Romany wrote: “I don't think we should conflate the questions of euthanasia and suicide on this thread.”

I agree. I was referring to suicide not euthanasia.

Romany also wrote: Providing sanctioned spaces for teenagers and young adults or parents of dependent children to end their lives is also sanctioning the societal problems which led to them wanting to take that path

It is not sanctioning those problems at all. We can act against those problems and at the same time give those whose lives are a torment because of those problems a way out.

Romany wrote: Providing sanctioned spaces for teenagers and young adults or parents of dependent children to end their lives is also sanctioning the societal problems which led to them wanting to take that path

Personal turmoil which the person cannot resolve even with help may lead the person to want to commit suicide without any societal problems causing that desire. They should have the option of a dignified exit.

David f -

Were you the one who found your grandfather? If so I can fully understand where you are coming from and why.

If not - then why the hell are you on my back every time I submit a post? I don't have exclusive rights to the views I express so why take issue only with me? Its becoming quite confrontational.

Romany wrote:

"If not - then why the hell are you on my back every time I submit a post? I don't have exclusive rights to the views I express so why take issue only with me? Its becoming quite confrontational."

I didn't think I was on your back. You just happen to be the person I disagree with the most. However, I hereby stop posting to this list. Goodbye. I wish you well.

Davidf, hope you are still there to read this, because by your frequent posting this appears to be a subject you have thought a lot about.

There could be a bit of confusion about the definitions of what some of us mean with suicide and what we understand voluntary euthanasia to be.

Strictly speaking voluntary euthanasia is suicide. Suicide that is assisted. If I understand you correctly, than you are proposing that euthanasia should be available to anybody who finds life unbearable, not only the terminally ill.

That is a huge statement, but something that I can relate to when considering the horror of finding somebody who has committed suicide.

Suicide is a problem. It results in psychological pain and suffering to those left behind. So, in effect, the failure to resolve the issues that led to the suicide in that one person's life is not finished with by that person's death. Even if it were assisted in some clinical setting, there is still failure to resolve issues that are in effect not life threatening, deeply emotionally distressing yes, but not life threatening.

Euthanasia to my mind is just when there is no hope of cure, suffering will only progressively become worse and death is imminent.

I have difficulty with justifying assisted suicide for emotional pain.

Yvonne wrote:

"Suicide is a problem. It results in psychological pain and suffering to those left behind. So, in effect, the failure to resolve the issues that led to the suicide in that one person's life is not finished with by that person's death. Even if it were assisted in some clinical setting, there is still failure to resolve issues that are in effect not life threatening, deeply emotionally distressing yes, but not life threatening.

I have difficulty with justifying assisted suicide for emotional pain."

Dear Yvonne,

I am posting because you addressed me.

I think part of the feeling against suicide is because of the religious prohibition. It also can be, as Col pointed out, a selfish act.

However, I think it is also an issue of freedom. Our lives do not belong to the church or the state. Our life should be ours to do with, as we will.

My grandfather was a man with a ready wit and an infectious smile. Then my grandmother died. I never saw him smile or laugh again. The light of his life had gone. I think he felt he had to keep going, but his life became meaningless. Short of bringing her back to life there was absolutely nothing we could do.

We cannot feel another's physical, mental or emotional pain, but his suffering seemed intense.

If he had ended it all I think we would have been relieved that he was no longer suffering.