Discussion In the news today

[LivingToLong]

A thread for things related to ctb that we have read in the papers ....


From the UK.

Suicide may be a sort of failure, but deciding how one wants to end one's life must be the ultimate human right. If people need help to handle it with dignity, doctors should offer them help, not condemnation.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/22/death-human-right-assisted-dying

 

[GeorgeJL]

Yeah doctor assisted suicide is coming folks. There is no stopping cultural evolution.

 

[Walilamdzi]

Interesting article, a step in the right direction, but it still seems a long way off. The lengths that people have to go to, even in progressive countries are a bit disappointing, too. As far as I recall from the documentary I watched, Aurelia Brouwers spent 5 years going through bureaucratic processes before being euthanised in the Netherlands, due to psychological suffering. It's such a long time to wait. I watched '24 & Ready to Die' too, and think it took a while for her case to be approved in Belgium, only for her to change her mind when it came to it.

 

[TAW122]

Interesting article, a step in the right direction, but it still seems a long way off. The lengths that people have to go to, even in progressive countries are a bit disappointing, too. As far as I recall from the documentary I watched, Aurelia Brouwers spent 5 years going through bureaucratic processes before being euthanised in the Netherlands, due to psychological suffering. It's such a long time to wait. I watched '24 & Ready to Die' too, and think it took a while for her case to be approved in Belgium, only for her to change her mind when it came to it.

Change couldn't come sooner and while I hope to see major overhauls come, I'm not very confident that I will such changes within even the next few decades, at least not in the US.

 

[M]

Definitely a step in the right direction, but I don't see this coming for a long while even in progressive countries.

 

[TAW122]

Definitely a step in the right direction, but I don't see this coming for a long while even in progressive countries.

Which most likely means that most of us will have to take our destiny and fate into our own hands and hope that when the time comes that we have the capacity (mentally and physically) as well courage to overcome the pesky SI? I only wished there were alternatives and if there was voluntary euthanasia then I would not need to rely on my method to exit this life.

 

[LivingToLong]

Bump. From 'the log read' because it is, um, a long read. The experiences of a Scottish doctor after 20 years of dealing with patients...

What I have learned from my suicidal patients

The long read: A GP has minutes to try to convince a person that life is worth living. No wonder they always wonder what more they could have done

www.theguardian.com

Quoting David Hume from the 1770s...

We may at least be assured that any one who, without apparent reason, has had recourse to it, was cursed with such an incurable depravity or gloominess of temper as must poison all enjoyment, and render him equally miserable as if he had been loaded with the most grievous misfortunes.

From the doctor himself...

To feel depressed about the state of your life is to demonstrate capacity to imagine something different, and that spark of imagination

Overall, it tells the sorry story of lack of health resources trying to cope with the needs of a beleaguered society. I was interested in the framing/contextualising of suicide that he does in the last paragraph.