Hi Dave

This will be one of the hardest debates and decisions that MPs will ever have to make. For religious people of all major faiths, the answer is clear, suicide is forbidden. For others it can seem a way out of needless suffering, merely in order to postpone the inevitable for a short while. It would place a great emotional and moral burden on doctors who would also be in breach of their hippocratic oath. So opt outs similar to those who do not wish to be involved in abortion (like me) would have to be put in place. There are some wicked people who would urge the demise of a frail elderly relative in order to quicker secure an inheritance. The victim may be persuaded they would cause a lot less bother if they went now. How would these people be protected? Also by what means would an assisted suicide take place, it is not easy and sometimes not painless killing people. Look at the difficulty of executions by lethal injection in the US.  I once saw an exhibit in Sardinia, it was a pointed axe which, in the days before anaesthesia, the local priest would use to despatch people in unbearable pain, what a responsibility on the poor man.

To a degree assisted suicide already takes place in the UK for example when it is decided to withdraw treatment from a terminally ill or brain dead patient.                                                                                    Without my knowledge, but with his consent, my own father in desperate pain from cancer was put on the Liverpool pathway, a form of assisted suicide, a high continuous dose of diamorphine and a powerful sedative via a syringe driver is used. The death is caused by dehydration and takes around 3 days. It is now discredited and rightly so.

During a previous period of remission, I booked a holiday to Switzerland, a friend thought the worst and tried to persuade me not to go until I told him I was going to Sierre and not Dignitas. Joking aside I would like to have the option to go at a time of my choosing if needed when the time comes. When I was really ill I did research on means of suicide, but found I could not easily order online the means to do so properly, without risking a botched attempt, which would have made life even more miserable. I'm glad I was unable to do so as I'm still here now enjoying life, which brings my last point, at what point in life can the decision to end it be made?

I look forward to reading the views of others on this subject, Im sure there are lots of other considerations to be brought up.

Hi,

Thanks for being the first to share your thoughts. I guess if assisted suicide was legal, the Liverpool Care Pathway would never have been needed. I am told by someone who helped develop it back in the 1990s that the problem with the Liverpool Care Pathway was that it wasn't being followed as designed, but being applied as a label to the withdrawal of food and water. The original guidelines included full consultation with patients and their family with the pathway only being gone down if there was a consensus that it was the only viable option - all else having failed. The worst case I read was an elderly lady who was admitted with a broken shoulder, given morphine for her pain and then "put on the LCP" because she had symptoms of dementia - which were of course side effects of the morphine. Luckily her family intervened and she made a full recovery.  

As it stands today, if you can afford a trip to Switzerland you have access to the service but if you can't you have to suffer. Surely that can't be right?

I hope our politicians have the guts to address this but I shan't be holding my breath as no-one wants to risk becoming unelectable by being seen to advocate suicide in the face of religious opposition. 

There are lots of chemicals and plants which would do the job. In the USA none of the suppliers wants to have their drugs linked with lethal injections, so refuse to provide their products explicitly for this purpose. m.livescience.com/51389-why-lethal-injection-is-getting-harder.html

I'm still genuinely undecided on this - suicide is no longer illegal in the UK but anyone assisting can be sent to jail - regardless of their motives.

Dave

Hi Dave, not sure I qualify to comment as I have found my way to this site because my much loved friend has been diagnosed with lung cancer, but can only speak from my own experiences with my dad. He became ill shortly before retiring at the age of 63 and rapidly declined. He begged me to help end his life and in all honesty there were times when I really wanted to step up to the plate and help him such was my love for him. Inevitably I couldn't and felt a complete failure. He sadly ended his own life alone so I would totally agree with assisted suicide. To die with control and dignity is something everyone hopes for.

The thing with Dignitas is that you have to make a few trips to Switzerland before the final one, so there is considerable cost involved.  I am presuming if we had assisted suicide in this country we would use the same concoction of drugs use in Dignitas which is a very fast end to your life.  

My mother, many years ago was in a hospice for a few days.  She was in no pain and we had both requested that she not be given morphine.  I left her for a couple of hours and when I came back they had put a syringe driver of morphine in her.  I asked them to remove it but they refused, telling me that once it was inserted they couldnt remove it.  She died the next morning.  I was later told that they hadnt understood our instructions.

Before I had cancer I disagreed with any form of suicide but now I am not so sure as, although not frightened of death, I am a little worried about the method. 

Hi Dave,

I am sure, like with all debates on sensitive subjects there will be pros and cons on this issue.  As both the daughter of a mother who has tried suicide on several occasions (due to bi polar mental illness) and who would dearly love to have the means to take her own life now at the ripeoldf age of 89 (and in earlier times expressed a wish to go to Switzerlandand to have her chosen way out) and also as widow of a terminally ill husband who preferred to let nature take its course, I see both sides of the coin. Freedom of choice is a delicate question and from my own personal viewpoint I do not believe you can make a for or against decision unless you find yourself ina difficult and perhaps desparate situation.  I am sure too there would be many in the medical profession who would find it a difficult road to follow. Jules 

Gobur,

I think you more than qualify to comment, thanks for sharing your experience.

I'm so sorry to hear that your Dad died alone, that must have been so hard for you and your family.

Best wishes

Dave

There are so many sides to this debate and no clear cut answers.  In my situation, I just really wish there were many more hospices, or wards who specialise in end-of-life care so that I had the comfort to know that when I reach the last stages of this disease, my family and I could be together, treated with dignity and support by specialised staff and kept pain-free and conscious.  If facilities like these were available to us it would take away all the fear of dying in pain with little care available for the patient and no support for their loved ones.  I would be a happy person if I could get to know my future carers now and know what to expect when things took a turn for the worse.

This is just my personal dream and I know doesnt really contribute to this debate x

Thanks to everyone for joining in and sharing your stories.

@Max - that's a good point. Just after I was diagnosed I was asked whether I'd like to visit the local hospice to see the facilities and meet the staff. At the time I thought this was pretty insensitive andpremature, but I guess that as I get closer to the end that might be a good idea. 

Ideally I think would like an end of life experience similar to my Mum's, at home with my family, pain-free and high as a kite on morphine, but who knows what the future will bring?  

The sad thing is that we have no hospice in our area and the hospital has a bad reputation for EOLC.  There doesn't seem to be many hospice facilities and I wish there was as much care taken of those whose life's are ending, as those whose are beginning - both important times in the circle of life.  X

I so agree with you Max.   I think we could all face things a little better if we knew that in our last weeks or days we would be cared for by professionals who knew what to do.  Sadly, there are very few hospices and, even if you have a local one, it doesnt mean they will have the space to take you when the time comes.  

I suppose this is the reason I probably agree with assisted dying.  :-(