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Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

bbc.com

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Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#831

Post by datavirtue »

pj_mukh wrote: post #278
guyzero wrote: post #131

My Canadian parents are in their 80's so naturally a lot of their friends of the same age are dying. And two of them have been via MAID. In one case, which was surprising to me, a man who had survived cancer - he was not terminal but certainly wasn't getting any better - elected to die via MAID after his wife died. She passed, he called his doctor and less than a week later he was also dead. He got a chance to visit…

My dad (age 75) got diagnosed with ALS and within a month of the diagnosis opted for MAID. He had only just lost control of one leg, but he knew what was coming. As much as we begged him for more time, he didn't want any of it. Till his dying breath he kept repeating how thankful he was that he lived in a country that didn't force him to live on when he didn't want to. He was a clear Track 1 case, and I realize Track…

ALS will destroy your family if you try to stick it out. Best to go on your own terms.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#832

Post by datavirtue »

llamaLord wrote: post #574
pj_mukh wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad (age 75) got diagnosed with ALS and within a month of the diagnosis opted for MAID. He had only just lost control of one leg, but he knew what was coming. As much as we begged him for more time, he didn't want any of it. Till his dying breath he kept repeating how thankful he was that he lived in a country that didn't force him to live on when he didn't want to. He was a clear Track 1 case, and I realize Track…

These are all excellent examples of how MAID should be used, I think the concerning thing is the widening of the eligibility criteria - especially when things like mental illness start to make you eligible. Like... If your illness makes you suicidal... Is offering assisted suicide REALLY the best we can do? That starts to feel a lot like "eghh you're too hard for society to care about... We'll just let you die". As h…

Oh well. You don't need to nanny everyone. They have probably tried all the drugs that have made it all worse. You don't have any real context for someones personal decision like this.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#833

Post by moribvndvs »

utopicwork wrote: post #747
moribvndvs wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: > Nearly all of those who requested assisted dying - around 96% - had a foreseeable natural death. The remaining 4% were granted euthanasia due to having a long-term chronic illness and where a natural death was not imminent. The average age of those seeking assisted dying was around 77 years old, with cancer being the most frequent underlying medical condition. It’s ridiculous to jump to a conclusi…

Im not jumping to conclusions. The state wants disabled people dead instead of helping us. "Natural death" does a lot of heavy lifting for healthcare systems that kill us by a million papercuts

Yes, you are. First, you insinuated that these people died for a lack of fulfilling lives that was somehow withheld from them. Who are you to say none of them were fulfilled, or that there is some magic cure for mortality and the uncertainties of life? Now you’re doubling down by suggest this is some ulterior motive by the government to kill disabled people. If that’s not a huge jump to a conclusion then I don’t know what is.

You’ll get no argument from me that “the system”–whether it’s private or public–has put expediency over the dignified lives of its denizens. After all, I live in the US with dwindling few social nets and a for-profit healthcare system that quite purposely and openly prioritizes profitability over health and wellbeing, and uses our suffering as profit streams. But I will not make the mistake of conflating this with the idea that assisted dying is purposeful state-sanctioned murder. In fact, that detestable point of view is one that wishes to deprive me of perhaps one of the few choices I might have when the time comes, that wants to force me to endure suffering, all because some other person doesn’t feel the same way as a result of personal, religious, or whatever other reasons.

I’ll stand with you if the state wants to kill anyone that wants to live, but against you if you wish to deprive me or any independent individual their autonomy.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#834

Post by itishappy »

nashashmi wrote: post #819
itishappy wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm curious how you can reconcile your beliefs with those definitions, which I feel apply equally well to your own arguments: immature: "I know what life means and that is not the meaning of life." or "Suffering cannot be unbearable, can always be improved by sharing it, and everyone has a robust support network ready and willing to share their pain." arrogant: "15 thousand suffering peo…

In order to play a reverse uno card, you would have to at least use established reasons. Instead you chose libertarianisms: “dont tell me what to do; I will decide what is best for me” I don’t operate under libertarian principles.

I understand, but many do. Society as a whole is no longer entirely aligned with you, as is evidenced by Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, parts of the US, parts of Australia, and a number of others.

So, what principles do you operate under? That's been my question the whole time. If this is your personal beliefs vs that of the states above, I think that seems rather arrogant, hence my thought that maybe religion is involved? I'd love to know how you came to feel so strongly.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#835

Post by travisporter »

dogman1050 wrote: post #245
JohnBooty wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it because obvious that euthanasia happens in the US all the time [...] So the hospital withheld IV hydration and provided a morphine drip and he was gone in 36 hours I had a family member with late-stage terminal COPD opt out of further treatment. They were in respiratory crisis and were going to be intubated for the nth time with no real hope of recovery, and so they said "fuck it" and delined further intervention.…

I have, thanks. I'll always remember his last words to me, "You're a prince."

That teared me up

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#836

Post by orf »

Lewton wrote: post #701
DanHulton wrote: post #643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are sufficiently mentally ill and determined enough to die that you get through the MAID screening, counselling, information sessions, etc, then you are determined enough to die by other, messier, likely more painful, certainly more traumatizing to the people around you methods. As well, mental illness is not just a state of mind. Sure, there are stories where a failed suicide attempt was the catalyst for some…

> Where they can't afford the medication, or no medication seems to work, or they have an addiction problem and there just isn't any way for them to get into a treatment program I would consider two of these absolutely monstrous reasons to assist someone in killing themselves. A broken society opting into killing its citizens because it can’t be arsed with fixing itself is next level evil

- It’s a fact of life that people die.

- Some of those deaths are suicides.

- It is pure fantasy to imagine we can have a society with 0 suicides (when accounting scale, complexity and size).

The choice then becomes: help, or punish.

It is absolutely monstrous to punish, and helping does not mean killing every Tom, Dick and Harry with a case of the Monday blues.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#837

Post by saghm »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #474
guyzero wrote: post #131

My Canadian parents are in their 80's so naturally a lot of their friends of the same age are dying. And two of them have been via MAID. In one case, which was surprising to me, a man who had survived cancer - he was not terminal but certainly wasn't getting any better - elected to die via MAID after his wife died. She passed, he called his doctor and less than a week later he was also dead. He got a chance to visit…

I'm sorry but people that just lost their life partner a week ago are really not "of sound mind" when it comes to taking such kind of decision and it's criminal in my opinion to let them. What's next? We let teenagers choose to die after their first love breaks up with them? I'm neither against nor for euthanasia, but I also think the situations where it's the best solution for everyone are extremely rare.

Other replies saying the process doesn't actually work like this notwithstanding, there's a pretty clear difference between someone in their 80s with ongoing cancer and a physically healthy teenager.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#838

Post by robertlagrant »

weard_beard wrote: post #817
Neonlicht wrote: post #767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I wonder how people who say this stuff feel about the homeless? How do they feel about tax increase to fix "broken society"?

We feel fine. The ones against taxes never cared and pay the least proportion.

This is vs them talk is honestly pointless. You don't speak for anyone but yourself.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#839

Post by dghlsakjg »

matttproud wrote: post #812
dghlsakjg wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My BIL is a head hospice nurse. If it helps, they don’t ever deny people fluids who want or need them. What happens towards the end is the body stops being able to process fluids due to failing organs. Pushing fluids into someone in this state makes them less comfortable. People aren’t thirsty or suffering from a lack of fluids. As far as putting someone out of their misery, there’s a reason that they put them on hig…

At a hospice literally right now for a loved one (who is sound asleep). The nurse working there quoted something like this: ca. 95% of the people admitted will die of dehydration since they can't take in fluids after a certain point. My knowledge of anatomy is poor, so I am unsure how I feel about this. It isn't helped by the morphine, which seems to further separate the loved one from reality in a manner that seem p…

That sucks.

I hope it brings you peace to know just how much all of the hospice workers I know care. Everything they do is about comfort and dignity, and there are chaplains, and medical workers that can help you with these concerns.

Re: Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths

#840

Post by TheNewsIsHere »

DanHulton wrote: post #643
llamaLord wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are all excellent examples of how MAID should be used, I think the concerning thing is the widening of the eligibility criteria - especially when things like mental illness start to make you eligible. Like... If your illness makes you suicidal... Is offering assisted suicide REALLY the best we can do? That starts to feel a lot like "eghh you're too hard for society to care about... We'll just let you die". As h…

If you are sufficiently mentally ill and determined enough to die that you get through the MAID screening, counselling, information sessions, etc, then you are determined enough to die by other, messier, likely more painful, certainly more traumatizing to the people around you methods. As well, mental illness is not just a state of mind. Sure, there are stories where a failed suicide attempt was the catalyst for some…

It’s strange to me how resistant society is to the idea that mental health is health. Not all there is to health, but someone suffering from terminal cancer is typically regarded very differently from someone suffering from an incurable mental illness.

Not every mental illness makes someone of unsound mind.

I see no difference between a case of someone who does not wish continue because of some incurable mental health issue that makes their life hell, and someone who does not wish to continue due to e.g. terminal cancer.

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