Lords to look at Assisted Suicide this week

[Patrick]

800 Britons on waiting list for Swiss suicide clinic

Record numbers of Britons who are suffering from terminal illnesses are queueing up for assisted suicide at the controversial Swiss clinic Dignitas, the Observer can reveal.

Almost 800 have taken the first step to taking their lives by becoming members of Dignitas, and 34 men and women, who feel their suffering has become unbearable, are ready to travel to Zurich and take a lethal drug overdose.

The tenfold increase in the number of Britons who have joined Dignitas since 2002 will raise questions about the law that bans assisted suicide in Britain

I mentioned in the Friday chatroom recently of Best Beloved's Grandmother (maybe here - I can't remember) who is basically "waiting to die" in a place that's supposed to be a hospital at the moment. On one occasion the Mother In Law visited - "Nan" was sitting in her own poo having had a little accident because of the painkillers she was on. This week apparently she'd fallen over triying to get out of bed and onto the chair beside (why wasn't anyone around on the ward to notice?) and thumped her nose and gave herself a good nose bleed - so it was blood everywhere this time. Mum in Law had to clean her up again - as she has had to give her a wash round for her on two previous occasions. On the way to find someone to talk to she met a lady looking after her Father - this woman was looking for a wheelchair because she needed to take him for a wash - as he hadn't had any attention for several days.

Is it any wonder, terminal illness or not that more people want assisted suicide. For all of us (without a top rate Private Health Plan) The future is very bleak indeed!

[housesparrow]

But your gran-in-law probably doesn't want to commit suicide: she wants decent care, which by the sound of it she isn't getting.

This is a good iexample of why I'm uneasy about euthanasia; it offers an easy exit for those why should be offering comfort, and don't.

[Alpha Hooligan]

I thought this was a good news thread and the lords were all looking at topping themselves at the weekend...oh well, I knew it was too good to be true.

Housey makes a fair point about people wanting care, but there are other people out there who have terrible, painful, incurable conditions who might like the option of ending their own life with a bit of dignity.


AH

[Patrick]

May 31, 2009 14:36:37 GMT housesparrow said:

But your gran-in-law probably doesn't want to commit suicide: she wants decent care, which by the sound of it she isn't getting.

This is a good iexample of why I'm uneasy about euthanasia; it offers an easy exit for those why should be offering comfort, and don't.

Oh Indeedey! That is about receiving adequate care. However G.I.L's position is that her heart valves that have been replaced before, have/are now failed/ing, and she's in no condition to undergo any sort of operation to fix it. She has also (as a result) developed vascular dementia because the blood/oxygen flow isn't working right. Even Mother in Law said the other day - if it was her cat suffering like that she'd take it to the vets! So, I give the example as an example of frankly (personally) never wanting to get to that stage - where you know that death is inevitable and you know the level of care is just not adequate!