Yes, I certainly agree that the options are wider with medical progress, care available for longer lifestyles, and social science to improve the quality of living.
Recent tends to integrate the three needs of living: physical, spiritual and will, can be seen in the efforts of Integrative Medicine (IM). Integrative Medicine (IM) is the Art and Science of Healthcare..... The best of conventional and complementary medicine informed by scientific knowledge and implemented through a collaborative healthcare team that recognizes the uniqueness of each patient. Integrative medicine recognizes the body’s profound healing mechanisms and seeks to mitigate barriers to healing by using nutrition, activity, mind-body medicine, and, where appropriate, conventional and complementary therapies. In the US, Australasia and a few countries in Europe, Integrative Medicine (IM) has become a paradigm shift in the way that primary medical doctors deliver healthcare to patients. IM offers patients more time for consultations, a self-empowered partnership with their healthcare practitioners, and a wider range of scientific evidence based treatments that are complementary to conventional medicine. Currently, there is an IM Consortium of over 50 academic health centers for integrative medicine established in association with academic hospitals in North America and IM centers associated with an European Congress of Integrative Medicine in Europe; CHAMP at Charité University of Berlin, Children’s Clinic for Integrative Medicine at Slotervaart Hospital Amsterdam and the Royal London Hospital of Integrated Medicine.
Sunshine regeneration Centre (SRC), http://www.sunshineregenerationcentre.com provides services on IM in Australia, with Stem Cell Regeneration integrated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that will give hope and longevity to many persons. facing the difficult decisions of living, suffering the pains of disease and decrepitude with the rejuvenation from stimulating the growth within using this leading edge Bio-tech application, with social science to improve the will to live, as in"spirituality": and TCM for the entrenchment of long term healing with the wisdom and knowledge gained over many thousands of years in dedicated pursuit of health, happiness,and longevity.
SRC is a member of The European Society of Integrative
Medicine and IM Consortium in USA http://www.imconsortium.org/
and International Society for Complementary Medicine Research http://www.iscmr.org/

Both Mal's article and Roy's comment above deal with cases where there is hope, but the problem is precisely those cases where there is no hope and further medical intervention only increases the patient's pain and misery.

My own dreadful experience of this was when we had the palliative care of my aged demented mother-in-law, who moved in with us for the last six months of her life in 2011. She had advanced breast cancer which she had elected to leave untreated; a decision I respected as I think on the whole it left her with better quality of life considering the risks and downsides of surgery.

All went well, and she had pretty good quality of life considering, until the last 6 weeks, when her life became a living hell. By this stage she wanted to end her life, but lacked the mental competence to do it. I won't go into the details, but her life was absolutely dreadful, and ours wasn't so good either! She used to say "Oh this is dreadful. Call a doctor and put me down." But of course we couldn't, because it's illegal. We had 3 family members, 24/7 plus me supporting them. The burden of administering her care fell to her daughter.

The problem is, on the one hand you can't just let your aged mother die of thirst or sit in her filth. But on the other hand, every single thing you do must be done physically to this aged lady, it is intrusive, undignified, and unwanted. The worst was when she fixed her daughter with a stare and said "I want a policeman here to make sure you're doing the right thing by me!" Terrible.

As she was on morphine and paracetemol, it would have been an easy matter to say "You want to end it all? Here. Take all this, and all this."

But it's illegal, and why should we be placed in that position?

If we had kept a dog or a sheep in that condition we would have been prosecuted for cruelty.

The problem is, the risk of abuse cuts both ways, and it is not okay to assume that state decision-making is automatically less abusive. The fact is, those arguing against assisted dying are arguing on the basis of facts that they do not and cannot know, and are the cause of untold unnecessary suffering, and their interference is intrusive, negative, ignorant, self-opinionated, and unwarranted.

The sanctity of human life, where on earth is it? , who cares that people are being killed right left & centre between Israel & Gaza, fighting weapons being supplied by America to Israel to bomb the living daylights out of the Gaza inhabitants, the Ukraine situation where to kill is the order of the day, weapons being supplied by Russia, the poverty in the world where millions of children are dying each year from lack of nutrition & medicine, they could be saved by those that preach the sactity of human life and do nothing about it.
Then there are people like myself who wish to have access to Voluntary Euthanasia when death is imminent and no hope of recovery, then every one, especially the God given religious shout from the rooftops, you can't, you can't, after all it is the sanctity of human life, if sanctity of human life is so important then stop the suffering in the world where life means absolutely nothing, stop using that expression as it does not exist and never has.

The question whether people have the right to XYZ is all wrong - the real question is what gives a state/government any right to forbid people to XYZ.

The "social contract" fantasy assumes that all people just woke up one morning and decided "let's have a state to protect us"; or "we have common values, so let's have a social order accordingly". None of that actually happened!

Yes, those people who want to enter a voluntary mutual-protection contract may indeed do so, but here we deal with people who say loudly and clearly: "No, I do not wish to be protected by the state. I do not authorise the state to act in my name and punish those who kill me". What then gives the state any right to interfere and attempt to "protect" them against their will?

Once a person of sound mind comes forward and signs a formal declaration, perhaps in court or in the presence of a JP, that they no longer wish to have their life be protected by the state, then the state no longer has a right to prosecute those who kill them or assist them to die.

And for the record, I am well, I don't wish to die as yet, I don't wish to suicide as I believe it's a spiritually poor choice, yet I state that if someone were ever to kill me, including against my will, then I do not authorise the state to punish them in my name. I do not want my murderer to be imprisoned. Let my legacy not include a person languishing in jail because of me.

Any doctor or nurse can give you details of terminal patients who had the option of ending their own life, with help from their GP or specialist. It has been happening for hundreds of years. Doctors prescribe large doses of morphine/fentanyl/pethidine, along with sedatives. The patient is well aware they have the ability to end their own life using these drugs. Most don't.
On a personal note, my best friend had motor neuron disease. She watched her mother and brother die a slow, lingering, dehumanising death and vowed never to go the same route. With the help of a very sympathetic GP she accrued a "tool kit" to enable her to end her life, once it became unbearable, especially once she would became totally dependant on others for her survival. I was asked if I would administer the drugs, if at the time, she lacked the physical ability. I agreed.
BUT, as many others before her have found, the moment never arrived. Even when totally incapacitated, unable to move even a finger, she found life still worth living. Every moment was savoured, every experience treasured. She held a living wake with friends and family in her hospital room, drank wine through a straw and celebrated her life with her loved ones. She died naturally a few days later.
Like most people she came to appreciate the reality that we only get one shot at life and we need to live it every minute we can.