everyone knows that former Pres. Reagan had Alzheimer's, but I don't know anyone who seriously suggested that Mr Reagan would have been better off dead, or to be a bit more twee and euphemistic, have become 'less of a burden to himself and his loved ones.'

Ttbn "I don't know what makes a "highly trained palliative care specialist", but that person would obviously have a vested interest in keeping alive people who would rather be dead. "

Do you know what a palliative care specialist actually specializes in ttbn? They care for people who have been referred to them for end of life care. They are already dying-imminently. So why or how would you expect them to keep these people alive?
They have a never ending supply of patients in any case.

Loudmouth, I have seen many, many awful deaths unfortunately. If only pain was the only issue with all palliative patients, we could at least relieve them of some of that pain.
However, unrelieved vomiting, nausea and bowel incontinence is often even more distressing in many patients with stomach, bowel, pancreatic and liver cancers, to name a few.

I have seen many (yes many) patients die with awful unrelieved pain where they needed anesthetic drugs to totally knock them out so the pain would stop.
That isn't living at all. Bring on a referendum re euthanasia.

I would suggest that all those who want to soldier on, despite what any number of awful life-limiting illnesses throw at them, request that they are left to 'live' on until the illness takes them 'naturally'.
But leave the rest of us to decide if we don't want to wait that long....

Cobber the hound, actually there are experts on morality, they are called conservative christians. You just want to murder voters who wont support communism & left wing poverty creation.

"YOU clearly believe that YOU have the right to kill us based on YOUR beliefs"

Rhosty, you just described the communist feminist matriarchy perfectly. Women should be seen & not heard.

Suseonline, shades of the "useless eaters policy" there dear. What about all the feminists like you who want to keep severely disabled children alive despite lives of pain & misery. What do you propose doing with any of the savings from killing people? Creating more DV & poverty for children?

Hi Suse,

I apologise, I'll take your expertise on-board. But, as you say, if there are 'anesthetic drugs to totally knock them out so the pain would stop', and while that would probably put people into a coma, or close to it, whatever might ease somebody's suffering, as they move towards their final days and moments, is worth trying. In a way, I suppose, it's a milder form of euthanasia, without the abruptness of induced death, OR the misery and stress of prolonged death ?

A few days before my wife passed away from liver cancer, doctors told her that she had only two weeks to live. She took it quite literally, I think, but in those next few days she couldn't get any sleep, everything was shutting down, so she asked for something to give her a good night's sleep, and I think she assumed she still had more than a week to go. Either way, she was quite contented and over the next 24 hours, slipped away very peacefully. The death of a loved one is always bound to be stressful for the survivors, but at least everyone had a chance to sit with her and say goodbye.

But I'll take your point that not all passings are as easy. Thanks,

Joe

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Though modern democracies recognize life as a fundamental human right, the same is not true of death.

But life and death are two sides of the same coin. It is impossible for one to exist without the other. Life and death is a continuum. If life is a fundamental human right, then death is too. It is the process that is a fundamental human right, not just one part of the process.

I am in favour of the death sentence for particularly atrocious crimes such as premeditated, cold-blooded murder, child murder, torture murder, terrorism, serial killing, rape murder and mass murder, but I consider that individuals convicted of such crimes, by demonstrating their utter disdain for the fundamental human right to life and death, should be euthanized in a warm, cosy environment, calmly, peacefully and in the best possible conditions of comfort and security that modern science can allow, without any pain or suffering and in the company of whomever they choose.

The same facilities should be made available to those of us who wish to end our lives as a matter of personal choice, irrespective of whether we are suffering from a terminal illness or not.

Naturally, there must be effective safeguards to protect the vulnerable from the malevolent influence of ill-intentioned persons in their entourage. Just as there should be psychological, medical and social assistance for those who are in need of them.

It is more than likely that many may change their minds on receiving competent, on-going assistance from somebody who cares. Though this is a necessary prerequisite, it should not be a barrier to any decision on voluntary euthanasia.

The ill and suffering must, of course, continue to have full, unrestricted access to the best available professional palliative care at all times, irrespective of whether they are candidates for euthanasia or not.

According to the World Health Organisation, one million individuals commit suicide worldwide each year – one death every 40 seconds. Many more attempt suicide (around 10- 20 million) each year. In Australia, six suicides per day – many by barbaric methods.

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Speaking of laughter, Norman Cousins healed himself from a dreadfully painful disabling disease using laughter as a therapeutic tool. He describes his journey in his book Anatomy of an Illness.

And speaking of Andrew Denton and his new project to bring some necessary public light re the horrors of horrible pain-wracked deaths he was the subject of an excellent feature article in the Age a couple of weeks ago. Hooray for Andrew say I.

And furthermore not everyone can afford the financial costs of palliative care too.

And at the other end of the spectrum some self-righteous Christians are opposed to voluntary dying because they pretend that through their unmitigated pain the dying person may get to meet "jesus" - so let them suffer!