The British are the second largest group of 'suicide tourists' to Switzerland

[Scott]

Any British citizens found fighting for ISIS should be diverted to Switzerland, no need to return the body either.

I think you are slightly off-topic, SD. I don't think that would be considered as suicide.

[Steely Dan]

Any British citizens found fighting for ISIS should be diverted to Switzerland, no need to return the body either.

I think you are slightly off-topic, SD. I don't think that would be considered as suicide.

If we're talking of assisted suicide I'd be only too happy to help

[Scott]

Any British citizens found fighting for ISIS should be diverted to Switzerland, no need to return the body either.

I think you are slightly off-topic, SD. I don't think that would be considered as suicide.

If we're talking of assisted suicide I'd be only too happy to help

For some very strange reason, I completely believe you

[thaibeachlovers]

I find it hard to believe that anybody would make jokes about this.

Can you not imagine or feel any sympathy for the suffering that people must go through to make such a decision?

No. I want to avail myself of such a service when I judge the time to be right, and I'm not even sick, so I know that it's a good thing that such a service is available. The shame is that currently one has to be so seriously ill that one has to suffer unnecessarily to get to that point.

I just hope society has seen the light in a few years time and allow assisted suicide for anyone, not just the terminally ill.

The thought of ending up in a nursing home eating slop and being parked in front of a tv all day fills me with such dread that I will do anything to avoid it.

[boomerangutang]

A family friend , with a debilitating disease, saved up his morphine patches and stuck them all on at once and so died of an overdose , alone .

Smart way to go. Morphine is somewhat like the line in 'Row Row Row Your Boat' song, "merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream."...and if you overdose, you pass out and thenyou're gonzoed. No agony or pain.

[rebeli]

I can understand. Have been a few times in Grweat Britain and after that had a very big urge to travel to Switzerland.

[thaibeachlovers]

A family friend , with a debilitating disease, saved up his morphine patches and stuck them all on at once and so died of an overdose , alone .

Smart way to go. Morphine is somewhat like the line in 'Row Row Row Your Boat' song, "merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream."...and if you overdose, you pass out and thenyou're gonzoed. No agony or pain.

Yes. However, one should be able to go to the Dr, say I've had enough, talk to a councellor, and get a prescription for enough to say goodbye cruel world. It's my life, why should I have to resort to leaping off a high building with all the downsides of that when a more pleasant way of passing over is available?

Too many busybodies around telling me what I can't do.

[Ulysses G.]

A family friend , with a debilitating disease, saved up his morphine patches and stuck them all on at once and so died of an overdose , alone .

Smart way to go. Morphine is somewhat like the line in 'Row Row Row Your Boat' song, "merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream."...and if you overdose, you pass out and thenyou're gonzoed. No agony or pain.

Agreed, but it is not as easy as one might think. It is not difficult to make a mistake on the dosage and wake up unharmed. Barbiturates are a lot more reliable.

[thaibeachlovers]

A family friend , with a debilitating disease, saved up his morphine patches and stuck them all on at once and so died of an overdose , alone .

Smart way to go. Morphine is somewhat like the line in 'Row Row Row Your Boat' song, "merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream."...and if you overdose, you pass out and thenyou're gonzoed. No agony or pain.

Agreed, but it is not as easy as one might think. It is not difficult to make a mistake on the dosage and wake up unharmed. Barbiturates are a lot more reliable.

Yes. The dose depends on the individual. I was looking after one old lady that was given the standard post op dose of 10mg of morphine and proceded to die on me. She only survived due to an all night intervention by the Dr and lots of Narcan.

[thaibeachlovers]

I have all sympathy and admiration for people who don't want to sit around suffering in pain waiting to die. Although if I'm ever in that situation I'd probably organise a big party and then top the night off with a BJ and a handful of pills.

But I was just wondering what they put on their immigration card as "Reason for visiting", because unless they're honest it must really pish off Swiss immigration.

I am with you on this one Chicog, but a handful of pills can often cause convulsions and vomiting. I think I want to have a little bit of assistance to get it right. It's not something I'd want to screw up.

I like the idea of a big party though. I'd sure feel bad if they had one after I was gone.

A rare case - I agree with Chicoq.

Add me to the list. It is pretty easy to screw up self-deliverance without a doctors help and end up even worse off. I think that it should be legal everywhere.

I doubt that children hoping for a big pay out in the will would support legal suicide, as who wouldn't spend it all if they knew the time of their departure?

[hawker9000]

A family friend , with a debilitating disease, saved up his morphine patches and stuck them all on at once and so died of an overdose , alone .

Smart way to go. Morphine is somewhat like the line in 'Row Row Row Your Boat' song, "merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream."...and if you overdose, you pass out and thenyou're gonzoed. No agony or pain.

If that's true, then why isn't it an acceptable means of execution?

[Scott]

A lot of advice here from people with no successful experience in the field!

If you want to go peacefully, then you do need someone with some medical experience. If you take a look at the 'botched' executions, it gives an idea of how difficult it can be.

I always thought that an OD on morphine would be a great way to go, but some time ago, I had surgery and I was given morphine for excruciating pain. Unfortunately, the pain-reliving effect was preceded by a dry heaves (I had no food or water in my stomach). Vomiting, choking and convulsing doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go.

I am for the clinics, especially if they have a little experience in what they are doing.

[robertthebruce]

For me, a couple of bottles of Vodka, some sleeping tablets, with the Bee Gees blaring in the background....,

Sounds the best for me.....

[watcharacters]

I wonder if Thailand will jump on this tourism idea.

.

Not likely as I had to drive a friend around to several vets before he found one who would put his dog out of its sad misery. I doubt a person would fare much better with the Thai government.

[uptheos]

I find it hard to believe that anybody would make jokes about this.

Can you not imagine or feel any sympathy for the suffering that people must go through to make such a decision?

Don't believe in euthanasia. It's a slippery slope that soon encroaches on who deserves to die. So, yes, I'll continue to ridicule this idea.

What a load of rubbish. The decision should be with the person who is ending their own life.

I can understand the need for medical approval in the case of mental illness, but if someone is riddled and terminal with cancer it should be no-one else's bloody business.

A work mate died screaming his friends told me. The hospital just not give him enough medication. Everyone should have the right to die with dignity, at a time of their choosing.

Yes and the time of that choosing should not be determined by the severity of an illness or by anyone else.

E.g. If a person is diagnosed with early dementia they should be allowed to opt out while they have the ability to sign a consent form and drink the medicine by themselves.

I also think there should be a right for people over a certain age to 'call it a day' if they are tired of life.

[moose7117]

as long as its only the Brits , i can't see a problem with it at all !

rob

[hawker9000]

Don't believe in euthanasia. It's a slippery slope that soon encroaches on who deserves to die. So, yes, I'll continue to ridicule this idea.

What a load of rubbish. The decision should be with the person who is ending their own life.

I can understand the need for medical approval in the case of mental illness, but if someone is riddled and terminal with cancer it should be no-one else's bloody business.

A work mate died screaming his friends told me. The hospital just not give him enough medication. Everyone should have the right to die with dignity, at a time of their choosing.

Yes and the time of that choosing should not be determined by the severity of an illness or by anyone else.

E.g. If a person is diagnosed with early dementia they should be allowed to opt out while they have the ability to sign a consent form and drink the medicine by themselves.

I also think there should be a right for people over a certain age to 'call it a day' if they are tired of life.

It's hard to disagree with that. The thing is, it's going to be very hard for a person to make up his own mind and carry out his intentions without a lot of government "nannying". Will people actually start being "coaxed" into such decisions when national health system resources are stretched, and the patient is pretty much without means? You've read the "died screaming" stories right here in this thread; will the healthcare bureaucracy simply "torture" its patients into opting for this by withholding pain meds? Will "informative" materials & lectures be forced on people? Or, OTOH, will this turn into another abortion-like debate. A "taking of innocent life" and all that. I want to stress that I agree with all you say: I just think governments are not merely unlikely, but actually incapable of letting the right-to-die option play out privately as it should, and conflict of interest charges will fly. And when they do, it's going to be difficult to get both sides of the story (not that it's anybody's business; but the media will inevitably sink its fangs into these events). It'll provoke some very emotional, hyperbolic, staged by who knows who, public displays I predict. If only we'd never bought into the never-realistic fiction that government can competently manage our lives for, and take care of, us.

[uptheos]

Dignitas will do the business for a definitive early diagnosis of dementia, as long as two doctors agree.

[Scott]

I wonder if the people running the clinics make house calls? I'd like to give them a call and accidentally give them my neighbor's address.

[uptheos]

I wonder if the people running the clinics make house calls? I'd like to give them a call and accidentally give them my neighbor's address.

Long way from Zurich.

But I get your drift

[balo]

I wonder if Thailand will jump on this tourism idea.

Good idea, if they did this they could charge entrance fees for tourists to enter the hotel/condo and ask them to jump from the balcony which they all would like to do . And more money for Thais and no complaints.

[Ulysses G.]

I always thought that an OD on morphine would be a great way to go, but some time ago, I had surgery and I was given morphine for excruciating pain. Unfortunately, the pain-reliving effect was preceded by a dry heaves (I had no food or water in my stomach). Vomiting, choking and convulsing doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go.

Opiates make most people nauseous the first time they try them. After a few doses that will stop and they become very pleasurable. If one keeps going for a few months (?), eventually they become addicted.