Suicide drugs could be made available over the counter if euthanasia laws are changed

[mia]

By Laura Roberts 7:30AM BST 05 May 2011
Changing the law could make it possible for nurses and chemists to prescribe medication to sick and disabled patients which would enable them to kill themselves, according to a report by Lord Carlile and Baroness Finlay.

In the paper commissioned by the pressure group Living and Dying Well they also warned that liberalising euthanasia regulations could lead to state agencies being set up to decide whether or not people should be helped to die....

Their analysis warned that desperate patients and their families could resort to “doctor shopping” in a bid to find a GP to help them die....

Although assisting a suicide carries a prison sentence of 14 years in Britain more than 150 Britons have travelled to Zurich to die in the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland in order to protect family members and friends from being charged with a crime.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8494012/Suicide-drugs-could-be-made-available-over-the-counter-if-euthanasia-laws-are-changed.html


With health care becoming less and less available - except to the very wealthy, I imagine that many more people will see euthanasia as the only way out.

[David__77]

1. That is my concern with legalization.

I would like legalization to be coupled with a real right to life - health care! Of course, even with quality health care, people will still require hospice care and it may be inadequate. I do see a role for these other means at times. But I worry about the whole "useless eaters" idea taking over and turning it into a eugenic mess.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Of course there actually is no evidence that this is a problem

in any of the countries or US states where assisted suicide is legal.

Much better to force suffering people to die in misery rather than comfort because you are uneasy with allowing individuals to choose for themselves how to end their lives.

[JHB]

5. Perhaps not, but strict controls would still be needed...

I doubt we've rid ourselves of unscrupulous relatives who are a bit impatient for the inheritance they "deserve", and similarly unscrupulous doctors who would abet them.

Safeguards would be needed to guard against this type of abuse, right from the start.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. They are. Everywhere assisted suicide has been legalized.

This OP is scare propaganda.

By the way, people off their relatives all the time, assisted suicide or no assisted suicide. That is a false issue.

[WinkyDink]

3. "A prescription" is not "over the counter."

[Keith Bee]

6. Correct.

And who are this Lord and this Baronness? Hey, I never read any Harry Potter.

[Dogtown]

4. Fear mongering.

Disgusting.


My body, my life-my choice.

[glen123098]

7. I believe it is cruel and unusual punishment to force someone to live in destressing situations.

If someone wants to kill themselves, I believe that should be their choice. Yeah, thats controversial, but thats how I believe. If my life one day becomes unbearable because of a medical condition someday, I want a painless option there to kill myself. I feel that is something a rational person would do in certain situations.

[NightWatcher]

9. Did you see Children of Men? They'll give it a catchy name and sell it on tv

Soma: For a REAL good nights rest

[LeftishBrit]

10. No they wouldn't. This is scaremongering of the worst sort

The Telegraph, once simply a Tory mouthpiece, has in the last two or three years become heavily influenced by Christian Right, so-called pro-life nuts, who try to portray any attempt to decriminalize assisted suicide as exactly the same thing as compulsory euthanasia for the elderly or sick, or at least (as in this case) as complete irresponsibility. It's closely linked to the anti-abortion and generally anti-secular movements.