I just think euthanasia is so wrong. I understand the argument for "allowing people to choose death"; but people already have that choice in suicide and when someone really wants to die they are free to take that option.

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/terminally-...BBoPWjQ&ocid=UE07DHP

There is something deeply nasty about putting down a human being like an animal, which I know we all are at base of course; but the "normal" attitude towards an ill or dying person is to cling onto them for as long as possible. Palliative care is very badly used - I think knowingly. It has been shown that in proper doses, palliative medicines kill pain and allow people to stay aware and interacting well until very near their death.

Here, quite rightly, the killing of a human being is always a charge or Murder or Manslaughter to start; mitigating circumstances then allow the courts to give low sentences to those who are shown to have truly acted "in mercy" and on the specific wishes of the deceased - if that can be proved. And that's how it should be. But more and more of Europe are going in for the "trendy kill". How very, very wrong.

www.oneindia.com/india/know-which-countr...illegal-1588243.html

www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14374296

One one level, I can agree with what you're saying Cantata. And you are much better placed to discuss the law than me. But I've seen my grandfather die from cancer, and I've seen what happened to him in the intervening months, and particularly the last few weeks, and I'm not going through that. I didn't even see the worse of it because I wasn't there for the last couple of days, which are horrendous.

If I have to suffer with some terminal illness, I would like my life to be ended peacefully. There are worrying aspects to this, but I don't want to live a life of pure suffering. If I'm still well enough to play Football Manager then I'll soldier on, but as soon as I can't do that then you can pull the plug on me!

Your argument Cantata is inverted from the normal perspective when considering animals. It's usually argued that animals are afforded the luxury of euthenasia, rather than treating humans like animals.

Some people are sadly incapable of ending their own life. Either they don't have the strength to do it or they lack the physical mobility.
Palliative care is ok to a point..... the skag doesn't stop folk with lung cancer struggling to breath though, which is extremely distressing..... and for the witnesses.

I'm with WuB.... once my body or mind ceases to function I'm happy to be switched off..... a huge dose of skag should do it. Maybe a few Es first if I can still swallow, and a big bar of hashish. Nice & high at first.... some nice trippy music on & off into the tunnel of time, space and immortality I go.

Euthenasia should only be used as an informed choice.... and as an alternative to suicide for the terminally ill. The individual needs to be able to demonstrate that they have capacity to make such a choice. Suicide often places other people at risk.

I will always find it abhorrent that people are willing to kill their sick. I will always argue that killing a human being should be Murder or Manslaughter at its start, with mitigating circumstances bringing down the "sentence" where mercy and compassion are proved to be the driving force. But this push to treat it as a valid option and to be applauded as a good thing will always revolt me.

I've had several animals euthanized Spacey - including very large ones (horses) which somehow makes it seem "worse"; and owner and vet, we ALL struggled to find some treatment or way to AVOID taking that option. Human medicine is far advanced in comparison to animal medicine - we do have better options and palliative care. It's all very expensive though.

Well, I'll try to make this as simple as possible.

My grandad contracted cancer. He fought it with a combination of drugs and the immune system for quite some time, maybe 12-18 months. He degraded physically during this time, eventually he could barely walk and lost tonnes of weight. He showed me his foot once and it was literally black.

When he was healthy he was always had a massive appetite and loved his food, and he ended up barely able to eat anything. He was as strong as an ox, he could batter me at arm wrestling (I tried to avoid it, to be honest) when he was 70, but he just wasted away the last year of his life.

A few months before he died, the cancer became terminal and there was nothing the medical profession could do any more. By now he was pretty much totally dependent and eventually he inevitably ended up in care, although he was in and out of hospital as well.

I don't really want to go through everything that happened at that time because it's distressing for me to remember it, but it wasn't pleasant, and he was barely compos mentis.

I didn't see the last 48 hours of his life, but I know he was going in and out and back into consciousness as his body made its last futile attempts to fight the cancer, and the cancerous cells eventually took over his body.

Really the last few months of his life were pure suffering. And, of course, it's not pure suffering where something good might happen at the end of it, there is nothing to look forward to.

One of the things I found particularly odd was that no-one had told him that he was going to die. I remember my mum stating that he'd said while he was in hospital that he didn't want to die. And I also remember, I was very lucky actually, that one day when he was in care he showed a remarkable improvement over his previous state. He was able to eat half a plate of pie and mash (I finished it off and ate his pudding being the ever selfless person that I am) which I fed him, and we watched the snooker on TV and listened to Man United playing Spurs, and that was the last time he was really able to communicate.

And I remember being in the pub with my mum and her husband after they'd seen this improvement, and he is particularly a person who likes to look on the bright side of everything, and he was saying maybe there is going to be a miracle. And I had to say, look, he's not going to get better. I don't know what happened today, but he's got terminal cancer and he's not receiving any form of medication. He is going to die, you cannot think that way.

I can't imagine what it was like for my mum when she was sat with him the last 48 hours of his life.

I don't want to put people through that, and I don't want to go through that, it's as simple as that. I'm not scared of death, but I am scared of dying. When I deem my quality of life is no longer satisfactory to make living worthwhile, I don't want to live any more.

cantata wrote:
I'm not sure about 'willing' to kill their sick relatives....people who do this are put in a very awkward position. If however people do seem a bit too keen to be killing people that should obviously be treated with suspicion! A problem with euthenasia is that there are already a lot of people who are ready for the windfall when a rich relative dies.

As to the law - the individual has the highest power over their own body and it should not be within the jurisdiction of the law to say they can or can't make this choice. It's a medical issue and should be dealt with by medical professions thus avoiding any confict with manslaughter etc. Individuals going through serious pain and discomfort in terminally ill cases do not need their heads doing in by beaurocrats forcing them to prolong suffering.

I watched my old man die of cancer & it is pretty distressing. However, I don't think he would have been up for euthenasia. He had more of a mindset that he was somehow going to swerve it, true to form. Fortunately it took him quite quickly. The younger you are, the more rapid the onset apparently.