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Voluntary Euthanasia

Do you support the right to voluntary euthanasia?

  • Yes

    Votes: 35 94.6%
  • No

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • I'm waiting to hear what Alan Jones says about it.

    Votes: 1 2.7%

  • Total voters
    37
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Cutter

Nicholas Shehadie (39)
In the article below, Kate Caro says 80% of her friends support voluntary euthanasia. I was surprised it was that high and thought I'd put it to G&GR but people are, obviously, welcome to discuss it as well.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/i-want-to-go-my-own-way-20111112-1nctj.html#ixzz1dVatYZg3

I want to go my own way
David Sygall
November 13, 2011

JANE CARO'S 80-year-old mother has plenty to live for: a happy marriage, a busy social calendar and six granddaughters. But the author and media commentator knows her mother is ''absolutely determined'' to end her life when she can no longer take care of herself.

Kate Caro will not allow herself to suffer unnecessary pain or indignity, or be ''zonked out'' on drugs as the end draws near. It's a position Jane strongly supports.

''My mother's been a feminist all her life,'' Jane says. ''When she was young, people patronised her just for being a woman. She was patronised for having a common Lancashire accent. Now, the idea of young people telling her what to do at the end of her life is too much to bear.''

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For 60 years, Kate has been an advocate for voluntary euthanasia because of the misery her grandmother, Charlotte Jones, suffered with Alzheimer's disease. She remembers the indignity her grandmother endured and the effect it had on her mother, Eva.

''It ruined my mother's life for four years and was certainly not rewarding for my grandmother,'' Kate says.

''I made up my mind then that I didn't want that to happen to me. I've always felt that I wanted to make sure I had a dignified end.''

On Tuesday, Jane will speak at a forum titled, A Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill for NSW. Other speakers will include the former director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, the former Northern Territory chief minister Marshall Perron and the Greens NSW MLC Cate Faehrmann, who intends to introduce a bill next year to the NSW Parliament on assisted dying.

The forum will add to a debate Jane believes is about human rights, yet is clouded by misinformation and a lack of political will.

''The arguments I hear against it are religious and there are a lot of people with strong religious convictions in Parliament,'' Jane says.

''Another argument I've heard is this idea that, if you start here, who knows where it could lead?

''But I'd rather deal with someone who's in terrible distress now, than worry about hypotheticals.

''None of the arguments I'm hearing match up with the picture I have in my head of someone in desperate misery asking for the right to end that. Too many of us leave this life with a bit too much morphine in our system.''

Jane emphasises the word ''voluntary'' in her support, a word she feels opponents often conveniently omit.

''It's a complex debate, yet a lot of people see it as black and white,'' she says. ''They say, 'No, it's a bad thing and must be banned.' But life's more complicated than that.''

Kate has no plans to sign off just yet. But she fears that without legislation, paradoxically, her life might end sooner than necessary.

''I will be forced to do it early because I can't rely on anyone else to help for fear they'd be punished,'' she says. ''I can't leave a will that asks that my life be ended and I can't have people around at the time because they could be in trouble. It means I will possibly have a lonely and miserable end, which is not necessary.''

She believes the topic is increasingly relevant because of an ageing population and technology that can prolong life at questionable physical and emotional cost. Among her friends, she says, more than 80 per cent support voluntary euthanasia.

''In my grandmother's time nobody talked about it. But in those days it wasn't so easy to keep people alive - pneumonia was known as 'the old man's friend'. But it was a big issue for me because I'd watched this awful decay of my grandmother.

''I'd like to be able to choose to end the pain or indignity in my own time. None of us is in a hurry … But we want to know that, when the time comes, we can decide.''



Read more:
 

yourmatesam

Desmond Connor (43)
Agree definitely doesn't cut it with this issue does it?

Having seen the end result of Alzheimer's and seeing someone you love who was once so beautiful and full of life lose their dignity, euthanasia should be everybody's right (voluntary or otherwise).
 

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
We have been there and tried that in the NT. Hate is a terrible word but Kevin Andrews I truly hate you. The moral argument is worth little when you are seeing a loved one suffer in pain while having their dignity stripped away through their circumstance. The one condition that is a must though is the doctor who performs the procedure must be completely comfortable carrying it out. If they are not, they should not be forced to carry it out as part of their job.
 

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
It's a scary thought that the little prick has listeners. Precious resources would be conserved if he was to just pull his lip over his head and swallow.
 

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Why does this Jane Caro have to be poking her dial up everywhere I look - FFS she was on the Gruen Transfer...that doesn't make you an expert on everything.
 

Scarfman

Knitter of the Scarf
I've had a couple of close relatives who died pretty slowly and in discomfort. One the one hand, you clearly don't want anyone to suffer. And if someone's terminal, then of course, let them rest. At the same time, though, I've come to see dying as a journey, both for the patient and their loved ones. Sometimes that slow time around a person's death can be important. Myabe I'm thinking - there's some things you can't rush?

But I voted Yes for having the possibility available.
 

Lindommer

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
On a lighter note, good to see no-one gives a rats what Alan Jones thinks on this!

That's a bit unkind, pedallist. I listen to Alan's driving tips conscientiously and look forward to his motor racing commentary. I give a rats what Alan thinks.
 

Schadenfreude

John Solomon (38)
Can we add an option? - I support Euthanasia if it's used on Alan Jones.

On a side note - hold the fucking phone - From wikipedia:

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) on 14 December 2007 ruled Jones out of the coaching position, instead appointing New Zealand Crusaders coach Robbie Deans. ARU Chairman Peter McGrath however left the door open for a future position for Jones, saying there would "always be a place" for the former coach and radio broadcaster.

If that prick ever gets back involved with Rugby I'm going to go support New Zealand.
 

kambah mick

Chris McKivat (8)
This is obviously a very vexed question. I believe the option should be available, particularly for people who are in complete paralysis, in significant pain etc. I have my doubts about conditions like alzheimers however, but would be open to conversion.
 

Cutter

Nicholas Shehadie (39)
This is obviously a very vexed question. I believe the option should be available, particularly for people who are in complete paralysis, in significant pain etc. I have my doubts about conditions like alzheimers however, but would be open to conversion.

Why do you doubt it in such cases?
 

kambah mick

Chris McKivat (8)
I have had family suffer from Alzheimers, and an uncle is currently going through it to some anguish to his family and so I understand very well what a bastard of a situation it poses for those near and dear. However in none of the cases I witnessed closely would I have had it in me to authorise the final injection. One of the people involved was capable of walking over 15 kms up until about a week prior to his death.
I guess I would like others who have more courage or whatever it is that I seem to lack have the right to euthanasia but I still have some personal misgivings. The obvious examples such as terminal agonising cancer make the final decision seem easy, but I keep wondering about marginal cases. Having witnessed several deaths and noted how most people "struggle against the dying of the light", I find it hard to come to a definite decision.
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
Agree definitely doesn't cut it with this issue does it?

Having seen the end result of Alzheimer's and seeing someone you love who was once so beautiful and full of life lose their dignity, euthanasia should be everybody's right (voluntary or otherwise).


There is a word for this.... If the euthanasia was involuntary the question comes up, who is the procedure for, to spare the feelings and sensibilities of the afflicted because its uncomfortable to witness the deterioration of a love one terminal or otherwise? There are also some very serious ethical issues to consider like who gets to make the decision, especially when the next of kin who generally make such decisions may stand to greatly benefit from the death. Involuntary euthanasia is a very dangerous suggestion.

Scarfy summed it up nicely and I have personally watched both sides, one where the loved one's final days were an agony and torment and another where although in just as much pain they never gave up the fight. In the end it should be up to the individual.
 
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