Euthanasia in Belgium

[TiredHorse]

I am stunned at how pro-euthanasia this BBC feature is:



And given the recent fiasco about this forum in less reputable media, I must admit I'm relieved to see intentional death getting some good press.

It isn't yet available "on demand," but I think this is a promising start.

 

[Severen]

Maybe the ruling class there, doesn't want to support so many people with mental and/or physical health problems anymore or in other words, get rid of the "useless people" there. But instead of letting them become homeless and die a slow death, they see helping these people CTB for $$$ as more beneficial for them.

 

[NextSummer]

I think we might be seeing euthanasia in a lot of countries in the next decades. Progressive political decisions that doesn't challenge power and wealth are more likely to be implemented.

 

[Alan James]

Euthanasia is permitted only in the most economically developed countries of the first world: Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands. They want to make money on euthanasia and get rid of people who are a "burden" to this system. If it were possible, they would gladly, instead of retirement, send all old men to do euthanasia (thats why Exit International has 50+ rule).

When automation and robotization replace most of the wage slaves - they will even advertise euthanasia, i bet this. Technical progress, robotization will give us the right to a peaceful death and the right to dispose of our own life, probably for the first time in history slaves equalized in rights with animals, machines and garbage.

 

[TimeToDie]

So many of our political leaders, both on the Right & the Left, have twisted the right to life into a perverted duty to live no matter how miserable your life may be. It is nice to see that BBC feature that fairly presents what euthanasia actually is. The media typically focuses on the cases that are outliers as they make for the most interesting stories. Cases like a 29-year-old women who was physically healthy, but got euthanized because of mental illness. Reality is that most of the folks dying are very elderly and so ill that the Grim Reaper already has them on his to-do list. It's rather hard for the general public to get all worked up about a disabled man dying at "only" 85 when if not for a fatal injection he might well have "lived" (if you call being bed ridden living) till next year.

Modern medicine has the ability to keep many people alive when decades ago they would have been dead. This isn't always a good thing. If you think the living dead only exist on TV and in movies, then I suggest you visit your local nursing home. There you can see creatures older than time itself propped up in front of a TV that they stare at blankly, or they might just stare into space as if they don't even know there is a TV in front of them. Shockingly, our political leaders can look at such folks and seriously think that sitting in a wheelchair & staring at a wall all day is actually quality of life. It's life, but I have to seriously question that quality part.

That reminds me of a thread about why the Left doesn't apply "your body, your choice" to suicide. Well, that's because the Left doesn't actually believe in any right to use your body as you wish, even though they pull that argument out when it's convenient to support their view on abortion. If you actually want somebody who believes you have absolute property rights over your body then you want a libertarian.

Most folks get exceedingly emotional about preserving life at all costs. A couple months ago I watched a YouTube video of a man who had blown off his face with a shotgun and you couldn't actually tell it was even a face any longer except for the fact that is was at the top end of a body, so you sort of had to assume that the bloody mess once used to be a face. The video showed him being taken off a chopper and rushed into a trauma center where a whole crew of doctors & nurses worked on him. The comments almost universally praised the "wonderful" & "heroic" work of these medical professionals. Only a rare few comments popped up pondering why the hell were they going through this insane amount of effort to save somebody who most certainly should be dead. If life was bad enough before that it caused you to shoot yourself then it's just as horrible now except that now it's even worse as you are lacking a face.

 

[TAW122]

Great find @TiredHorse and yes, I hope more countries over the next decade or so start legalizing assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia. I think there is hope yet. I can't say whether the US will be the next in line, but seeing that there are already almost 10 states with physician assisted suicide and possibly more to follow in the coming years, there is hope. I still think that there are going to be states that absolutely will not legal euthanasia, mostly because of religious reasons. These states are often in the deep south and within the Bible belt.

 

[TimeToDie]

I can't say whether the US will be the next in line, but seeing that there are already almost 10 states with physician assisted suicide and possibly more to follow in the coming years, there is hope. I still think that there are going to be states that absolutely will not legal euthanasia, mostly because of religious reasons. These states are often in the deep south and within the Bible belt.

On the positive side, Bible Belt states tend to have the least restrictive gun laws, so anybody who can pass NICS can walk out with a gun within minutes. And if you can't pass a background check, there is no check to pass with private sales. And the gun-grabbers can't stop talking about how 2/3 of "gun violence" is suicide. (So ban guns so Americans can jump in front of trains like they do in Japan.)

As for assisted suicide laws in 10 US states, they still leave much to be desired. They only allow one to get Seconal (or presumably any other fatal drug) and then consume that drug on your own. (Look up the obscene price of Seconal and you'll see that N from A is a bargain!) This obviously presents a serious problem for people who are in such extremely bad condition that they are physically unable to pick up a glass & swallow. Now if you're so far gone that merely consuming a drink is impossible, it should be clear to any reasonable person that you really have a need to die and that you should get euthanasia where a doc injects you with a drug.

Laws in those US states only apply to people who have a terminal illness, which is defined as something that will kill them within 6 months. Well, how is it that mental suffering is any less bad than physical suffering? At least those with a terminal illness, by definition, will be out of their misery within 6 months, while those suffering from untreatable mental pain could be suffering for the next 50 years or more. No psychiatrist could honestly believe that their profession can successfully treat 100% of people with severe mental ills, so there will surely be some suffering with excruciating mental pain that has no solution other than death. Doctors do indeed have a duty as healers; it's their job to minimize the suffering of their patients, but when medicine is out of options for fixing a patient so they can live a decent life then it would seem that duty turns to ending their suffering. Why are MDs any different from veterinarians who euthanize animals when they run out of options to help the animal live with a quality of life? Rover gets a death with peace & dignity when he's old & sick, while grandpa has to blow his head off with his shotgun and grandma can wash his blood off the walls -- how humane is that?

 

[Fr2]

Can't wait to be born the next time, to catch a more mental health aware world, a society that knows what to do when mental illness happens.