Assisted Dying

[watervole]

 Pleased to say that MP (Vikki Slade, Liberal) voted in favour of the bill, as she'd promised when I wrote to her about it.

 

(Our previous MP, Conservative, - but not necessarily representative of the rest of the party - did not always vote to match what his letters implied.)

 

My heath is fine at present (expect when I get sciatica or break something), but I'm terrified of dementia (the bill doesn't cover that, but hopefully it may one day extend to it, such that if wishes are expressed in a proper power of Attorney while a person is still of sound mind).

 

I wrote my POA several years ago, and made my wishes clear.  If I ever can't recognise my family, then that person is no longer a person I wish to be.  And I certainly don't want my family to live with that kind of pain or to spend their time caring (or paying for care for) someone who can't appreciate it.

I want my money to go to my grandchildren and not on end of life care for me.

Comments

[watervole]

That's why I wrote my POA to include dementia while I'm still of sound mind.

Though the law as proposed would not cover dementia in any case, as it's not a terminal illness.

I see no value to those extra days. My mother spend her last month in pain and delirium. She'd had her leg amputated already, because it had gangrene, but whether she was aware of that was a moot point.

I do not believe it was what she would have wanted (because of a conversation we'd had a year earlier when she only just pulled through, but was still mentally herself), but I don't think she'd ever written a POA.

My father refused to allow the use of any drug (such as morphine) that would have reduced her lifespan. He insisted that it had to be the infection which killed her. Which it did, eventually.

My sisters and I loved my dad - he was a really intelligent man - but this is the one thing we cannot forgive him for.