Reply to: assisted dying

[NotAllThere]

4. AndyW's mum will be the death of me.

Fixed.

Switzerland is tightening up its laws to prevent suicide tourism.

In the UK that nasty Christian ethic has prevented assisted suicide being legal, but has engendered the hospice movement. In enlightened countries like Belgium, where assisted suicide is available for children, they don't have many hospices.

The biggest problem with assisted suicide is ensuring that people don't come under pressure to choose it.

[greenlake]

And in today's Independent....

The 'suicide tourists': 126 Brits opt for assisted death in Switzerland since 2008 - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

[mudskipper]

Texts - Of Suicide & Of the Immortality of the Soul (1777, 1755)

David Hume eloquently argued against the religious taboo way back in the 18th century.

[mudskipper]

Can we assist some other CUK poster instead?

[SpontaneousOrder]

If arguing on those lines it might be better to say "die with dignity".

That phrase "die with honour" is more associated with past militaristic societies like Ancient Rome and Shogun Japan, where people would top themselves at the drop of a hat, or at the whim of a ruler often for the most trivial perceived offences or slights, and the lives of peasants and slaves and petty criminals wasn't worth a bean, hardly an advance ethically on Christianity.

Sure. Either way wouldn't be taboo - the first thing that popped into my head was the HBO 'Rome' series I watched the other week, and Mark Anthony doing himself in.

[scooterscot]

where people would top themselves at the drop of a hat, or at the whim of a ruler often for the most trivial perceived offences or slights, and the lives of peasants and slaves and petty criminals wasn't worth a bean, hardly an advance ethically on Christianity.

God save the Queen.

Would you not slay yourself by a thousand paper cuts if you thought it would save Queenie?

[OwlHoot]

Sure - but the reason it feels taboo (whereas in other cultures throughout history people have preferred to die with honour) is the same reason this country is so prudish when it comes to sex. ...

If arguing on those lines it might be better to say "die with dignity".

That phrase "die with honour" is more associated with past militaristic societies like Ancient Rome and Shogun Japan, where people would top themselves at the drop of a hat, or at the whim of a ruler often for the most trivial perceived offences or slights, and the lives of peasants and slaves and petty criminals wasn't worth a bean, hardly an advance ethically on Christianity.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Kind of, but my MIL is very very Christian (Heck, my BIL is a Vicar...) and she has MS and has just watched her husband die after a long and fruitless battle with Parkinsons and dementia. She has made her opinions on the matter VERY clear and has no issues reconciling it with her beliefs.

Sure - but the reason it feels taboo (whereas in other cultures throughout history people have preferred to die with honour) is the same reason this country is so prudish when it comes to sex.

Over a thousand years of variants of Christianity woven into the very fabric of society. People are only now just starting to see sense.

[vwdan]

Christianity (or perhaps Catholicism as that's what I know) is what has made it taboo.

Kind of, but my MIL is very very Christian (Heck, my BIL is a Vicar...) and she has MS and has just watched her husband die after a long and fruitless battle with Parkinsons and dementia. She has made her opinions on the matter VERY clear and has no issues reconciling it with her beliefs.

[vwdan]

I can't promise that I would, but I do believe that my right to do should be undeniable. While I can appreciate the legal complexities of such matters, having heard a lot of the Radio 4 debates on this the "anti" campaign have often made me sick to my stomach by telling people that they have no right to die.

[VectraMan]

Animals are put out of their misery all the time. I've never quite understood why we consider the quality of animal life as more important than the quality of human life.

My Mum has Motor Neurone Disease unfortunately, and I know she's always been in favour of this sort of thing especially after her father spent his last 2 years brain damaged after a stroke. So we'll see how that plays out. I'd certainly support her decision if that's what she wanted.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Christianity (or perhaps Catholicism as that's what I know) is what has made it taboo.

[TheFaQQer]

In the book Boomsday, there is a suggestion that senior citizens could earn their families a tax break if they take voluntary euthanasia when they get to a certain age.

I look at the quality of life that some of my elderly relatives have / had and hope that when I get to that stage, I have the option of putting everything in order and then choosing my own time and place to go gently into that good night.

[barrydidit]

4. AndyW's mum will be the death of me.

[DiscoStu]

Why is there no Andyw option?