We should euthanize the very sick and elderly who have no quality of life, no awareness of themselves or their surroundings.

Alva, one reason not to ban posts like this, is that in many places (like where I am) it has taken years to change the law to give people the right to choose about their own death. This post has shown once again that very few people object to it, and the legislators need to hear that. Unfortunately, over and over again.

The people who think it will be disastrous may be interested to hear what’s happened here since the law was changed. Virtually nothing. The rules are very strict, and are followed without all the publicity that we had before (old men flying to Switzerland with their families, murder/suicides after finding the requested drugs on-line, religious views pushed in parliament etc). No doctors are forced to participate if they object personally. No religious funerals have been refused. No bodies buried in un-consecrated ground. No protests in the streets. Just people making their own choices about their own deaths, which usually take place very peacefully with loving family members present, the way they want it.

I would have no issue with this if the patient themselves had this written in their health directive, where if they came to a defined level of not living THEY would prefer to be euthenized.

I do have an issue with someone saying WE SHOULD do this, regardless of the wishes of the patient. Only the patient should have the right to decide this, no one else, and if they had directed this in some health directive I am fine with that. Even then many people would not be OK with that, I am. But only if THEY the PATIENT wanted this.

My fil once said he’d rather be dead than crapping his diaper. Or getting fed through IV. Having to be fed by mouth. He did however regain most adls.

…But yesterday, he had a seizure. Turned out he had a stroke, again, some days prior. There is now a heart issue to figure out.

Regardless of what he once said, he is going to try to stay alive as long as his wife remains. And even though mil told me she would not pursue advanced treatment if her cancer does come back, I suspect she will as long as he is here.

If, however, one is incapacitated and the other one has dementia, then so and his brother make the decisions. They just don’t know what they are.

We put our dogs and cats down when they're suffering, but we're not generous enough to treat our elders with the same dignity. Truly a sad situation.

While the OP's post is certainly an angry rant that is probably coming from a very bitter heart, there is some merit to what is being said. Even if one feels euthanasia is not the answer, there IS something to be said about quality of one's last days instead of trying to throw the kitchen sink at trying to prevent the inevitable.

I had a doctor and NP at the SNF tell me how they see it daily - family members who never visit their loved one, but absolutely FREAK OUT when Grandma takes a turn for the worse after having been there for months or years. Then the family wants the doctor to "Do everything possible! Feeding tubes, dialysis, etc. so that Grandma won't die before Johnny can get here in a few weeks to say goodbye."

How many times have I seen posts here about family members who are in denial and in reality, THEY just are not ready to be sad, therefore the elderly loved one has to suffer longer! I've seen people demand their elderly loved one take chemo! Good grief. Chemo is horrible for someone young and healthy.

It is often HARD on the patient and family members to get an elderly person to their doctor appointments and so many times they have to go every single day! I was shuttling a relative to so many appointments that I deemed unnecessary - they would just take her vitals and ask how she was feeling and tell her to come back in a few weeks. She was in a wheelchair with oxygen. There was a giant tank and long hose. She was also wearing depends and was horrified that she would leak or smell while she was out and about.

Palliative care needs to be promoted more and needs to be made into a wonderful alternative.

I'm in my 50's. I'm having more and more conversations with people my age and younger who feel like I do. Our generation does NOT WANT to end up in a SNF just waiting to die and I totally get the euthanasia thing. While I would never want to take my life, I think just letting nature take course at a certain point in old age is a good thing.

It comes down to who is willing to do it and how will it be done. Not all dementia patients have the capacity to be able to carry it out.

This is kind of a coincidence but there is a show here in Canada called W5. Guess what the subject was on the latest episode. You guessed it. Assisted suicide.

This episode was called Death Wish; Relentless. Season 56, Episode 26.

Try to find it if you are interested. It was very thought provoking.

You lost me right here: "All life is pointless. This is pointless. Choke on those dirty adult diapers, diehards!"

While part of what you say may have a point, the bitterness you express negates all the parts that MAY be valid.

And if you think my life is pointless, or ANY life for that matter, YOU yourself have missed the point.

Have a nice day and have a nice life, if such a thing is possible.

W5 is excellent show.
Examining one of the best and most beautiful places to live in Canada, Vancouver Island which showed increase in MAID, 7.5% compare to national average of 2.5%

With your attitude, why are you doing it? Has someone forced you to take care of your grandfather?? My, my. This just ruined my night.
Temper

Like XenaJada, I’m in my 50s. That weird decade that encompasses the end of the baby boom plus up to mid X.

I expect assisted suicide to become more available while Medicare restricts more treatments. You won’t get your second knee replacement followed by your triple bypass followed by a solid organ removal and then four stroke operations. You may, at best, get one of those things.

Assisted suicide will eventually become encompassed in hospice as an option.

It’s a very slippery slope. Has the patient ever agreed to assisted suicide? Weary relative just want to get rid of the person? Euthanasia can start to be applied to the handicapped, the mentally ill, the mentally retarded. Who is to make these decisions? With gene editing people can choose the baby’s eye color etc. We would be entering a “brave new world” . I understand having worked with people with only physical life signs that it seems a tragedy. Statistics show that those who said they wanted to die or be assisted with suicide often change their minds toward the end.