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In Canada we call this MAID - medical assistance in dying. If you're undecided about this - ask a doctor or nurse about how they want to go. After watching my

In Canada we call this MAID - medical assistance in dying. If you're undecided about this - ask a doctor or nurse about how they want to go. After watching my mom die of cancer, I'm glad that we have the option to go out on our own terms now.

billy99k 2y ago
[flagged]
- llm_nerd 2y ago
  >This is barbaric Any country without universal healthcare is barbaric. Absolutely perverse that you try to pin this on "socialized healthcare" when you herald a nation with a lifespan a half decade shorter, and worse outcomes in most categories of illnesses. I'm a huge critic of the overreach of MAiD in Canada, but the number of people who die from treatable illnesses is much higher in the US, so maybe you should retire the tired "socialized healthcare" canard.
- david-gpu 2y ago
  You are entitled to not want a dignified death for yourself. You are not entitled to take that right away from others.
llm_nerd 2y ago
"If you're undecided about this" As with many things, it's a very slippery slope and it is far more nuanced and not easily "decided". MAiD for someone in the final stages of a terminal illness is a far cry from government workers suggesting MAiD to a healthy paralympian veteran asking for a wheelchair ramp (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted-death-macaulay-1.6671721 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted...). And of course we have expanded MAID to people suffering from mental illnesses, and it's something people are pursuing now because they can't afford rent. Oh and the government is recommending that MAiD be expanded to minors. And FWIW, we've long had MAiD - people with terminal illnesses usually got ever escalating doses of painkillers until their body gives up. It's more formalized now, but as with almost everything people with "good intentions" push it to the point where something simple becomes hugely contentious.
- pjc50 2y ago
  > MAiD for someone in the final stages of a terminal illness is a far cry from government workers suggesting MAiD to a healthy paralympian veteran asking for a wheelchair ramp Yeah, this has pushed me from being roughly in favor of allowing it to considerable caution. It may or may not be OK for people to make the decision for themselves, but it absolutely is wrong to push people to it.
  - rtkwe 2y ago
    Don't overweight rare examples. This is basically the only one that I ever see brought up too because it was a fuck up. Plus it's not like there's any force to offering it.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      I fairly frequently encounter wildly incorrect statements made by public-facing roles. While this is the famous human-euthanasia-related headline example of "WTAF were they thinking?", I've got a few more of that ilk in various cases: • Doctors refusing abortions and the mother dying as a result, even though the law allowed abortion in such cases • The entire public discourse (shouting match) over the various covid vaccines, and of course the lockdowns — as HN has a broad audience, I should note that regardless of which group any reader of this message thinks was "right", both sides were very loudly convinced the other was risking lives, and that necessarily means that a lot of people were very loudly, very forcefully, wrong • The UK's DWP telling loads of people they were considered "fit for work" when they were gravely ill and died shortly after Outside of fatal cases, but still medical: • I've also noticed that almost every discussion where women share experiences of doctors, regardless of group size, there's women who report doctors ignoring evidence and these women having to solve their medical issues on their own • I've personally had a GP tell me something was impossible when it had actually happened — In my case, food ending up in nasal cavity, which was very easy for me to know had happened as the food exited about an hour later via a nostril, but the GP thought it was impossible • Unnecessary surgeries (and I don't mean purely cosmetic surgery) are a thing • Retained surgical instruments are a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retained_surgical_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retained_surgical_instruments Between unfeeling bureaucracies and emotional but flawed humans, there's a lot of room for people to end up pressured into unwanted euthanasia. Figuring out how to minimise suffering given all that? Well, even without that it would be beyond me. But it does make it harder.
Symmetry 2y ago
Of if you you don't want to trudge out to a hospital but are happy with written things by a doctor or quoting them: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-di... https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay...
jsbisviewtiful 2y ago
Just had a family member die after many years of descent into dementia. Absolutely don't want that for myself and would love the ejector seat as an option. Unfortunately the US is on an intellectual backslide, so hopefully in a few decades when I may also be susceptible something has changed and I will be allowed to do what I want with my own body and life.

billy99k 2y ago

[flagged]

llm_nerd 2y ago
>This is barbaric Any country without universal healthcare is barbaric. Absolutely perverse that you try to pin this on "socialized healthcare" when you herald a nation with a lifespan a half decade shorter, and worse outcomes in most categories of illnesses. I'm a huge critic of the overreach of MAiD in Canada, but the number of people who die from treatable illnesses is much higher in the US, so maybe you should retire the tired "socialized healthcare" canard.
david-gpu 2y ago
You are entitled to not want a dignified death for yourself. You are not entitled to take that right away from others.

llm_nerd 2y ago

"If you're undecided about this" As with many things, it's a very slippery slope and it is far more nuanced and not easily "decided". MAiD for someone in the final stages of a terminal illness is a far cry from government workers suggesting MAiD to a healthy paralympian veteran asking for a wheelchair ramp (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted-death-macaulay-1.6671721 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/christine-gauthier-assisted...). And of course we have expanded MAID to people suffering from mental illnesses, and it's something people are pursuing now because they can't afford rent. Oh and the government is recommending that MAiD be expanded to minors. And FWIW, we've long had MAiD - people with terminal illnesses usually got ever escalating doses of painkillers until their body gives up. It's more formalized now, but as with almost everything people with "good intentions" push it to the point where something simple becomes hugely contentious.

pjc50 2y ago
> MAiD for someone in the final stages of a terminal illness is a far cry from government workers suggesting MAiD to a healthy paralympian veteran asking for a wheelchair ramp Yeah, this has pushed me from being roughly in favor of allowing it to considerable caution. It may or may not be OK for people to make the decision for themselves, but it absolutely is wrong to push people to it.
- rtkwe 2y ago
  Don't overweight rare examples. This is basically the only one that I ever see brought up too because it was a fuck up. Plus it's not like there's any force to offering it.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    I fairly frequently encounter wildly incorrect statements made by public-facing roles. While this is the famous human-euthanasia-related headline example of "WTAF were they thinking?", I've got a few more of that ilk in various cases: • Doctors refusing abortions and the mother dying as a result, even though the law allowed abortion in such cases • The entire public discourse (shouting match) over the various covid vaccines, and of course the lockdowns — as HN has a broad audience, I should note that regardless of which group any reader of this message thinks was "right", both sides were very loudly convinced the other was risking lives, and that necessarily means that a lot of people were very loudly, very forcefully, wrong • The UK's DWP telling loads of people they were considered "fit for work" when they were gravely ill and died shortly after Outside of fatal cases, but still medical: • I've also noticed that almost every discussion where women share experiences of doctors, regardless of group size, there's women who report doctors ignoring evidence and these women having to solve their medical issues on their own • I've personally had a GP tell me something was impossible when it had actually happened — In my case, food ending up in nasal cavity, which was very easy for me to know had happened as the food exited about an hour later via a nostril, but the GP thought it was impossible • Unnecessary surgeries (and I don't mean purely cosmetic surgery) are a thing • Retained surgical instruments are a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retained_surgical_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retained_surgical_instruments Between unfeeling bureaucracies and emotional but flawed humans, there's a lot of room for people to end up pressured into unwanted euthanasia. Figuring out how to minimise suffering given all that? Well, even without that it would be beyond me. But it does make it harder.

Symmetry 2y ago

Of if you you don't want to trudge out to a hospital but are happy with written things by a doctor or quoting them: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-di... https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay...

jsbisviewtiful 2y ago

Just had a family member die after many years of descent into dementia. Absolutely don't want that for myself and would love the ejector seat as an option. Unfortunately the US is on an intellectual backslide, so hopefully in a few decades when I may also be susceptible something has changed and I will be allowed to do what I want with my own body and life.