Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
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Medical ethics
Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
Discuss ethical issues with the Medical Ethics department of the BMA and the Institute of Medical Ethics. Please note, the views posted here do not necessarily represent the views of the BMA or the IME
The editor the BMJ Fiona Godlee is backing a call for leading UK medical bodies to stop opposing assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults, and has said that the debate on assisted
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Forums » Open clinical » Medical ethics » Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 16/6/2012 6:47 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 11
First: 19/3/2010 Last: 17/6/2012 |
My mother died of nasopharyngeal CA at home, cared for by us. She was seen by palliative care etc. Yet, she suffered both physically & psychologically, right up to her death. My father died a few years ago with pulmonary fibrosis. He was seen by people including palliative care consultant. He still suffered physically & psychologically. It was awful. This is only about 5y ago. Also, my aunt (dad's sister) died with same condition about 2y ago. Same scenario as my dad. There's theory about palliative care & then there's the real world. Very hard to be neutral when one has encountered such profound let downs by the health service. Unfortunately, I see the failure of the health service to deliver good palliative care day & daily. Martin |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 16/6/2012 9:15 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 42
First: 25/1/2012 Last: 25/4/2013 |
All existential problems should not be handled by specialists,whether doctors or jurists.Society as a whole will have to decide on such matters.The burning of witches at the stake took civil society a long time to make up its mind that it was cruel,inhumane and was an abomination.It was however,strongly supported by the Church and State.Similarly,assisted dying in patients with no hope and in great pain is frowned upon on religious and altruistic grounds.We have no such qualms when dealing with our pets when they are in a similar condition.With better education and knowledge of relevant facts,civil society will come to the right decision |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 17/6/2012 9:25 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2948
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
We have done away with the following taboos; premarital sex, same sex unions, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, contraception, the marginalisation of women, walking under ladders and marrying some from another religion or race. We live in a humanist society in the West. God is dead. We burried Him at Woodstock. Euthanasia may be the next move of the vox populi. We live in a world where just about anything goes now. Why not..? What does it matter if Mrs Blogs next door gets a visit from the Extermination Van. The Americans in the southern states used to have a mobile electric chair truck for your convenience. It wa a big hit in Mobile. Let's throw the baby out with the bath water and get rid of all those people who don't want to stay around anymore. We could even recycle them and use them as manure. Why not? Anything goes now. Why not as Australia is poor in phosphates and blood and bone. This is green and efficient and has been done before. Adolf had a go at it. Yes, lets give them a helping hand and maybe there will be a few more we could bump off when the community has got used to the idea. The sky is the limit. Yes, what a socially progressive idea....Come on Pigs... Neutral stand, be damned.
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 17/6/2012 10:56 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2049
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 22/5/2013 |
Odysseus, Your Swiftian proposal is no less modest, and I hope just as satirical: http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/swift/modest.html "A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick (1729)" ".....a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust." JOhn |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 17/6/2012 1:59 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2948
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
Perhaps an imperfect death naturally and not by extermination or whatever euphemism we employ for Greek words prefixed by eu- meaning well (Eucharist, euthanasia and euphemism) .It is the price humanity has to pay for its own preservation. It is the altruistic contribution of each of us in this big bee hive; the price each of us pays for the greater good of all future generations. It is our own sometimes painful struggle with our individual cross bruising our shoulder that we must bear lest some law of release lower the bar forever and drag ourselves down with it, one and all together. it is not to me ironic that one of the most enduring religious symbols is the suffering of god incarnate on the Golgotha he did not shy away from. This eloquent symbolism transcends creeds or race as it is universal and may resonate even in the bones of the most hardened non-believer as it is about human suffering, courage, vision, faith and hope. This to me is why we must not go down this path and as a profession give eloquent warning to its folly as we will lose The Knowledge (medicine) just as we have eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge Good and Evil and lost the Garden of Eden and our innocence. |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 17/6/2012 3:02 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
Reading through all of these comments are very interesting and actually very appropriately timed. There is a documentary on Channel4 on Monday at 8.30 on the very issue of 'Right to die.' entitled- 'Let our Dad die.' I would commend anyone and everyone who's posted on this discussion to watch it as it comes from the patient themself who wishes the right to die- instead of the very emotive comments by people on this forum who are family members of patients who wished to die. I agree with a previous comment about the 'slippery slope.' Once it is made legal it is going to be very hard to u-turn. Likewise from a previous comment, making hellishly complicated criteria and forms to be required to filled out will mean that it becomes a very administrative process and therefore equally disastisfying.
But anyway, do watch the documentary tomorrow night!! Link to it here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-113/episode-1 |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 17/6/2012 6:57 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 11
First: 19/3/2010 Last: 17/6/2012 |
Yes, saw this advertised & read about it in Sunday Times Culture section. I often find such programmes hard to watch, but this sounds very good indeed. Often only just home from work at that time, and spending time with the kids, but let's see. Martin |
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 18/6/2012 12:34 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2948
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
Modern western man is now like a two year old. He has thrown off the Super Ego of religious constraints and now is indulging his ego with the desire to have everything his way. We have no boundaries anymore. We are venturing into a new world order. The problem is our Id which may yet lead us into deep trouble. This is all a question of rights; my rights to do anything I wish....even be put to death as I like it. We may yet be given our wish but not at a time of our choosing. Political states in my time have done terrible things. Mao caused the Great Famine of the peasants in the late fifties and early sixties which killed more than 30 million people. This was not so well publicised as politicians are good at disguising the smoke from their chimney stacks and the stench of death in our nostrils. This is the thin edge of the wedge. The Pandora's Box of our own ego.
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Re: Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
posted at 18/6/2012 12:15 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 31
First: 21/10/2011 Last: 7/5/2013 |
I'm for patients being in control of this decision. However, with this comes responsibility. I note there is a synchronous discussion about karma. It made me think about the idea of suffering. There are terrible instances of patients suffering - see the orignal posters example of Ann McPherson. Some religions accept suffering as due course of life I know it is horrible but is there dignity in suffering as a symbol we mortal and are inevitably ravaged by time and nature? Just a thought. Should we ever accept suffering as part of life? Or is this an attempt to sanitise life as we know it? |
Forums » Open clinical » Medical ethics » Should doctors have a neutral position on assisted dying?
