It is entirely possible that there should be changes to the laws, but involving families is a terrible idea. You aren't going to get rational decision making if you ask someone about their mother wanting to die. You'd be lucky of you didn't get someone screaming profanity at the medical staff for an hour.
Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
51–60 of 247 posts
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Percentage of people that plan to kill themselves, but simply fail to do so because something minor happens to interfere is not small; as in they do not end up committing suicide and never try again. If someone really wants to kill themselves, no reason to make it easy, it should by definition be hard to do, since there is no undoing it.
How does an old man in a wheelchair kill himself? Why should it be so hard for him? What if he fails? He gets to live even longer in more anguish and humiliation?
90% of suicide survivors do not attempt again.
Why is that?
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Percentage of people that plan to kill themselves, but simply fail to do so because something minor happens to interfere is not small; as in they do not end up committing suicide and never try again. If someone really wants to kill themselves, no reason to make it easy, it should by definition be hard to do, since there is no undoing it.
How does an old man in a wheelchair kill himself? Why should it be so hard for him? What if he fails? He gets to live even longer in more anguish and humiliation?
Not going to give advice on committing suicide, understand your point, and as it relates to myself, I am fine dealing with the situation regardless of what happens. Study the topic since I was a child, understand it well, and if you believe such rights are needed, then it’s up to you to make them real before they are needed. Posting anonymously online will have little to no impact.
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#54> The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people. Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially years or decades of life left. Here's the thing. If I want to die at 80 because I don't want to live past that point, that is my choice. Even if I have no "illness". If I don't want to…
>If I want to die at 80 because I don't want to live past that point, that is my choice. I think most reasonable people can agree with this. It gets more complicated when its a depressed 20 year old saying it.
[deleted]
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#55But other “experts” created the system in the first place:
> Canada’s road to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when its highest court declared that outlawing assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation.
Who cares what experts think about what’s fundamentally the regulation of morality?
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#56> The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people. Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially years or decades of life left. Here's the thing. If I want to die at 80 because I don't want to live past that point, that is my choice. Even if I have no "illness". If I don't want to…
I think this is a really good point.
I support people being able to have autonomy over their lives (and their deaths). But, as you say, we need to eliminate effective coercion and this has a lot of implications.
For example, no one should ever feel that this is a way out of crippling medical debt or debt they may leave to their family.
So if you think about it, legalizing euthanasia is essentially predicated on having an adequate social safety net, access to mental health resources and access to health care, all of which I support.
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe it's just me, but if a stranger can talk you into killing yourself - what the fuck else can a stranger talk you into doing? Maybe people need to take some responsibility, instead of arguing the existence of Dr Evils in medicine.
You’ve heard of the Milgram experiment? It specifically focused on medical authority.
Like almost all pop psychology, it is not very scientific:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-shocking-truth-of-...
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you give other examples? It seems to me that the balance between individual freedom and restrictions is pretty good in most western countries (I don't know much about other continents).
Conscription...done.
Well conscription almost doesn't exist any more in western countries. And I don't think it's a good example of something that doesn't affect anyone else, the idea is to train people in case of a war. Having people able to defend the country seems quite useful for everyone in unstable times.
Re: Experts troubled by Canada’s euthanasia laws
#59> The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people. Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially years or decades of life left. Here's the thing. If I want to die at 80 because I don't want to live past that point, that is my choice. Even if I have no "illness". If I don't want to…
I hope 80 doesn’t look like that for most people. Even aging rock stars are still moving at 80: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Jagger https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney Willie Nelson is almost 90 and still touring: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Nelson
To be fair, these people are not most people. All have a LOT of money to throw at their health. Also at carers, cooks, healthy living, and all the modern conveniences that make old age bearable. Same with William Shatner, he’s 91 now!