Right To Die Campaigner Starved Herself To Death

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-29685643

This story is desperately sad. What kind of society do we live in that an OAP has to do this ?

[andy-hughes]

mikey - "What kind of society do we live in that an OAP has to do this ?"

She didn;t have to - she choise to - surely the entire point of her action was having her choice, and taking it?

[woofgang]

Not sure what difference her age makes?

[Old_Geezer]

I had a relative that did the same. The hospital let her as they considered her right to end her life overrode their duty to keep her going. I thought it must require some willpower to achieve.

[mikey4444]

It must have been a dreadful way to die OG.

[naomi24]

I'm not sure why you're asking what kind of a society we live in. Do you think she should have been helped to die, or force fed to be kept alive?

[mikey4444]

I think that this lady should have been allowed to die Naomi. Perhaps she wasn't well enough of wealthy enough to take advantage of that single ticket to Zurich. I have been a supporter of the Right to Die campaign for some time now, and I make no apology for my stance.

[andy-hughes]

mikey - "What kind of society do we live in that an OAP has to do this ?"

It's a society that has decided that all life is to be saved where possible, by doctors who take an oath to do so.

The morality of that position is open to debate, but that is the answer to your question.

[mikey4444]

Andy...I quite understand that. Its a difficult subject for debate but I think that its time that the debate was had. Other countries have managed to come to come to some kind of agreement with Right to Die, and it shouldn't be beyond the wit of the British to do the same.

From what I can see from the BBC link, this lady knew what the future held for her and didn't want it affect her family. A poignant quote from the link
:::

"She was suffering from episodes of unconsciousness and had worried about dying from one of these, and her family having to find her body in the house or garden"

[naomi24]

Mikey, she couldn't have been "allowed to die" - she wasn't suffering from a terminal illness. Had the law allowed, she could have been helped to die, but that's a different thing altogether.

[Old_Geezer]

But she was allowed to die. From lack of food / water. We don't presently have a society that has decided that all life is to be saved where possible. If you choose to starve yourself to death then you are allowed to.

[naomi24]

OG, that's right - but she wasn't "allowed to die" in the sense that I assumed Mikey meant.

[whirlyhurly]

Yes O G. just the same as the so called "Liverpool Pathway", where liquids/food are all denied.