Divergence, your advice re " Advance Health Care Directive" is very good. My late partner followed that idea, and while it was somewhat traumatic for those watching her die, I am sure it hastened the process and minimised her suffering once she went to hospital away from the very effective ministrations of the palliative care nurses.

David

Advance health care directive which I do have, given to my Doctor, it is now up to my Doctor to convey my wishes to a hospital if admitted, keeping in mind your Doctor after admittance does no longer have the say over your treatment once admitted, I have gone over over this many times with my Doctor that he must advise the hospital of my wishes, of course to make sure one could have more than one AHCD.
Having been a member of Exit (Philip Nitschke) but now with a Voluntary Euthanasia Society where we are trying to get VE passed through Government, at times the methods used by Philip can have an adverse effect to get this legislation through. Philip is liked by the media because of the tag "Dr. Death" he normally appears at the time in each state when legislation may be passed, consequently it is not then passed, it would be better if he stayed in the distance at these times when one feels it would be passed without his presence, Philip has his own Euthanasia methods which are his only, they do have merit if desparate.

I think the emphasis has to be redirected at preventative health, even if that eats heavily into the trillions earned by big Pharma, across the globe.
Many of the conditions we pay annual billions for, need never ever see the light of day, with appropriate and vastly lower cost, preventative medicine; like say, routine ch elation therapy, which has been approved medicine for over fifty years, but ran out of favor with big pharma, when all the patents also ran out.

I mean, does anyone need their arteries clogged and or in urgent need of extremely expensive bypasses.

Or need a limb amputated, solely because the blood supply was effectively interrupted; op the months of expensive rehab, that then follow.

Why aren't there laws that prevent the use of artery clogging hydrated fat, to ostensibly improve the shelf life of many processed or junk food?
Why isn't compression Oxygen therapy, par for the course, and particularly, where is has been the only thing that cured tropical or diabetic ulcers.

And how many studies have there been to ascertain just how much reduced arterial flow, contributes to type two diabetes?

I think we need to better address quality of life issues, rather than hopelessly premature use by dates, or assistance to cross over, and out of the way, when they've been artificially/prematurely reached.

And based on just sound economics, it costs just $40,000.00 per, to treat the elderly in their own home, with outsourced services, such as traveling Dr's?
Well there's no office or office staff to also pay for, and they only ever bulk bill!?

Whereas, treating people in nursing homes costs $70,000.00 per.
So even on economic arguments alone, better people be assisted to stay in and die in their own homes; rather than that of a fretting/guilt ridden rally, or high care nursing home.

And one ought to make a living will, so they're can chose what level of final care/assistance they want; as opposed to forcing their personal wish list on all others; some of who may believe in reincarnation and or personal Karma!
Rhrosty.

People's attitudes regarding quality of life tend to change with circumstances in my experience. One very pointed example is the case of my foster sister.
She was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at age 45. Her mother had died at age 48 with the disease and as we were both nurses we fully understood the process and outcome that lay a few short years ahead. Being a practical and pragmatic person, my sister organised her "retirement" kit. Knowing what my response would be, she asked if I would provide the means if she became physically unable to help herself.
As the disease progressed and she became more and more incapacitated I daily expected a request from her.
It never came. At the very end, whilst she held a living wake in her hospital room, I asked her why she had changed her mind. She responded that even when totally helpless and dependant on others she had still found pleasure in life, because her very agile brain had been kept engaged and stimulated by friends and family, right until the last few hours.
During my nursing years I came across other terminal patients who changed their mind about euthanasia as their disease progressed, deciding they weren't ready to say goodbye prematurely, despite the pain and loss of dignity in their lives.
I came to believe that those who truly wished for euthanasia would somehow find a way to do it. We don't need laws that put us at risk of taking action when it is not wanted.

Big Nana

The issue does not concern those who want to live, but those who want to die.

Jardine, you seemed to have missed the point. People already have the ability to die if they wish, even if they need the help of a loved one. For decades, even longer, doctors have been turning a blind eye to those deaths in terminal patients that seemed to occur a little prematurely. Compassionate gp's even aid and abet in the process.
The topic was quality of life in later years and I simply pointed out that not everyone wishes to exit when their quality of life diminishes. On the contrary, many fight tooth and nail to hold off the inevitable.