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Living Will
I have seen my mother-in-law dying slowly when her expressed wishes were to die quickly (she had bowel cancer, there was no way she would recover and the last two weeks were slow and messy).
My mother is not far from the end, I suspect. She has multiple issues and is frail. She too has said to me that she would like to be allowed to pass away. She said that they make us stay alive for too long. (It's that phrase *make* that is the killer. The NHS will provide operations, great hospital care, but they keep on treating, even when removing it would be in line with the patient's wishes)
Molly was an atheist, my mother is Christian. Religious belief doesn't seem to be a factor.
I feel exactly the same way myself. If I reach a stage where I am incontinent, immobile and with no chance of ever being fit and healthy again, then I will want the right to ask for an end to my life.
Some countries/states are gradually introducing legislation for assisted dying, I hope that the UK will eventually join them.
Yes, we need protection for those who don't want to end their life, but we also need protection for those dying in pain, embarrassment and boredom.
I can still hear Molly saying to me "I'm bored." She was blind, she could do none of the things that had given her life pleasure for 80+ years. She was confined to bed, incontinent and in pain. Yet she had to spend two weeks in that condition against her expressed wishes. She was an intelligent woman in full possession of her faculties, as is my mother.
When will we get the right to choose when to die?
My mother is not far from the end, I suspect. She has multiple issues and is frail. She too has said to me that she would like to be allowed to pass away. She said that they make us stay alive for too long. (It's that phrase *make* that is the killer. The NHS will provide operations, great hospital care, but they keep on treating, even when removing it would be in line with the patient's wishes)
Molly was an atheist, my mother is Christian. Religious belief doesn't seem to be a factor.
I feel exactly the same way myself. If I reach a stage where I am incontinent, immobile and with no chance of ever being fit and healthy again, then I will want the right to ask for an end to my life.
Some countries/states are gradually introducing legislation for assisted dying, I hope that the UK will eventually join them.
Yes, we need protection for those who don't want to end their life, but we also need protection for those dying in pain, embarrassment and boredom.
I can still hear Molly saying to me "I'm bored." She was blind, she could do none of the things that had given her life pleasure for 80+ years. She was confined to bed, incontinent and in pain. Yet she had to spend two weeks in that condition against her expressed wishes. She was an intelligent woman in full possession of her faculties, as is my mother.
When will we get the right to choose when to die?