Swiss vote could call time on 'suicide tourism'

[WhyNot]

@sinjin

Just sort of a reply to all. My Granny died in the 80’s and we did smuggle in ice cream to her every day;). My brother died in a suburb of Chicago (I think that’s still in America) in 2002 while he was supposedly in hospice care in the hospital. I now have doubts it was true hospice care. But that’s what they called it.:mad:

I’m so very sorry you and your family went through that. Yes, you were most definitely victims of the War On Drugs anti-painkiller mindset that swept through medicine about that time. It was stupid and cruel and caused needless suffering, and again, I’m so sorry.

That part has gotten better. I agree with you that dying in America is still often a dreadful experience, but at least now they can do it with appropriate pain medication.

[Darryl_Lict]

@appleciders

We’ve had assisted suicide in Oregon for more than a decade. It was controversial at the time, but now it’s a total non-issue and a 1997 attempt to repeal it was roundly defeated. Applicants need to provide a whole host of assurances that it’s truly voluntary, and I’ve never heard of an instance of abuse. It’s only available to those with terminal illnesses, and doctors must agree that the patient has less than six months to live. Personally, I know one woman who took advantage of it to end her own suffering and to make her family’s life easier (the family stress ended up with her son in jail). It was absolutely the right choice for her.

Assisted suicide needs to be carefully managed to prevent abuses, just like every other medical decision that a patient makes. But because it has potential to be a positive thing, we should not eliminate the possibility.

There is an amazing documentary How to Die in Oregon that premiered at Sundance this year. It won the Grand Jury Prize in the U. S. Documentary Competition. It was compelling and tragic, but absolutely reinforced my support for assisted suicide. The people who were featured were amazing and the film made it seem like there were very strong safeguards in place to prevent any abuse of the system. I’m trying to work towards getting a similar bill passed in California.

It’s on HBO this Thursday May 26 8PM PDT.

[Revenant_Threshold]

@Bricker

Suicide, too, is often itself the result of impulses that would pass, given time. I remember reading the first-person account of one of the few people to survive jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. He said something like, “I had all these problems that convinced me they were insoluble and I had no choices left, so I jumped… and the moment after I jumped I realized a great truth: I had only one real insoluble problem, and that was that I had just jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.”

In all honesty, i’m somewhat lairy of the testimony of a person who comes up with their own pithy mental comment at such a time.

I think the “slippery slope” problem is one that already exists on the other side. You point to the fear that some might be euthanised when that is not their wish; on the other hand, for many people now they cannot be euthanised when that is their wish.

My concern over the “not in sound mind” argument is that too often it seems to be a circular argument. They’re not in sound mind, so we shouldn’t take their desire for suicide seriously. And we know they’re not in sound mind because they desire suicide. If “we” inherently are concerned that suicide is impulse-based and a result of irrational thinking, then it stands to reason we’ve already prejudged the case before we get to it.

[pkbites]

@biddee

Why is it against the law to assist someone to die a dignified death?

Who defined any death as “dignified”? Having an asshole quack doctor from Michigan pump poison into you is “dignified”? Says who?

Unless one is in a condition like Christopher Reeve why does one need the help of others to off themselves?

Put your affairs in order an then put a gun in your mouth. Or take a lot of pills. Or jump off a tall building. Or put a rope around your neck. Or stand in front of a freight train.
Or, take a lot of pills, put a rope around your neck, jump off a tall building (that is by a railroad track) and put a gun in your mouth on the way down. If you survive that buy a lottery ticket!

[Uzi]

@pkbites

Put your affairs in order an then put a gun in your mouth.

In the midst of all your other worries you have to apply for a gun permit.

Or take a lot of pills.

Which pills?

Or jump off a tall building.

Landing on some poor slob wandering by at the wrong moment. Poor janitor who has to clean up the mess, too.

Or put a rope around your neck.

So that your kids can walk in on your swinging carcass in the garage. Nice present for them (or anyone else) to find.

Or stand in front of a freight train.

Nice present for the train driver to have to live with for the rest of his life, ain’t it?

Or, you could go to a nice place, like Edward G. Robinson in ‘Soylent Green’, and have your body recycled into a nutritious snack food. I don’t know why the later is so objectionable (well, other than the snack food bit).

[pkbites]

@Uzi

In the midst of all your other worries you have to apply for a gun permit.

Not in most of the of the USA.

For the rest of you… who cares?

[Uzi]

@pkbites

Not in most of the of the USA.

Even when it is about the Swiss its all about you!:rolleyes:

[pkbites]

@Uzi

Even when it is about the Swiss its all about you!:rolleyes:

Yep!

[Omar_Little]

@sinjin

He was not allowed the meds necessary to ease his pain because that might hasten his death.

I have never heard of instances where medical professionals denied people pain medication, even if it might hasten their death. Your situation is the first. Are you sure that it happened as you described?