I sat with my mother as she died & it was not a painless or easy death.
At the time I wished the process could have been sped up, for both of us. How good would it be to be able to lessen suffering for our loved ones in their final hours?
However, my mother was a person of faith & a great parent, who clung to the life that she had left. Should I have had the right to quicken her death, when she was unconscious & unable to consent? No.
Sadly, there are many people who struggle with chronic health issues who reach the end of their ability to cope and therefore would seek assisted dying or euthanasia. What about support from family or friends and the medical profession?
Sadly, we don’t all have ‘good families’ but we should be able to tap into a system of support to make our suffering less and be able to enjoy the life that we have left. If assisted dying were legalised it would be abused.
The majority of people to access this service, would be at the end of their ability to cope with their illness & would have been let down by a lack of mental health support, family support and the Public Health system. Governments need to redirect their funds to provide a system of support, both medical and mental, as the decision to end your life should never be made because you have been unable to access support.