Yabby

The means to enable a peaceful death are readily obtainable and inexpensive, but what business is it of mine to point you or anyone else in that direction?

<Letting Mr Rossiter starve himself to death is hardly humane.>

Do you know all the particulars of that case, Yabby? Did he have appropriate palliative care? What is clear from the case is that no-one can legally force you to live.

<Australian law prevents organisations like Exit Switzerland from
functioning in Australia. Why?>

How many dying people would meet the criteria you set? One in five thousand? One in fifty thousand? How many paying customers meet the criteria in Switzerland? Twenty percent? More? Less? Mr Minelli has made a fortune using compassion as a marketing tool. Looks very grubby to me.

It really amazes me how certain people are so reluctant to let others have the choice of ending their lives when in severe pain and loss of dignity, with no chance of recovery from their illness.

These very same people are only too happy to send young soldiers off to war, to them it does not really matter how many civilians are killed in the process.

Thank goodness I am a very compassionate Atheist, I do not have the hang ups that many of the religious fraternity seem to have, mainly the Catholic and Islam religions, there are many other religious people who also want to have the right to die with choice, these are the ones who have thought this issue through thoroughly.

Now! because I have used the word "compassionate" I do not want writers telling me about the God given book called the Bible or Koran, Atheists can't be compassionate, oh yes they can, being an Atheist I also believe in same sex marriage, stem cell research, rights of women in society etc, also volunteering to help people. I do not need the prop of the Bible or Koran where selective good readings are read to the public but not the bad bits, and there are many, one being to take a life should not be up to us but God, what rubbish,may I ask, what about war?

Please stay out of my life and I will stay out of yours, that includes my wish to have choice at the end of my life with Voluntary Euthanasia.

*The means to enable a peaceful death are readily obtainable and inexpensive*

Err, not when one is bed ridden and cannot move. If somebody else
provides suitable help for you, they can go to jail. That is
exactly the point here.

* Do you know all the particulars of that case, Yabby? Did he have appropriate palliative care? What is clear from the case is that no-one can legally force you to live.*

Yes, the case was extremely well publicised in WA. He had great care,
but could not move a muscle. Nothing more was his destiny, except to
stare at the ceiling. Starving to death, which is the only option
that we granted him, is frankly cruel. So why do it?

*How many dying people would meet the criteria you set?*

Based on the Swiss figures of 2-300 a year, multiply that by 3,
as our population is about 3 times larger. So those hundreds of
people don't matter then? Why?

*Mr Minelli has made a fortune using compassion as a marketing tool. Looks very grubby to me.*

Mr Mintelli is not a member of Exit. We don't know his figures as
its a private company. Given that foreigners pay thousands for
his services, it just shows how desperate people are, in that state
of health to travel from all over the place, to finally have some
kind of dignified death. So why should Australians have to travel to
Switzerland? Why not allow people access to the same drugs here,
as are available in Switzerland. Instead Australia threatens people
with half million dollar fines and 25 year jail sentences, for
smuggling Nembutal. Why can't we have humane laws as the Swiss have?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the gist of this entire article, stripped of sophistry, was:

Giving people a choice about dying isn't really giving them a choice, because the doctor has the final say. Thus, we shouldn't give them any choice at all.

Which, frankly, is a contemptible line of logic.

<Err, not when one is bed ridden and cannot move. If somebody else
provides suitable help for you, they can go to jail. That is
exactly the point here.>

And what point is that, Yabby? It is a criminal offence to perform the act which causes death. So the actual figure for such cases of assisted suicide in Switzerland is zero, not 200-300 as you claim.

<Starving to death, which is the only option
that we granted him, is frankly cruel. So why do it?>

No other option in Switzerland either, but maybe it isn't as cruel a death as you claim.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Schiavo/story?id=531907&page=1

*Assisted suicide is, however, possible and legal; according to article 115 of the
Swiss Penal Code provided the person who practices it does not have a selfish motive.
Assisted suicide gives the person who wishes to die the means of committing
suicide in a non-violent way. This is not punishable according to Swiss legislation,
which accepts the idea that a person wishing to bring his or her life to an end can
be helped to do so.*

There you go Fester, if you'd read the two URLs which I posted, you
might understand it.

If a doctor in Australia wrote out a script for Nembutal and somebody
helped the patient, prepared it and the patient committed suicide,
those assisting the patient would go to jail. Not so in Switzerland.

You are digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole here Fester,
but keep digging lol.