Assisted Dying
- Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,809
1 November 2024 14:43386015I have always been an opponent of the state executing people (reports of execution by injection from the USA make gruesome reading with difficulty of finding veins and the executed taking far too long to expire) and also found the reports of the recent use of a 'suicide pod', leading to Florian Willet, president of the Last Resort, being in custody for over a month while prosecutors determine if he had ‘selfish’ motives amid ‘strangulation mark’ claims (did she 'go gentle into that good night' or was she 'raging'?), rather worrying.
Writing in the Spectator this week the blessed Charles Moore puts forward a modest proposal which I have copied below.
[I]My young friend Dr Cajetan Skowkronski has helped me resolve a question that has been worrying me.
Why do supporters of ‘assisted dying’ insist that the best method is a cocktail of pills (or intravenous injection)? Their prescription has an air of medical respectability, but this is not a medical process. The sole aim in assisting suicide is to achieve the quickest, least painful death.
In a Twitter thread of Swiftian brilliance, Dr Skowkronski has the answer: ‘At the height of the French Revolution,’ he writes, ‘when large volumes of Assisted Deaths were taking place for the sake of noble aims, a compassionate physician, Dr Guillotin, felt that many of the prevailing methods were cruel. [He] therefore proposed the use of an accurate and immediate method which spares the “patients” so many of the regrettable sufferings associated with other therapeutic options such as hanging, shooting, axing, burning or dismemberment.’ After ‘extensive trials’ in France, this ‘was adopted in many progressive countries’.
Dr S feels that ‘As a 21st-century physician motivated by the same compassion… I see that prevailing “best practice” in jurisdictions where euthanasia is legal [is] inhumane, slow, and carries unacceptable complication rates’. He therefore urges that advocates of assisted dying be trained in ‘operating portable, modern guillotines to give their patients the very best care with instant effect’.
Obviously, ‘Guillotine stigma is a hurdle we must overcome…But think about the stigma we have already overcome by reframing Doctors Killing Patients as an act of compassion which we now call Assisted Dying.
Let’s execute change, together.’
Charles Moore[/I]
FWIW, an interesting article here https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2024/10/30/philip-murray-looking-down-the-slippery-slope-can-assisted-suicide-be-restricted-to-the-terminally-ill/"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds" - 1 November 2024 16:04386016Thank you- second article is very long but definitely worth reading. I am fearful of the proposed bill.
- Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,771
2 November 2024 06:25386017Medical science has progressed, which in 99% of cases is a good thing, but that means we now live so much longer than our bodies sometimes allow. Our quality of life is seldom taken into account when medical intervention and life giving treatment is available.
Pure existence is by no means the same as living a full and happy life. When I was very ill I told the medics D N R as the quality of the kind of life that I want has now gone. As you might have gathered I am in favour of assisted dying but with very strict guidelines.
BTW I am not suicidal or depressed, just honest about how I believe we have the right to choose when our time has come and should not be kept alive just because medics have the ability to do so.Reginald Barrington and Matey like this-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,815
2 November 2024 09:09386018My mum was clear in her intentions on DNR
Although three times she was strong enough to pull back through !
But she was in severe pain on top dose of morphine , wanting to go ,
It was an awful time
Not easy decisions
Doctors even questioned her decision as they are live savers
But her wish in sound mind and clear as much as I didn't want to lose her , was her wishJan Higgins and Matey like thisALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,809
2 November 2024 14:44386019FWIW, just spoke to Mike Tapp on subject and have follwed up with e-mail :-
Hi Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to quickly discuss the above.
PLEASE READ Phillip Murray's article on the 'slippery slope' here :-
https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2024/10/30/philip-murray-looking-down-the-slippery-slope-can-assisted-suicide-be-restricted-to-the-terminally-ill/
I am sure you will vote 'with your conscience' and merely hope that your conscience will lead you to oppose the proposed Bill.
Having been with my mother when she died I am reminded of the couplet by 19th century Poet Arthur Hugh Clough
' Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive Officiously to keep alive.'
which sums up the status quo and whilst not perfect in law seems to give most a reasonable send off without encouraging another Harold Shipman!
Best Wishes
Captain HaddockArthur likes this"Shall we go, you and I, while we can? Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds" - Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,815
4 November 2024 07:58386040I do think this is a difficult one seeing my mum in pain and her wishes ,
The problem also is as you age some GPs have less time for you , probably watching budgets .
That's another sad fact of life .
So it is a real problem .ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,771
4 November 2024 10:02386042At times I wonder how hard some (I repeat some) GPs work because they seem to rely on others to see their patients.
I now seem to be in the care of a telephone pharmacist and community nurses, apart from my hospital stays (about 18 months ago) have not seen a real living doctor for well over 5yrs.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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