictional scenario very little advice has been asked for or given. Only later will the options become clear. Fiction being used to highlight the importance of informed consent.And also being used to highlight the head in the sand attitude of the current Uk legal situation where loving relatives and friends are put on trial afterwards.

If a law makes it OK, then the bar is lowered IMO.
“He’s going to die, medical science cannot do anything about it, it could be 3 months could be 6”. So, if the drug bill for 6 months was a bit too much, pull the plug anyway?
And other such reasons.

That (more so than religion, sorry Moggy) was part of the debate in out state.
It’s what we call the “Slippery Slope” argument.
What is originally meant for one reason, could eventyually be used for another…like medical cost savings..or in a future world, food or environmental reasons.
Soylent Green anyone?:diablo:

And, as much as I agree with the new law, I concede the opponents do have a point.
It’s basically society “cheapening” life.
That’s the same argument death penalty opponents make….as well as the anti-abortion croud.
I’m not sure you can be anti-death penalty and pro-assisted suicide and abortion if you look beyong the prima facie arguments.
Obviously, it’s a moral quagmire with no easy answers.

You called God a ‘git’ from the pulpit of a church?

Someone needed to….although he was, I suspect, speaking truthfully about the Archbishop of Canterbury. I cannot think of one for whom I had any respect at all.

Agree Moggy, thankfully (So to speak) all my family and loved one’s Deaths have not been long winded, but the last few weeks of my Father’s life were very long indeed, with a nil response and a nil quality of life.

Not saying I support the following view, but I always flip a coin to challenge my own views and I thought about this: –

Whilst there is such heated debate on this subject…..it kind of keeps matter safe.
If a law makes it OK, then the bar is lowered IMO.
“He’s going to die, medical science cannot do anything about it, it could be 3 months could be 6”. So, if the drug bill for 6 months was a bit too much, pull the plug anyway?
And other such reasons.

You called God a ‘git’ from the pulpit of a church?

Maybe so

But if you had listened to somebody you loved profoundly, who was terminally ill, expounding the case for assisted dying on the Radio 4 Today Programme, and then, after the news, heard the comedy dou of the Archbishop-prics of Canterbury and York (CofE and RC) pouring out tired dogma, ignoring everything she had argued, and even forgetting her name (“It was ‘Sally’ you self-satisfied, closed minded [insert own epithet here]”, then you might be a little less inclined to adorn your contribution with smileys

At her funeral they gave me the pulpit for her eulogy.

The Vicar looked a little shocked when I called his boss a ‘git’

Moggy

Of course there is a simple, single word reason for our perversity.
The same word that is behind so many wars, so much terrorism and blind hatred, so many of the world’s problems.
Religion 😡
Moggy

Your militant atheism has an evangelical furor about it.
Rather ironic, don’t you think?
😀

The man done good. How much longer until sanity prevails?

Moggy

Agreed. If nothing else he started a discussion on the topic.
Several states in the USA have laws allowing assisted suicide.
I’m sure more will follow.
The state where I live passed such a law, amid all kinds of fury. Every year the state releases figures and less than a dozen people a year use the option.
Much ado about nothing.

Indeed – thank you, Moggy.

I can guess SH

Each of us who has been there shares your pain.

Moggy

I wholeheartedly endorse these comments for very personal reasons.

again, seconded.

Of course there is a simple, single word reason for our perversity.

The same word that is behind so many wars, so much terrorism and blind hatred, so many of the world’s problems.

Religion 😡

Moggy