MmMm,

If you are content to die a prolonged, painful and undignified death, I’m happy for you. And, if you do die that way, to hell with tact, I think you will have deserved it, with your sanctimonious preaching to others.

I should think that Steve Madden would find your post offensive. You are offensive; telling others that they should have no control over the manner of their death when they are suffering. I rarely attack fellow posters, but you are the pits!

Who the hell are you to say that people do not have the right to decide when they wish to die? How do you know the state of other peoples’ minds? Psychological help for people suffering pain when palliative care doesn’t work? You are the one who needs psychological help!

All those in favour of euthanasia say aye! Yep, looks like the 'ayes' have it! MmMm, I strongly suspect that if the loony religious right were removed from politics, especially idiots like Kevin Andrews and a National vote cast on the subject of euthanasia, I have no doubt at all that the 'ayes' would also have it there too. Like my sister, with whom I've had many a heated argument regarding her anti-euthanasia stance, you seem to be overcome with emotion about poor suffering people choosing to end their miserable life while some semblance of dignity remains. If you remove the emotion of..."Even worse, family and friends deciding to actively kill someone? This is almost murder and can be very dangerous in the wrong hands"... you'll discover there's a very big difference between a family helping a loved one to end their suffering and outright murder, however, I must thank you for starting this thread. It's a great pity the rest of Australia couldn't join in. It might just open your eyes to the reality of the situation. Euthanasia is a very emotive issue true, but several polls across Australia at the time of the Kevin Andrews travisty of power in relation to the NT euthanasia laws conclude that most people would welcome the choise of whether or not to end their suffering peacefully. It doesn't mean they'll go down the path of euthanasia, but Australian's certainly demand the right to choose.

MmMm

It’s true that atm we don’t have the right to decide when we die- that’s why euthanasia should be legalised.
Who are you (or anyone else) to decide whether a person who is suffering agonizing, unbearable pain and have no hope of recovery has to suffer unnecessarily just because YOU don’t think they should be given the right to die peacefully, perhaps with all their family members around them.
Let everyone decide for themselves.

I am from a country where euthanasia is legal and there have been some good documentaries of people who died a peaceful death through euthanasia in loving company.
It’s not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Patients who request euthanasia go through a series of assessments, talks with psychiatrists, have second opinions, have group conversations involving the immediate family, decide on the time, accompanying music etc. It is a last resort. If pain killers don’t work the least we can do is show some compassion.

For them, it’s just like falling asleep in an as relaxed as possible atmosphere.
If you have compassion, then you will agree that this is far more humane than ‘letting nature take its course’- which can be long, agonising and lonely.

Steve Madden,
Great post. Sorry to hear that you are so ill.

As a person who has recently lost somebody to cancer, a long battle in which the last four months could be described as nothing less than traumatic and painful, I am deeply offended at your inhumanity and lack of caring for others MmMm. There is so much to consider that is no more than extremist politics to control others to flippantly try and take away peoples choices concerning their lives and bodies. Keep in mind two things- firstly they do not choose to be in pain and dying and secondly they are not you!

Please remind me when the universe sent around the memo declaring you owned the human population

MmMn

I am posting this to help put things into perspective for you. I am in no way seeking sympathy and I am at peace with myself .

I have chronic lymphocytic leukeamia. I have had it for many years, at 52 years old I am nearing the end of my journey.

I am chemotherapy refractory, in other words the drugs that used to kill my cancerous blood cells no longer work. A matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplant bought me some more time but as always with CLL it came back.

I have no immune system so a simple cold may kill me, I have been in hospital with neutropenia induced fevers of unknown origin. I have idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (very low platelets) so death from a bleed in my brain is a real possibility.

I have leukaemic arthritis caused by infiltration of cancerous lymphocytes into the synovium of all my joints. I have a pleural effusion caused by lymphocytes in the pleura and have to have a couple of liters of fluid drained every four weeks.

My bedroom looks like a pharmacy, the lymph nodes under my arms make me look like a penguin, my spleen has been removed.

I have an intravenous catheter for the drugs and blood draws.

I use fentanyl transdermal patches for pain relief (80 stronger than morphine) but still enjoy a beer every now and then.

My death is something I have planned, it is not time yet as I still enjoy my life.

Would you deny me some dignity in my death? Would you deny me to be with my family and friends? Or would you like me to die alone?

I note you have not responded to the replies to your original post. You are a worthless waste of oxygen.

I have a thought for those who claim their objection to suicide is based on Christianity.

When I was young a distant uncle who lived not far from us was killed by a fast train in the middle of the night and his poor family stood to get a big leg up from his insurance payout however his death was ruled to be suicide and no claim paid.

You see he worked shift and often came home in the middle of the night - we all knew the fast train that came through at that time as our houses all reverberated with every train that passed.

Also everyone crossed the train line at the level crossing there was nothing strange or illegal about that but what was critical is that someone had seen my uncle 'waiting' on the track. It was apparently done with knowledge aforethought and was therefore seemed suicide.

Consider the death of Jesus - he went to the Garden at Gethsemane and WAITED for the guards to come. In Christian Belief he knew what was going to happen to him if he stayed there - just as my uncle would have. Both apparently had plenty of time to leave - in fact for Jesus the wait seemed particularly difficult so much so that he sweated blood - so why is one suicide and one not?

My uncle's suicide was 'suicide by train', Jesus' action was no less 'suicide by roman guard'.

The fact that for Jesus it was a sacrifice is also not relevant - it was also a sacrifice by my uncle (a much bigger sacrifice as it turns out since he has been dead for a lot more than 3 days and he probably didnt get to sit at the right hand of God afterward although both of them failed to gain that for which they were making the sacrifice).

So before 'Christians' start saying suicide is 'unchristian' better take a look at the behaviour of your role model.