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Is This A Bit Sinister?

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I'm struggling to find it on the internet anywhere to show you, but the other day I caught  a little bit of a debate in the House of Lords which I think was about population control and sustainability of the planet. During one Labour guy's remarks on this subject he touched  on the subject of assisted dying.

 

Is raising the subject of assisted dying in the context of a discussion about population size and sustainability of the planet a bit sinister?

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Population control and sustainability is a really contraversial subject anyway.

In theory it makes complete sense and would likely solve lots of problems, but people don't like being told what to do, especially when it comes to being allowed to have a family (or not).

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2 hours ago, HumbleNarrator said:

I'm struggling to find it on the internet anywhere to show you, but the other day I caught  a little bit of a debate in the House of Lords which I think was about population control and sustainability of the planet. During one Labour guy's remarks on this subject he touched  on the subject of assisted dying.

 

Is raising the subject of assisted dying in the context of a discussion about population size and sustainability of the planet a bit sinister?

Ergo Labour are going to introduce euthanasia. Hope that helps

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2 hours ago, Ridgewalk said:

Ergo Labour are going to introduce euthanasia. Hope that helps

I think assisted dieing has been debated many times in many parliaments around the world.

I believe I heard somewhere that doctors are in favour of it for the first time. I've not heard that Labour are, perhaps you could supply a link.

It needs to be discussed. And for what it's worth I'm in favour as long as caviats are in place.

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Cant find any recent news on the subject of parliament, most news sources about it seem to be from 2015 / 2019 etc, including one in Scotland where a labour mp was opposed to Holyroods plans on it.

 

Found one more recent about the BMAs vote on the subject though

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/14/bma-drops-opposition-assisted-dying-adopts-neutral-stance

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38 minutes ago, melthebell said:

Cant find any recent news on the subject of parliament, most news sources about it seem to be from 2015 / 2019 etc, including one in Scotland where a labour mp was opposed to Holyroods plans on it.

 

Found one more recent about the BMAs vote on the subject though

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/14/bma-drops-opposition-assisted-dying-adopts-neutral-stance

Interesting.

So doctors now taking 'a neutral stance' with opinion divided almost 50/50.

Time was when I believe some doctors quietly assisted.

More recently an elderly relative of mine was dying in agony, and I asked the ward sister if she could have some more morphine. The sister refused as 'any more could kill her.'  She died 3 agonising days later.

I still wonder about this....

I'd be interested to hear what other people think.

 

Edited by Anna B

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41 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Interesting.

So doctors now taking 'a neutral stance' with opinion divided almost 50/50.

Time was when I believe some doctors quietly assisted.

More recently an elderly relative of mine was dying in agony, and I asked the ward sister if she could have some more morphine. The sister refused as 'any more could kill her.'  She died 3 agonising days later.

I still wonder about this....

I'd be interested to hear what other people think.

 

It's something that should be allowed but has so much scope for abuse. For some people life is absolutely sacrosanct, others are more pragmatic and would hate to be in pain for a considerable amount of time (or see others in pain) and a legal way out should be available. But there will be others who like the look of an elderly relatives house and would look to speed things along. "You don't want to be a burden do you gran, sign here here and here and drink this". 

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I thought assisted dying was supposed to be about giving mercy to the terminally ill who have a very poor or no quality of life, not as another means of population control.

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1 hour ago, HumbleNarrator said:

I thought assisted dying was supposed to be about giving mercy to the terminally ill who have a very poor or no quality of life, not as another means of population control.

I've never heard of it being mooted as any form of population control, and would be interested to see a link where it has been proposed. Birth control on the other hand is a fairly common way of trying to control populations.

 

But bear in mind that one person in the West has a carbon footprint 40x greater than that of a  third world person.

Edited by Anna B

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Well unless we have the full context as to how and when it was brought up and what exactly was said we will never really know will we.

 

Personally, as someone who doesn't follow any faith, I am often well above any sort of taboo or controversy when it comes to discussing death.  To me it is a simple part of life that inevitablely should be prepared for and managed like any other aspect.  

 

The fact is we do have have overpopulation. We do have finite resources stretched to the limit. We do have lots of terminally ill or infirm people stuck in care who don't want to be suffering any longer. However those people are now forced into a situation because of the current laws..

 

As Anna has previously pointed out and I agree with,  with the right level of controls and clear unequivocal consent  I would support any motion to setting up a properly managed and available assisted dying service.

 

People really should have the right to choose and I would much rather have them my doing it with dignity in a controlled environment rather than resorting to drastic actions which could severely impact many others. If anyone knows railtrack workers, train drivers or river police they will know exactly what I'm getting at.

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It’s time assisted dying was debated by government once more.  Other countries have clinics to help people end their lives such as Dignitas in Switzerland.  As already said if the right controls are in place then I’m all for it in this country.

 

Like Anna I have also watched someone die in pain in hospital and I’ve listened to other people saying the same thing.  One place that doesn’t allow terminally ill people to suffer is St Luke’s Hospice.  Patients are given all the morphine they need to keep them pain free and that’s how it should be, it’s probably the morphine that kills a lot of the patients in there. 

 

I’m not sure if euthanasia would help population control, it’s birth control that’s needed for that.

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