Assisted Suicide - Could you?

[Gillette]

When a pet is terminally ill and suffering, having it put to sleep is considered compassionate. That it should be considered otherwise for a suffering human is lunacy.

 

[2322]

It's done at home all the time, it requires a good hospice team and caretakers who are all on the same page as each other and the patient. I've never seen bravery before as strong, as in those I took care of who decided to take control of their situation and ask for help to do it in their own homes and beds.

This is good to know. When my grandfather died he was in the hospital and during the brief periods he came out of coma he kept asking to go home. I thought we should have done that and I now understand why he did.

Thank you for the reply Indy!

 

[mitchymo]

I could and i would hope that it would be done for me if i was ever in a position that i asked.

 

[rob_just_rob]

Not if it was someone I knew and liked.

I could for a stranger, though. Or someone I disliked.

Maybe that should be a different question...?

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I think I could assist someone in ending their suffering.
A couple decades back, I worked for a few months in an auxiliary hospital. I remember one very old man, 82 y.o., IIRC, who was dying of cancer.
For a full month, he had horrible unremitting pain. Couldn't eat. Couldn't sleep. Had constant convulsive shivering. I never saw another case like it.
The measures to control his pain were totally inadequate, and if I'm not mistaken, I heard some concern expressed about him becoming addicted to painkillers ... in what obviously were his final weeks of life. Such extraordinary stupidity.
No one was talking about assisted suicide back then, but I know he would have asked for it in a second had it been available.
And I remember often wishing that I could help end his suffering.
It was dreadful and got worse day by day.
His moaning didn't stop until he did.
If I were in a situation like that today and assisted suicide were legal, I would help in a heartbeat.
And if it were illegal but reliably camouflaged, I would do the same.

 

[silentview]

Of course, there are a lot of things to consider, but yeah I would say I'm entirely capable of assisted suicide. If called for and the conditions right I could off someone (sorry if thats a bit blunt... murder/kill didn't seem appropriate) If done in the name of a greater good I'm entirely capable of ending the life of another.

 

[cdarro]

Yes. Although it would be a gut-wrenching experience, after watching my mother die from cancer last year, I would definitely do it if asked, legal consequences be damned. And I would hope that I could count on someone to do the same for me.

 

[Autofellatio]

Assisted Suicide is such a scary sounding phrase; maybe Euthanasia is better, Hm...

And yes, I would do the same, and hope that someone would be willing to do it to me if the need ever arose.

Of course, the person to be departed should be thinking straight and have no external coercion whatsoever when deciding.

 

[Viking_UK]

It's a tough one. I'd hope that if it came to it someone would be willing to help me, but I don't know how I'd feel if someone asked me to help them. It's something you've got to live with for the rest of your life, but, by the same token, if you don't help them, you're prolonging their suffering, which is cruel. I'd like to think that I would be able to go along with their request, but until it happens, I don't know if I could.

As Autofellatio said, they've got to be fully aware and competent to make the decision for themselves and not feel pressured either way.

 

[B_Nick8]

I could and I would. And I hope with all my heart that there are people around me who will be kind and strong and honorable enough to do the same for me.

 

[B_theOtherJJ]

wE HAD TO MAKE A DECISION TO PULL THE PLUG on my partner when he was left brain-dead after a brain hemmorrage from aid related fungal menningitis. It was heart wrenching, but what other choice was there? He had already left us...
I would hope someone would do it for me if it becomes necessary. I believe it is more humane and dignified.

 

[overninept5]

Been there, done that. And would again. I've instructed everyone close to me, to pul that plug. Quality of life is what it is about. No quality, no life.

 

[D_Jared Padalicki]

After reading the article, i would say yes. After reading the thread title, nope
In cases of diseases and people really feeling bad for so long and really have pain, well yeah, then I would.

 

[Drifterwood]

Yes.

 

[D_Cock_Hudson]

No I couldn't. Given the choice between some people having a painful end and killing others prematurely I'd keep people alive.

 

[B_Nick8]

Given the choice between some people having a painful end and killing others prematurely I'd keep people alive.

"Premature" is both a relative and an increasingly technologically-based construct. And I wonder if you've ever had the experience of watching someone go through prolonged and abject pain with no hope of recovery.

 

[koval]

I watched my father slowly die from cancer while he begged to be put out of his pain. I vowed never to let this happen again to any of my family. So I have no problem assisting someone if they ask for it.