cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13644411

With the discussion of whether assisted dying should be allowed in Scotland befing brought up again, I was wondering what other people thought of the topic.

Do you think people should be allowed to choose when to end their own life?

What laws need to be put into place to prevent abuses in the system?

How do we account for people changing their mind or mental decline causing people to no longer be able to consent to a procedure they previously requested?

  • GreyShuck@feddit.uk
    0·
    8 months ago

    Definitely in favour myself - and my SO is the same. We have discussed it more than once and we would both like this option to be available to us in the UK as and when the time comes.

    The biggest issue, I think, is the kind of circumstance where an elderly parent or relative is bullied or made to feel like a burden by their family and that they ‘should’ choose this option. If that goes on long enough and subtly enough, they may internalise it and come to feel that they have made the choice freely themselves. However, as my wife (who has a background in counselling) has pointed out, distinguishing that kind of situation from a genuinely choice is similar to other major life choices involving medical intervention - all of which involve professional counselling specifically aimed to distinguish between the two. With the right kind of questions it usually doesn’t take long for distinctive patterns of thought and speech to reveal the roots of the choice that someone says they have made.

  • thehatfox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    Yes. If a person can choose how to live their life, they should be able to choose how to end their life.

    It’s a matter that needs to be handled sensitively, but it is a right I feel everyone should have.

  • Struggleandgrunt@feddit.uk
    0·
    8 months ago

    I would fully support this, as long as the correct safeguards were in place to ensure those doing it were sound of mind and not being coerced.