Northwind – Member

chewkw – Member

On the one hand the right to choose should be respected (Okay, no problem with that) but on the other hand you are choosing for them?

No, he’s saying they don’t get to choose for anyone else. If your religion says suicide/assisted dying is a sin then by all means don’t commit suicide. [/quote]

Ah … Thank you.

Okay, nothing to see here continue with your conversation … 😛

Nothing much to add here except if anyone thinks that this hasn’t been going on in hospitals and hospices all over the country on compassionate grounds for years, wake up and smell the coffee. (Although possibly a little less after the Shipman thing, I certainly noticed a real effect upon Dr’s willingness to write up decent opiate prescriptions since that).

It’s high time this country grew up and had an adult conversation about death. Thing is, it’s the ultimate ‘let’s talk about it, just not today’ topic, isn’t it?

I am sure this has gone on for ages what troubles me that is the Drs in my case made a deliberate decision to take steps that resulted in my dads death , he was going to die but they hastened it I actively supported consented to and encouraged those actions , on one view of the law they and I are guilty of murder harsh but true . Should we really be at risk of conviction avoiding it only because the facts are never reported or examined or because a essentially political appointee decides it is not in the public interest to prosecute us .
Part of me thinks the current lack of clarity and discretion creates a grey area where good can be done , but I also fear for those who needs some clear support and guidance at such a difficult time.

Absolutely, crankboy, my thoughts exactly. On the one hand, an open and honest conversation to bring out into the open the actions of the compassionate in order to protect them.

On the other hand, that conversation may not go the way that you and I would hope once the Daily Mail et al get their nasty teeth into it. Not to mention the Church; don’t get me started…

Part of me thinks it’s safer to keep this stuff in the shadows, but that way it’s patchy and inconsistent. For every experience of compassion such as yours, there are several stories of horrible indeterminable suffering, due to doctors with differing moral views/lacking the bravery to do the right thing*

*delete depending on how charitable you are feeling…

As an example of this attitude, apparently some people find this picture reasuring rather than horrifying

I am a Christian (who mostly doesn’t do the right thing) and I find that picture / quote utterly horrible. Quite the sort of thing I’d expect from certain sects that I have experienced – and from which I distance myself utterly.

I am totally in favour of assisted dying (although a part of me wonders how that squares with God’s will). God gave us the intelligence to develop the means for it and to sort out a way of implementing safeguards, though, so let’s think it through and do what’s best for those in need.

Very hard question in some ways – and very straightforward in others.

Well said JulianA! and thats coming from an atheist… (but who hopefully respects other peoples views)

Whoa. Hang on a moment. With no suggestion it should bring this conversation to a halt, at the very least the situation and ideas this article from the New Yorker about the Belgian approach to euthanasia needs to be read.

That picture might be fine if the target audience is a convinced religious group (although I find all pithy emotional appeals borderline offensive), but it is not fine if the creators of it were targeting the general population.

If nothing else, it would just be naive to think that a non-Christian would give a rip about sharing in the passion of Jesus.