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Old 18-09-2015, 23:12   #19
Guinness
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Re: The right to die with dignity

Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington View Post
Now then.....where to start with this one.
The beginning I suppose is a good place......but I'll give the derogatory remark point the 'flick' as you have accepted my point....but with yor own reservations and explanations.....even though I feel some of them are irrelevant at worst, and tenuous at best.


Point number two - The Law.....is this the same law that says it is illegal to use drugs, sell drugs, peddle drugs.....yet a blind eye is turned to all of these offences?
There are laws which govern abortion, but they are not policed.....and today it is abortion on demand.....?how long has it taken to get to this point?
Well, if you don't know, I will tell you. It took approximately two decades.
That should worry us all....because if this law came into being I really think that a similar thing would happen.

Point three - when I qualified in 1977 I was allocated to work on a Gynae ward until I found a post.
Even though the abortion act had been passed. It was very difficult for woment to access termination of pregnancy. Many Doctors would not refer women for it.
I had the job one Sunday morning of dealing with a desperately ill woman who had sought the services of a local abortionist.....she already had eight children and could not face another pregnancy (no matter what her priest said).those children came within an inch of losing their mother that morning......it was only the skills of the late Hamish Kirkpatrick who saved her life.
I decided that I would work permanently in that area of medicine.....and it was that event that determined that.
I stayed on that unit for 25 years. I like to think that over the years I helped many women.
The fact that I still hear the call 'Sister P' across the street when I am out and about confirms this for me.

Point four - sometimes what starts out as an option can become an obligation.....or can be manipulated by the unscrupulous to become so.

Point five - See point four....Maybe our civilised society would be less keen to offer the care and attention needed by people who have life limiting conditions...or maybe they would put a time limit on how long someone would be supported as this kind of care is expensive and the NHS is not a bottomless pit.
As I said previously it is a slippery slope to be setting foot on.

Point six - yes well laws are broken every day.....and are subject to the vagaries of interpretation by judges(for example look at how Human rights law is administered in this country....contrast this with how it is administered in France, same laws....not the same outcome). Hard cases make for bad laws.

Point seven - named and shamed in newspapers? I think that the majority of us who read such stories think 'there but for the grace of God'.
I think there are few people who would castigate someone for such action.....unless of course it had been done with the aim of profiting by such action.
I think most communities would recognise the situation, it is just that the authorities don't..which is precisely why the law is unequal.

Point eight - although you think this is irrelevant and not part of the argument, I have to disagree. This man thought he was doing good by dispatching,peacefully members of the community whose lives were no longer valid.
He thought he was doing them a favour.
Up unti recently Doctors in hospitals were doing something vaguely similar. It was called the Liverpool Care Pathway....and it had nothing at all to do with care.

Point nine - yes we are in agreement...We agree to disagree, although I reserve the right to change my mind should circumstances change.

Point ten....my father wanted to live right up to the very end.
My mother too.....but had they not wanted to, then that would have been my dilemma rather than theirs.

For those of you who have waded through all this...you deserve a medal.
I am sorry but felt a response was required.
Ok, since the brunt of your argument rests on the fact that abortion law has moved to abortion on demand…which according to law is allowed under the first trimester…..are you in all seriousness telling me that doctors are routinely breaking the law because this is not policed?

Can I ask your honest opinion, given your experience, the percentage of those who asked for abortion on demand (excepting those who had ‘valid’ reasons’) would have made good mothers.

I really fail to see how the abortion argument relates to the right to choose death for those who are terminally ill with less than six months to live and have a high court judgement that agrees.

Not for one minute am I stating that those who choose to fight should not have the right to the best possible care, regardless of cost, to enhance their fight or ease their passing.

And again I’d argue that Shipman did not think for one minute about easing anyones pain, he is a proven psychopath who just so happened to be a doctor.

The relevant word here is ‘choice’...what right do YOU have to take away that choice and force me to live in pain, or a morphine induced semi-coma, possibly lying and defacating in a bed with the same four walls staring at me for the last six months of my life.
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Last edited by Guinness; 18-09-2015 at 23:14.
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