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Society & Culture
Assisted Suicide
Bioethics
Sanctity of Life

“I think the lesson for Holyrood — and for Westminster too — is that there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ assisted suicide bill. Instead of offering death to the sick, we invite the MSPs who lost the vote today to transfer their campaigning energies to offering them better palliative care instead.” - CPost

Discussion

Thu, 03/19/26

My mother was, on her deathbed, greatly blessed (as were we) by the service of a palliative care doctor who coached us on what was going on, but there is a downside to palliative care in that sometimes it can be an excuse not to give ongoing care--just keep them comfortable. It's an appropriate comment in this case, but we need to remember that assisted suicide seems to migrate from truly terminal illness to persistent, but irritating illnesses--i.e. people are choosing it for depression and the like.

Like it or not, our societies are the victims, it seems, of medical care that sometimes seems to keep us alive better than it helps us to thrive. The stroke my father-in-law had in 2024 would probably have been lethal in the 1980s--and we get to work hard to make good decisions for how their care and such is handled, whereas previously we would have simply been executing the will.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Fri, 03/20/26

I find it funny that when the same medicine is used for assisted suicide it is called "compassion" and when it is used to carry out the death penalty it is called "cruel and unusual punishment".