On death and dying...

[Dalek Prime]

Won't belittle your circumstances Leo. I just don't want anyone going into this with options and minds closed, hence I wanted to point to an author who has truly and well given interesting perspectives on all the key topics, and then some.

[Obvious Leo]

Won't belittle your circumstances Leo. I just don't want anyone going into this with options and minds closed, hence I wanted to point to an author who has truly and well given interesting perspectives on all the key topics, and then some.

I haven't read the work you referenced, Dalek, but I'll be sure to do so. I'll be on to Amazon this very day.

[Obvious Leo]

Sorry, I got the author but what was the title again?

[Dalek Prime]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15466

First listed book.

You may not agree with her, but she'll get you thinking about this stuff as no other. I admire the young woman.

[Obvious Leo]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15466

First listed book.

You may not agree with her, but she'll get you thinking about this stuff as no other. I admire the young woman.

Thanks, mate. I don't read books so that I can agree or disagree with them. I read books so that I can learn shit I didn't already know, of which there still remains a considerable mountain.

[Dalek Prime]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15466

First listed book.

You may not agree with her, but she'll get you thinking about this stuff as no other. I admire the young woman.

Thanks, mate. I don't read books so that I can agree or disagree with them. I read books so that I can learn shit I didn't already know, of which there still remains a considerable mountain.

Well, this will definitely give a new and fresh perspective. I hope you can get a copy. Nine-Banded Books is a small publisher of little discussed topics.

Yeah, me too. This past winter has been an eye-opener for me in terms of reading material. I love seeing with fresh eyes.

[Ned]

I think if this extremely delicate topic is to be discussed then an important distinction must first be made between euthanasia and assisted suicide. Although they are often conflated they are quite different questions and must be regarded as such. For instance I am morally repelled by the former yet cautiously in favour of the latter.

You are right, Leo, it is an important distinction.

I always think and talk about "assisted suicide", even when I use the word 'euthanasia. My mistake, I know.

[Obvious Leo]

I always think and talk about "assisted suicide", even when I use the word 'euthanasia. My mistake, I know.

It's easily done, Ned, and we're all guilty of a bit of semantic carelessness from time to time. I just reckon that in the case of this particular question a precision of language is perhaps more important than it might be for many others. Emotions can easily trump reason when it comes to matters of life and death so it's as well to make sure that everybody's talking about the same thing.

[Ned]

To add my own personal experience to this topic: my wife had cancer 7 years ago. The projected 5-year survival rate was 30% probability. She recovered and is doing fine now, but at the time she was very sick. She went through radiation, surgery, chemo-therapy -- the works.

We had our exit strategy: sell the house and use the money to go to Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal -- even for foreigners. Neither of us wished to live through the agony of the last few months -- if she couldn't recover. I don't wish the experience of contemplating suicide on anyone, but contemplating dying a slow and horrible death is worse.

I only hope that sanity will, eventually, prevail -- and humane legislation will enable people to die with dignity, at the time of their own choosing.

(One of the many reasons I hate religion is its stand on these issues such as suicide, abortion, contraception, etc. It is pure evil, attributed to an all-loving 'god' and its acolytes).

[duszek]

To pay someone money to make you die ????

It´s so easy to do it yourself. I once tried fasting for experimental reasons and after about three and a half days I was positively starving and fainting, my stomach was positively sort of sucked in. Two or three days more I would have gone for good. I stopped the experiment and came back to the alive.

That´s what I am going to do if I had to die from cancer: a week of fasting (no food, only water).

And while doing it I would accept visitors to say good bye, in a relaxed and amused atomsphere, while listening to good jazz music.

Socrates was still preaching in his cell after he had drunk the poison and saying good bye and sending people out of the room if they cried too much (like Apolodorus).

[Ned]

To pay someone money to make you die ????

It´s so easy to do it yourself.

Actually, is is a booming business. People from all over Europe use Switzerland's humane practices.

and, you would have to starve a lot longer than a week to kill yourself.

Rule of threes.

3 minutes without air
3 days without water
3 weeks without food.

No, thank you, that's not for me. A nice trip oversees, a last look at the beauty of the planet and then a painless death. That's more like it!

[Dalek Prime]

Dogs and convicted killers get better deaths than what most of us get. I want a barbiturate when I need it.

[Obvious Leo]

I want a barbiturate when I need it.

I'll bet you could get what you were looking for in half the pubs in Toronto, Dalek. Why go all the way to Switzerland?

[Dalek Prime]

That would truly be news to me, Leo. I've witnessed in forums people paying dearly to get the right barbiturates, from the other side of the world... Poor souls.

Not all barbs are alike.

[Obvious Leo]

That would truly be news to me, Leo. I've witnessed in forums people paying dearly to get the right barbiturates, from the other side of the world... Poor souls.

Not all barbs are alike.

I could probably cook you something up in the shed, mate, but I do agree that such things should be available under certain circumstances from one's own doctor.