“By "under strict medical supervision" I was referring to the actual final act of taking one's own life. Despite what some would prefer to believe, the FACT is that some people botch their own euthanasia, and they end up suffering worse than ever. By having the actual act of "legalised" euthanasia performed by a medically qualified person, the chances of botching it are greatly reduced.”

Hi Mary, I am just wondering if it is really that complicated. Isn’t it usually done with the terminally ill by too much morphine and oops gone?

It is commonly done just not commonly discussed as a fact. I suspect your local drug addict could probably carry out the procedure with less fuss than many a doctor.

Now we have to think about the doctors themselves who might really be opposed to death since their profession usually battles it on all fronts?

I watched some thing awhile ago about English executioners and how it was passed down from father to son and no one really wanted to know them. We might not have advanced much further than that.

Now if that was my hubby I’d do it, of course I would be a bit hurt that chatting with me and doing nothing else for the rest of his life wasn’t enough but I’d do it.

Pied Piper wonders if it is all really so complicated that a Doctor is needed for euthanasing a patient.
Well, yes it is! In actual fact they do not use morphine to euthanase terminally ill people at present. Morphine is used for pain relief and it has a side effect of slowing down the breathing. Many people become 'used to' a certain level of morphine in their blood and pain then resurfaces. Thus, more morphine needs to be ordered and given to keep up effective pain relief.
As the terminally ill patient becomes weaker, the morphine relaxes them enough to allow their bodies to 'let go', and then they die, peacefully hopefully.
In any case, whether one uses morphine or any other drug to speed up the process, a Doctor must prescribe it for the patient before you can access the drug. Unless of course you want to get it off the black market and become a criminal.

Moon:”As the terminally ill patient becomes weaker, the morphine relaxes them enough to allow their bodies to 'let go', and then they die, peacefully hopefully.”

Yeah that’s what I just said. Or meant to say.

“In any case, whether one uses morphine or any other drug to speed up the process, a Doctor must prescribe it for the patient before you can access the drug.”

Understood, instead of paying the ferryman we will pay the doctor to get us to the other side.

"Unless of course you want to get it off the black market and become a criminal.”

Needs must when the devil drives.

Gee Pied Piper, so now the Medical profession are in on the whole euthanasia conspiracy are they, what with writing out death-drug scripts and all?
Going back to the original post about the quadruplegic at the Nursing home wanting to die,
I would say to all anti-euthanasia proponents that the issue at hand is a request for VOLUNTARY euthanasia to be legalised.
Anyone who unfortunately developes a terminal illness or an extreme disability can decide that they want to linger on and offer it all up for their God if that is their wish.
Please leave the rest of us alone to make our own decision without all the religious claptrap behind it.
This poor man should be given what he asks for- the right to stop all food and fluids, and to have a peaceful, painfree death.

If the man is suffering depression as a result of his situation, then it would be cruel and inhumane to take his life, whether or not he wanted it. Depression is a mental illness. If the man is of totally sound mind, then the choice should be his. Moondoggy, stopping all fluids and food does NOT result in a peaceful and pain free death. Without revealing my background, I've personally seen hundreds of deaths. Deaths later described by relatives and family as peaceful passings, and I know that they were anything BUT peaceful. In the last minutes of life many people suffer terrible, unimaginable pain and distress. I know, I've been there. Self euthanasia is very risky. Peaceful passings look great on the Hollywood screen where they just close their eys, turn their head and bingo, they're dead. Real life, or should I say real death, is usually quite different. You can almost feel their pain. It's not nice to see. Please people, don't romanticise death.

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EUTHANASIA BIS

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A well-to -do farmer in the Calvados in Normandy took a liking to Didier when he was fifteen and took him on as a rouseabout. He was a well-natured boy and a hard worker. He was grateful to his benefactor for giving him a chance in life.

Although he had left school at the age of thirteen Didier was intelligent and learned quickly. He soon knew all there was to know about raising horses and cattle and repairing the farm equipment. He earned a decent wage but had nothing much to spend it on. Board and lodging was provided on the farm. He put everything he earned into gradually building up his own livestock.

Didier became well known and respected in the local farming community where mutual aid was the rule. He was always willing to lend a helping hand if a neighbour was in need. If you were up all night in the paddock giving birth to a calf or a foal or stuck in a gully with your Jeep in the ice and snow and needed a tractor to pull you out, Didier was always there to help.

Didier had his first heart attack about a year after his father died. His dad had agonized with cancer for several long months on a hospital bed in the country before finally passing away. What struck me when Didier managed to find the courage and the words to talk about it, was his total incomprehension that the doctors had let his father suffer for so long when they knew it was hopeless.

“I would never have done that to a horse”, he said.

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