Joan Bakewell will be leading a debate on an elderly woman’s declaration that she wants to choose the timing of her own death; she has a terminal condition.
Thanks for letting us know I will tune in.
Crazy world, we have to fight for treatments that could help us live and then when they can’t do any more for us we have to fight all over again to be put out of our misery.
Yes, if we were animals and all that …
I’m sorry to butt in but I do find the issue of assisted suicide very interesting as well as very sad and in principle, agree with it, but can also see why there are counter-arguments. One thing that has puzzled me since watching the play with Julie Walters where she goes to Switzerland to die, it would seem that she was able enough to take her own life. Of course, this is drama, so in reality she may not have had the strength or ability to take medication herself, but would it be legal for someone to leave prescription meds in the reach of a terminally ill person, knowing they might well take them to kill themselves?
Cathy
According to medical ethics it depends on your intent.
D
Hi - listened to this programme because I have secondaries (bone & liver mets, dx almost six years ago), so issues around suicide/ euthanasia/assistance, etc. are often on my mind. Found it very interesting – will want to listen again, as there was much to take in and think about. If you missed it, you can “listen again” at bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvgwj. And just noticed it’s on again this evening at 9.00 pm.
Marilyn x
I forgot to listen but will do. Thanks for link.
Re: Julia Walters drama. Swiss law requires the person who is seeking early death to take the drug themselves. It cannot be administered by someone else.
This is one of the problems with the law: many people don’t want to die too early but fear losing consciousness which would stop them taking the drug. The programme may have been fictional drama but it was accurate in describing how the suicide would be assisted.
Personally I think I would never be able to swallow the medication and would prefer an assisted dying option for myself: where a doctor could give me an injection at a time agreed with me. We are a long way off the necessary change in the law for this to happen.
Jane
Jane, thanks for clarifying the facts re: the Julie Walter drama. It does seem really awful that if someone has to be well enough to take their own medicine, they might well die far too early. I guess this is to ensure that the person really knows what they want and haven’t been coerced into dying. Therein lies the rub. I will listen to this programme as this is such an important issue and I think we all need to know far more about it.
Cathy
Cathy
Yes they have to be well enough to administer the drug but I think by then it’s a case of pressing a syringe already hooked up to a vein so nothing really physical so much as mental.
If people can travel to Switzerland, indeed feel that they HAVE to, then they are dying younger just in order to be able to carry out their wishes. If they wait longer then there is a danger they may not be fit to travel at all and “miss the moment” as it were and there’s the rub, they are then at risk of a very protracted dying with who knows what pain and who knows what actions by medical practitioners to keep ekeing out another few weeks or days. See JaneRA’s essay on this - she hits the nail on the head, as usual.
I listened only to the first half of last evening’s prog so will “play it again” but I already had my head against the wall by “half time” because some of them could not grasp that this woman’s wishes did NOT mean she had mental health issues. I hope the second half was more reassuring.
D.
I so agree Dahlia that the so called professionals just couldn’t seem to grasp the lady’s problem. She didn’t want months and months of suffering when she knew she was terminally ill and 80 years old. She lived for another 8 months after she continually expressed the wish to die, all of those months spent suffering. I felt real despair listening to the programme because the doctors & nurses just seemed to think she must be mentally ill! They even at one point seriously considered incarcarating her under the Mental Health Act!! I think they’re all wimps and just do what makes THEM feel better and not their patients. One of them said that the lady may have been receiving benefits from those 8 months although none of us could realise what they were! What tosh!!
I haven’t yet listened to the programme so can’t comment on this, but feel that health professionals, as well as the well meaning general public can’t get their heads around the fact that some people may not want to live anymore as their quality of life is so poor for whatever reason. Remember the furore when Daniel James, the young man who was left a tetraplegic after a rugby accident went to Switzerland to die. His parents were seen as monsters by some. At work the comments were like “surely he would accept his fate and lead a good life eventually, despite being totally paralysed.” Well maybe he would but for him, it wasn’t possible and only he knew that. Who of us has the right to think that life - any life must be better than death? And why must someone be presumed to be mentally ill if they think like that?
Just bumping this up in case anyone else heard the programme and wants to comment.
What an interesting programme but so involved. Ridiculous that they even considered her being’mentally ill’but so typical of the medical profession.
I think the carer was probably the one who understood more than them.
Very interesting though that the lady tried twice to end her life but hadn’t. I would have thought most of us would know we have to take a fair amount of paracetomal to end it.
As they said maybe it was a cry for help or a cry of despair and she didnt really want to end it.Here lies just one of the difficulties of legalising it.
I always say each individual case is different, even if someone is terminally ill they have different ways of thinking and coping, different family situations, different religious beliefs etc etc.
The older couple who recently died together found me thinking isn’t that wonderful for them to die together after spending many happy years together. Yet the guy who had the rugby accident my reaction was one of sadness, as so many people have lived life in his condition and enjoyed the life they have be it limited.
I must admit though with my religious beliefs I have always been against assisted suicide BUT seeing family and friends terminally ill and wanting to die I would never criticise anyone who opted for assisted suicide.
To me morphine syringe drives and Diamorph should be given earlier to the terminally ill.
Don’t know if all this rambling makes sense as its a mega issue.
Rx