Policy video on assisted dying by a UK doctor. Youtube has decided not to promote it as an intense topic, so I’m putting it here.
FWIW, I don’t think the video will be particularly triggering. It’s heavy, but they are quite focused on the case of physiologically terminally ill patients.
I’m probably a bit more extreme in my views, but I really agree with Philip Nitschke. Literally everyone should have the option at any time, of course we need to have excellent mental healthcare to prevent unnecessary deaths, but it should be your right to die peacefully if you feel like it.
I don’t expect people to really agree with me, but IMO it’s just a part of having bodily autonomy. Having access to palative care is also just as much of a right, if that’s the option you want.
Absolutely, and if it’s culturally accepted, that means people have a chance to say goodbye, and get people help if that’s what they really need.
One incredibly haunting story I heard is that of the two people to survive jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, both said that the instant they cleared the railing they immediately regretted it, and immediately realised every one of their problems could have been solved if only they hadn’t done what they just did. They both survived through sheer luck - one was saved by a passing seal if you can believe that. You don’t die from the impact, you drown with broken limbs, all the time regretting your choice.
90% of people who fail a suicide attempt don’t reattempt, meaning it was a fleeting and impulsive act. When suicide nets are put up in various places, suicide attempts don’t relocate, they reduce. It’s not usually a thought out plan.
Allowing it to be thought out and planned would stop a lot of these attempts right there, and it would mean anyone truly committed to it would be able to die in a peaceful way.
Honestly just think about the fact our society felt the need to make up a rule to tell people to stop killing themselves. It just seems like a blatant admission of failure.
Reading about the right to die movement is interesting, I think there’s some expectation that it leads to more people killing themselves, when in reality it often just provides people comfort. People will obtain the drugs, and just leave them on their shelves until they die of something else.
People just want the option.
I was hit by a car in 2014 and am in a slow decline of increasing pain and dysfunction. Disability is hard to get in the USA and pays less than minimum wage. No one can live on minimum wage. The way people are kept alive in a state of constant misery and stress, living in terrible circumstances, and ending up in a ditch on the street; that is far worse than the dignity of dying on your own terms. Just in Los Angeles proper there are an estimated 75k homeless. The Nazis sending the infirm to gas chambers was more humane than what the USA fails to address now. The right to die is an unalienable human right, but one that should never be prescribed or pushed on anyone.
Everyone should have the right but it should take some work and time so that folks are serious about it.
Yes.
I don’t know, but when I worked in retail I definitely wanted to help some people end their lives
