Assisted suicide

[Adam]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8150587.stm

The deaths of British conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, have reopened the assisted suicide debate.

Sir Edward, 85, who was losing his sight and hearing, died on Friday alongside his terminally ill wife, 74, at Swiss right-to-die centre, Dignitas.

In a statement, their family said the couple "died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing".

The Metropolitan Police said it was investigating, as campaigners called for more safeguards to be put in place.

Last week, a proposal by Lord Falconer to allow people to help someone with a terminal illness travel to a country where assisted suicide is legal was thrown out by the Lords.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: "This problem is clearly not going to go away; we are descending down a slippery slope towards unregulated assisted dying abroad, at a rapid pace."

She added that people should be able to make decisions about death for themselves but warned that without safeguards, the process was "dangerous and open to abuse".

Peter Saunders, from Care Not Killing, said the Downes' case was "sad but unusual".

He added that the current law was clear and right and the House of Lords was wise not to approve any change to it.

"With imminent health cuts, growing numbers of elderly people and increasing levels of elder abuse the very last thing we need is to put vulnerable people, many of whom already think they are a financial or emotional burden to relatives, carers and the state, under pressure to end their lives through a change in the law," he said.

[TheoK]

What's wrong with the fucking UK? It's more moronic than Sweden, and that is a lot. 

[Adam]

Because apparently if we let people choose to die when they want to, then old people will feel like they have to die too 

[TheoK]

Because apparently if we let people choose to die when they want to, then old people will feel like they have to die too 

Well, that's not very unusual. Old people often want to die.

[Adam]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

[TheoK]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

[Christopher McCandless]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

We have a lot of religious traditionalists in this country who whine a lot.

[Parts]

We need one of these

I think if it was too easy too many would be bullied or talked into it

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[Adam]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

I'm not saying they should. I'm saying the excuse people use to justify not legalising it (that it could make other people feel they have a duty to do it) is a load of crap

I strongly support assisted suicide bein legalised

[Adam]

We need one of these

I think if it was too easy too many would be bullied or talked into it

When it's legalised then safeguards and regulations can be put in place. As it is, people who want to are capable of it, but have to go to a different country and spend all the money getting there, away from their home and away from their family/friends. People can be bullied into killing themselves anyway

[TheoK]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

We have a lot of religious traditionalists in this country who whine a lot.

Swedish doctors actually often kill incurably sick people who don't want to live anymore (with cancer, for instance), by increasing their morphin doses until they die. This is not allowed of course, so they can't say it openly.

[TheoK]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

I'm not saying they should. I'm saying the excuse people use to justify not legalising it (that it could make other people feel they have a duty to do it) is a load of crap

I strongly support assisted suicide bein legalised

Hm, I guess I'm getting a bit tired. 

[Christopher McCandless]

And plenty of them are physically capable of doing it alone anyway

It's a shit excuse imo

Why should they have to use a gun (which is pretty rare in Europe anyway), hang themselves, throw themselves in front of a train or die in a "car accident", when they could just take a suicide pill?

We have a lot of religious traditionalists in this country who whine a lot.

Swedish doctors actually often kill incurably sick people who don't want to live anymore (with cancer, for instance), by increasing their morphin doses until they die. This is not allowed of course, so they can't say it openly.

Double effect is legal in the UK, I think. Though people taking morphine just for the lethal effects is not.

[Blasted]

How stupid.  If they wanted to die together, let them.

I also think assisted suicide should be legalised.

[Adam]

Yeah it makes no sense. The right to die is actually more important to me than the right to live, even if that is kind of cowardly. I would rather be forced to die than put in a positipn where I desperately wanted to end my life but was forced to "live" it out suffering for no reason. The thought of not being able to end your life when you're in that much pain is scarier to me