How to Die: Simon’s Choice review - assisted dying

[rosemary]

Did anyone watch this last night? I have it taped but not had time as yet to see it.

How to Die: Simon’s Choice review – a beautiful film about the complex issue of assisted dying

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio ... sted-dying

This painstaking programme demands that you think, without forcing you to any pat conclusions – and is a tribute to an extraordinary set of people

watch on BBC2 catch up here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070jm26

x

[Juggler]

An amazing group of family and friends, supporting Simon through, and living with the consequences of his loss.
I'm pro assisted dying for people in similar circumstances, who make a personal decision. It was good to see the level of scrutiny that he had to pass through on the way and that the end choice was his.

[Eun]

I got swore at and got dog's abuse on a facebook forum i was a member of because I said that until they sorted out proper palliative care for those with terminal illnesses (like my son) then I was against assisted suicide as it was not a genuine choice and I am also worried about how long before a "choice" to die becomes a compulsion to do so? Also medics already do not put a high value on the quality of disabled peoples lives and if this were to be legalised it would be even worse!

Eun

[Juggler]

Eun, I think personal circumstances make a big difference to how we see things. Mine come from seeing my sister go downhill with MS...though it was cancer that eventually killed her.
My understanding is that assisted dying in the different countries that offer it is only ever based on personal choice. I agree that if compulsion came into it things would be very different.
Jx

[charles47]

My sister had a massive stroke 2 and a half years ago, from which she never regained consciousness. If she'd survived she would have been in a persistent vegetative state.

She was intensely independently minded.

So, do you go with "I don't trust doctors" or do you go with "she would hate this."?

Sometimes, choices make themselves. The hard part is accepting the choice and letting it happen. I've had to make some tough decisions in my time. This was the hardest.

[Eun]

Charles I do have trust issues not only with doctors but with a country which does not value disabled people. One of my disabilities is BECAUSE of doctors in the first place. If the GP hadn't prescribed Debendox (a form of thalidomide) to my mother for morning sickness then i wouldn't be disabled - who knows maybe my son wouldn't have DMD or me be a manifesting carrier! I am very sorry to hear of what you had to go through with your sister.

Eun

[charles47]

Hi Eun

I wasn't referring to your post. It was one of the questions I had to ask myself. Sorry if it came out that way.

Let's face it: this is a choice no one should be forced to make. But there was no way a doctor was going to have the final say. A choice that was no choice, really. Sad but true.

[Scally]

We are all going to die, sooner or later.
To me death is a bit like birth. Nobody every chooses it, but we cannot avoid it, and we all hope it goes smoothly. However, unlike birth we should be able to choose the place and time of our demise, and I long for the day when we can take a farewell pill in a safe place surrounded by our family and friends without being bullied by lawyers and doctors: this absurd Christian anti-suicide prejudice is the source of so much evil and pain. There is nothing wrong with suicide, it is a perfectly humane and logical solution to a serious problem of how we leave this life gently and gracefully when we are through with it.

[charles47]

I'm not sure it's ever that easy, Scally. However, the law has to go some way to sorting itself out and that will need more action from politicians and lawyers to prevent the ridiculous situation where a Motor Neurone Disease sufferer can't be assisted to die and so dies gasping for air, but someone can be allowed to starve to death.

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/feb ... udge-rules