What are your thoughts on hospitals offering peaceful end-of-life options for patients with severe, incurable conditions?

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What are your thoughts on hospitals offering peaceful end-of-life options for patients with severe, incurable conditions?

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  1. einnaxcx Avatar

    I’m glad that they offer it

  2. OkAccess6128 Avatar

    The best thing, at least people don’t have to suffer to see their slow painful tragic end.

  3. soviman1 Avatar

    I think giving people that option is great. There should be protections in place to ensure it is not abused or used maliciously, but it should be an option.

  4. come_on_seth Avatar

    Have inoperable aggressive rare cancer. The last line of defense cancer drug stopped working.

    I am all for it.

    btw thanks Reddit for making the last few years of treatment more endurable.

  5. kxtten33 Avatar

    100% support it.

  6. juliuscaesarsbeagle Avatar

    As someone who is disabled, I’m absolutely in favor of it. We should be able to live our lives with dignity, and end them the same way

  7. Pancake_Parade Avatar

    We allow this option for animals we keep as pets and livestock. I see no reason that we shouldn’t offer a much needed reprieve from suffering to a person who will not improve and is suffering greatly.

  8. Any_Wafer_5004 Avatar

    It’s a slippery slope. There have been times in my life where I considered suicide but obviously never carried it out. I’m happy I didn’t because now my life is much, much better. While end of life services may feel right at the time they may not be right in the long run.

    Of course this isn’t a black and white issue. If someone has some sort of cancer that’s torturing them I can understand the argument for end of life services.

  9. SerenaYasha Avatar

    I hope if I ever get to the point I can’t take care of my basic needs, and or remember my family I can get this.

  10. mmpjd Avatar

    My father in law chose to go this route back in August. He was 81 years old and in extreme pain with terminal cancer. We all miss him dearly but feel he made the right choice for himself.

  11. helava Avatar

    It is literally the only humane option, and if you don’t believe that, then live with someone with dementia and/or a severe debilitating/painful/disorienting chronic condition.

    Not being able to call it a day, and being forced to live for an indefinite amount of time against your will is utter misery, and honestly, for anyone who says otherwise, I hope you never have to find out first or second-hand how wrong you are.

  12. SlideItIn100 Avatar

    I’m all for it.

  13. NewRiver3157 Avatar

    That’s the way it should be.

  14. tiffibean13 Avatar

    The right to die with dignity should be standard everywhere. Watch “How to Die in Oregon” for some perspective, it’s an incredible documentary. 

  15. Impossible_Cook_9122 Avatar

    I’m all for it. Obviously I feel they should see a psychiatrist or something before it is OKed. But if I’ve got a choice of going out horrible over a perhaps long period of time vs going out in my terms then I want the go out on my terms. Although one of the problems of course is mentally being capable of consent. I had a family member that suffered from Alzheimer’s they became quite suicidal during lucid points. And I feel there should be something that a person in their right frame of mind today can say if my mind slips I’m with ok with my mental decision on that matter if it comes up.

  16. SillySafetyGirl Avatar

    100% for it and glad to live in a country where we are open to it. MAID is not quite that, but it is an option. I’ve seen it done really well in hospital and out, and hope it remains an option for me when I get to that point.

  17. Musicman12456 Avatar

    I’d rather go on my own time, with a smile on my face, in good spirits, surrounded by people that care about me instead of wasting away to that of a weak, breathing skeleton, with those around me watching my slow inevitable death.

  18. ShihPoosRule Avatar

    100% for it. We should all be allowed the dignity of leaving this life peacefully and on our terms.

  19. THedman07 Avatar

    I think that while there are potential problems that could come up, being able to choose when to end one’s life in the case of terminal or chronic health problems should be considered a human right.

  20. Aunt_Anne Avatar

    Depends on if you are liking for hospice level peaceful and of life options where the goal is to make transition easier and less traumatic, or if you are looking for euthanasia. I’m all for the first and nearly every hospital has that available if you ask for it (that DNR is a must: no one will just take your word for it, you must have the signed document). There are some religious-based facilities/professionals that are less willing to accept a DNR. As for active euthanasia options: no, cost of care will become a decision factor for some (not all, but enough).

  21. dmmeyourfloof Avatar

    I disagree with this.

    Sadly I’ve met too many doctors who would extend this to people in order to avoid actually treating them.

    That’s true, even when it starts as being for “severe, incurable conditions”, it always gets expanded beyond that scope.

  22. namvet67 Avatar

    100% for it.

  23. Amy_Reddit01 Avatar

    Your life your choice, this only starts to get complicated when you are in a state of being unable to communicate what you want anymore, then who gets to choose?

  24. Gust_2012 Avatar

    I’m not a disabled person and I support this option.

  25. Fast_Pomegranate_235 Avatar

    Will need voting panels and physician opinions to avoid family and inheritor abuse.

  26. Background-Storm4003 Avatar

    If it doesn’t get twisted into some Oliver Twist classist shit I’ll be surprised.

    Oh you don’t have money to pay your bill? Thereby guaranteeing you a horrible life? We can help!! Just end it.

  27. HurtsDonut613 Avatar

    What’s incurable for you and what’s incurable for Jeff Bezos are not the same. In practice any kind of system like this will devolve into barely sanitized eugenics

  28. AnimatorDifficult429 Avatar

    In theory it’s great, but I think it can go sideways with greedy capitalism really quick. Also if you are religious, that can play a part as well

  29. res06myi Avatar

    Suicide should be considered an absolute human right for every single person regardless of medical status.

  30. Quailgunner-90s Avatar

    It’s a wonderful option and end to suffering and pain. It gives the patient power over something that they felt powerless over for sometimes years and years. And it gives closure to them and their families. Can’t advocate enough for it.

  31. Hoboken9258 Avatar

    Sounds like Canada , but it’s coming and should be debited.

  32. InterestingTank5345 Avatar

    I support it. You who don’t support it, don’t know how horrible it’s to see someone fade away, being in constant agony without anything that can be done to help them. It’s also horrible to suffer like that, I saw a kid in constant pain, where he couldn’t even live life properly because of that pain. Sometimes Death is the most merciful option you can give to another human, for everyone involved.

  33. ProjectKurtz Avatar

    In theory it sounds like a great option for people who are dying slowly and painfully to get a bit of peace at the end, in practice it would inevitably turn into eugenics. “The only procedure your state-provided medical coverage will pay for at this point is the Medical Assistance in Dying.”

  34. mistakenot51 Avatar

    Good. I think my grandmother put it best when she said ‘Muahaaaaahhhaaagh’ when I last saw her.

    Fucked with Alzheimers, very little chance of living out the next few days (possibly a week according to a doc) & had recently had her rib cage cage cracked to get to her heart to revive her.

    Anyone saying life is too precious to allow this needs to have a wander round the palliative care wards first.

  35. RedJerzey Avatar

    Once you’re 18. Sure.

  36. hospicedoc Avatar

    This is basically what hospices are for. Many hospitals have a hospice wing.

  37. The_Itsy_BitsySpider Avatar

    Canada tried this and it led to hospitals and medical doctors pushing end of life on people to an insane amount as the process for ending people’s lives was very lucrative. Look up the scandals of their MAiD system, they started about 10 years ago and now there are a bunch of court cases and scandals coming out of it. Some of the examples are just dystopic, what started out as a good natured attempt to help specifically the people you eant to help, spiraled out of control due to profit incentive.

    While emotionally I understand the situation, it feels like a very easy slippery slope that will kill those that could have still lived and found life. It gives hospitals an easy out to difficult patients, but also a means to financially benefit from their deaths.

  38. The_Itsy_BitsySpider Avatar

    Canada tried this and it led to hospitals and medical doctors pushing end of life on people to an insane amount as the process for ending people’s lives was very lucrative. Look up the scandals of their MAiD system, they started about 10 years ago and now there are a bunch of court cases and scandals coming out of it. Some of the examples are just dystopic, what started out as a good natured attempt to help specifically the people you eant to help, spiraled out of control due to profit incentive.

    While emotionally I understand the situation, it feels like a very easy slippery slope that will kill those that could have still lived and found life. It gives hospitals an easy out to difficult patients, but also a means to financially benefit from their deaths.

  39. amk1258 Avatar

    Same way I think about abortion, which is, I’m 95% sure I’d never do it, but I wholeheartedly support it being medically available because you never know when your situation may change and it’s now necessary. I absolutely empathize with people in situations where they are considering either of these procedures, and my heart breaks for them.

    Also, don’t turn this into an argument about abortion, it’s a very similar medical dilemma where lives/future lives are involved and just an opinion ❤️

  40. PM_me_ur_navel_girl Avatar

    We have that option for our pets, and if we don’t go through with it we’re seen as cruel owners. Why should we not offer ourselves the same kindness?

  41. Ok-Walk-7017 Avatar

    I am offended by the notion that I am required to allow someone else to make the determination whether my condition qualifies as “severe enough”. I just fucking hate it here and I want to leave. But I’m not allowed this mercy because I’m deemed “just depressed” and because other people who have recovered from depression are glad that they didn’t die. Fuck them too. Fuck anyone who tells me I don’t have absolute rights over my own life.

  42. bigpappa199 Avatar

    100% think this should be an option for everyone at or close to end of life. Why do they make us go through the pain of stage 4 cancer, instead of comfortably assisting us over the edge?? It’s hateful and all about the $$ they get from insurance or the government to keep us alive for another day!

    Sorry if I sound triggered, but I am a little! I have seen to much!

  43. SabotageFusion1 Avatar

    I don’t mind it until the hospital starts using it as a treatment because your healthcare is too expensive. Already happening in Canada :/

  44. 2baverage Avatar

    Hell yeah 👍 

    If a patient wants to go, then let them. If a hospital or medical staff can offer a peaceful death then I’m all the more for it. Let people die with dignity.

  45. Sc2016 Avatar

    I’m glad we got the option to pull my parents from the machines. They both wouldn’t have survived much longer without the machines. It would have only been torture for my siblings and me and for my parents.

  46. millijuna Avatar

    Am in Canada, where MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) is available and regulated.

    I’m in my mid 40s. Guy I grew up with just had his wife (same age) undertake this option. She had undergone cancer treatment, but it came back and metastasized into her bones.

    For those that are unaware, bone cancer is one of the most horrific ways that you can go. Excruciating pain, that not even the most powerful opioids can dull.

    Instead, she was able to say goodbye to her friends and family, and pass peacefully with those friends at her side on a lovely spring morning. Was it hard on everyone? Yes. But it was far better than having your body ripped apart by bone cancer.

  47. sfekty Avatar

    I would welcome this. I’m ready for this crap to be over. My kids would be very angry, but they don’t know what my life really is. I’m sure they would see such a decision as not caring about them, not loving them. That’s far from the truth. I used to share some of what I go through, but they thought I was being dramatic.

  48. Consistent_Dust_2332 Avatar

    I’m pro it being an option. You should have to speak to a Councillor or similar maybe a week or two before.

  49. vulchiegoodness Avatar

    im all for it. we do it for our pets. we could at least do it for our humans.

  50. NurseProject123 Avatar

    I am a hospice nurse. It is my life’s passion. My idea of a “good book” is something about dieing, death or grieving. I wish a program for end of life compassion was in place. I’d drive around all day offering hospice care and giving people medications to end their suffering. Of course, going through the proper medical approvals.

    To be there with someone as they die is such an honor. Wish we had a more robust program to give people relief from their end of life suffering.

  51. missThora Avatar

    The way my mom tells it, it was definitely the right option for my great grandma.

    She was diagnosed with cancer and had a few months left at most. The was only going to get worse. She was in her late 80s, and all her living family was in Norway, a 3h flight away.

    It allowed her to plan for a peaceful death with a view of her favourite forrest and allowed her daughter, my grandma, to fly out and be there.

    The only thing she missed was a few months in a bed, alone.

    In contrast, my grandma on the other side of the family didn’t have that option. She spent her last two months in so much pain she couldn’t enjoy anything and just slept most of the time. I didn’t recognise her the last time I saw her. She was a strong woman and a former nurse with a sharp wit. By the end, she was a bearly mumbling, skeletal old lady stuck in a sterile hospital, and I wish I never had to see her that way.

  52. rebeccaparker2000 Avatar

    I agree this should be an option as long as 2 Doctors agree and either the patient or family agree, but no life insurance payout because it was a choice and more importantly to prevent greedy people from making this decision for the money.

  53. Thomas5020 Avatar

    It just makes sense.

    If my dog is in pain, I can choose to have them put down. But if I am, I’ve just got to sit around and wait for an even more painful end? That’s not right.

  54. Ill_Consequence1755 Avatar

    As someone with chronic health issues, lots of pain, and a less than stellar quality of life, I’m all for it.

    I’m not there yet, but in the next few years, my life really won’t be worth living. I should be allowed to call it after a lifetime of illness and struggle.

  55. CaptainFartHole Avatar

    Human euthanasia should be legal. 
    We allow it for our pets because we don’t want them to suffer before they die but somehow we’re okay with allowing humans to suffer?  

  56. WinEnvironmental6901 Avatar

    Totally fine. I was almost diagnosed with one of those conditions not so long ago.

  57. aeraen Avatar

    100% behind it if the request is by the patient, either at the time or by advanced directive.

    I watched a relative die of Alzheimer’s. My fondest wish is that I could set a particular stage of the disease where I could call it a day, because once I reach that stage, I would not have the wherewithal to do so.

    Unfortunately, that means I will have to take the reigns myself, which will mean doing so years before I would really have to.

  58. Plus_Researcher7489 Avatar

    Should’ve been happening decades ago

  59. Oddish_Femboy Avatar

    Needs more spectacle.

  60. ilovespaceack Avatar

    Suicide is a human right

  61. Recombomatic Avatar

    i think it’s brilliant and 100% a sign of proper evolution.

  62. arrec Avatar

    I’m terrified of not being able to end my life this way in these conditions. There are fates worse than death, IMO. Same deal for dementia.

  63. TheDarkLordScaryman Avatar

    *Canadian medical system has entered the chat*

  64. Fatmanpuffing Avatar

    My aunt had skull cancer, was told they could get it all and she could live 20+ more years. They removed a large part of her skull, she could barely talk properly and was scarred heavily. They in fact did not get it all, and it moved to her brain. 

    Instead of dying 6 months later in pain and  who knows how else it would effect her, she got to go peacefully after smoking a cigarette(she didn’t smoke till after the brain cancer cause why not), drinking some nice whisky, and went peacefully while talking to my grandmother in her own home. My grandma didn’t even realize she had gone.

     It was the greatest treatment she probably received since the original diagnosis, especially considering she had to watch her husband go from leukaemia 

  65. darkerthanmysoul Avatar

    I think we should all be offered the option to choose to end our life peacefully.

    I’m 31 but there’s a very high likelihood I’ll end up with dementia and I am not spending my older years like that. To spend so many years just suffering when I could choose an out? Absolutely I’ll choose to not go through it.

    I also have incurable cancer which has limited options drug wise and I still feel I should be given a choice of how I’d wait to die.

  66. MiceAreTiny Avatar

    When my father needed euthanasia, I was relieved to be living in a country where this was possible. It makes no sense to make it legal to relieve your pet from sufferring, but you have to see grandma in a deteriorating inhumane untreatable condition, just because…. 

    Let people choose dignity. 

    Euthanasia does not lead to more dead, it reduces suffering. 

  67. Ok-Use-8890 Avatar

    Shit for this just put me in a cabin with food beer and some smoke and call me lost

  68. Natural-Judgment7801 Avatar

    I think it’s a good thing 

  69. ElCaminoInTheWest Avatar

    Something has to happen, because at the moment we offer the most egregiously pointless treatments and investigations to people who don’t want them, can’t refuse them, and will not benefit from them, purely to placate our weird culture where death is the only remaining taboo.

    Our population who are old, frail, exhausted, sick and gradually fading; we need to learn how to kindly and gently say goodbye and let them go.

  70. Lady_Irish Avatar

    Peaceful? Only for terminal patients? Booooo, I say! Bring on the Futurama suicide booths! (joke)

    Serious answer, I think it’s good. People argue that assisted suicide is selfish, but what’s selfish is forcing someone to exist in agony just so you don’t have to miss them sooner. It’s torturing someone at length just to put anothers mourning on temporary hold, and that ISN’T good.

  71. laneybuug Avatar

    I am all for it as the daughter of someone who has incurable cancer. I’m for anything to make the end more comfortable after fighting so hard for so long.

  72. Captain-Obvious-69 Avatar

    Nope. Violation of the oath.

  73. Infamous_Feeling_545 Avatar

    If you’ve ever had someone beg you with all sincerity to kill them because they can’t do another day in the pain that they suffer, and you know that their condition is incurable and they’ve cycled through all the meds and pain relief available and none of it works, then you’d know how utterly selfish it is to expect these people to carry on just because it might make others feel uneasy to allow them to die.

  74. DBrennan13459 Avatar

    If the patient and their loved ones have been properly consulted and all had agreed to it being the best option, I see no reason against it. 

  75. BatFace Avatar

    I used to be on the fence, I could see the reasons for but also some of the concerns for abusing it. Then, I spent 4 months taking care of my grandma on hospice and realized I just had to keep her comfortable while she slowly dehydrated and starved to death. Then those of us who took care of her had to defend ourselves to other family members who accused us of overdosing her on purpose.

    Tammy I fucking WISH I could have done that while you pittered around her house not doing anything! BTW, Tammy, why were you at her house packing up valuables while the rest of us were at the funeral? But no, lets make sure everyone is focused on who gave the last dose of morphine, how sleep deprived they might have been, and how much it actually was. Yeah, that’s the important part.

  76. Esmiline Avatar

    I’m pro-euthanasia, worked in a nursing home for too long not to be.

    I do wonder though, how you all feel about euthanasia for children. I live in Belgium, and kids have been allowed to ask for more than a decade now.

    The rules are much, much stricter for a kid than for an adult though, their parents or legal guardian has to give their permission, as well as the consent of a paediatric psychologist, situation has to be terminal, and they have to be conscious and of sound mind.

    There’s no minimum age, afaik, but they’re obviously not going to allow a 4yo assisted suicide.

  77. Hiltoyeah Avatar

    It’s crazy as an advanced civilisation we let so many people suffer unnecessarily.

  78. jesuspoopmonster Avatar

    Good in theory but there would need to be a lot of oversight to ensure it isnt abused and the patient is in a state of mind to make the decision

  79. iamnogoodatthis Avatar

    They already do. It’s called palliative care, and it’s pretty good. I wish this was more honestly discussed when this topic comes up.

  80. absentmindedlurking Avatar

    firmly believe that you should be allowed to die how you want. If you’re of sound mind and want to make an end-of-life medical decision, that’s your right.

  81. TTungsteNN Avatar

    I wish chronic depression counted

  82. neanderthalman Avatar

    We have it now. It’s fantastic. My father will ultimately need it. Beats starving to death.

  83. grandmai0422 Avatar

    Patient choice

  84. Bdr1983 Avatar

    I’m from the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal. It’s a complex process to have it approved, but it’s a things.
    Recently it was also approved for mental suffering without any outlook for a cure or massive improvement in life quality.
    I’m all for it. I have always said, if I catch a disease that can’t be cured, I want to go out on my own time. I don’t want to put my family through seeing me suffer, and I don’t want to suffer myself. Give me a peaceful death while I am still mentally there.

  85. CandlestickMaker28 Avatar

    In theory it’s a great idea, but you have to be really fucking careful and put in a lot of regulations or it will be abused. One of the ugliest times when it comes to family is when there’s a death and inheritance money is on the line. Throw in “if grandpa ends it now, we’ll get the money sooner” and it’s even uglier.

  86. No-Difference-2847 Avatar

    Would love the option. Would give me the up and go to get everything sorted by the determined date,  then could go into the hospital get euthanised, depression cured!

  87. Griffie Avatar

    As a chronic pain patient, with no cure, and each year bringing on more issues with more pain, I would support it. One stipulation I’d suggest would be to keep all politicians out of any of the decision making.

  88. Fianna9 Avatar

    We do it for pets and call it “humane”

    Why won’t you do it for your loved ones?

  89. Any-Conversation7485 Avatar

    It should be an option for everyone, whether ill or not. I’m a firm believer there should be places people should be able to go to end their lives if they wish. Its nobody else’s business.

  90. The_Red_Tower Avatar

    I’m here for it honestly. I also remember when my grandmother was on her last legs how frantic we were to keep her. She lost all higher brain function. She never even recognised me ever again. I just wanted two more minutes with her but she died before we got to the hospital. These are the two wars I go through in my head every time I see this question posed.

  91. FracturedNomad Avatar

    I’m all for it.

  92. Alternative-Rope-721 Avatar

    In principle, I support the idea. But in a profit-driven healthcare system like ours, it would be abused. We’re not mature enough as a country to handle it responsibly. The same system and “professionals” that fueled the opioid crisis shouldn’t be trusted with assisted suicide.

  93. thehermit14 Avatar

    It’s already happening, defacto. Certainly in the UK.

  94. Baloney_Boogie Avatar

    Love it. Hell, offer it for anyone sick of this slaving meat-wheel.

    Free humans should have the option to die when/ how they want.

  95. 314159265358979326 Avatar

    About a month ago, on a sunny Sunday morning, we all gathered in my father-in-law’s hospital room. We talked and made jokes and said goodbye, much cheerier than I’d imagined.

    He’d been given a 0% chance to survive, with an estimated three months to live, four months prior. He was close but probably had another three weeks of some of the worst pain known to man otherwise, in addition to hallucinations, a complete lack of dignity, and other problems.

    His last words, other than consenting to the procedure, were a joke. Then the doctor gave him a comically large syringe full of Valium which allowed him to relax for the first time in ages, then propofol to put him to sleep, and then something else to finish the job. We paid our respects and shuffled out.

    I’ve witnessed a number of deaths due to cancer, and they were all completely horrific. The “dying” part of this one was still pretty bad, but the death itself brought peace, not just to FIL, but to the whole family too.

  96. zep2floyd Avatar

    I’m ok with it as long as they aren’t doing it as a way to get your organs, I wholeheartedly believe if someone doesn’t want to be here anymore it’s their choice and the healthcare system should make it easier for them instead of making things difficult and unsafe…

  97. corkscrewfork Avatar

    I’m all for it.

    I’ve never seen the way that people can suffer towards the end, but I’m not ignorant of the reality. There are, inevitably, situations where medical intervention would no longer be effective or offer any improvement to quality of life. I would want people to have that option available to them; even if they don’t take it, the fact that they can have control over SOMETHING in regards to the way their condition has gone can be medicine of its own kind.

  98. DrDontBanMeAgainPlz Avatar

    Disagree, offer it for everyone

  99. Legitimate_Error_550 Avatar

    I don’t wanna be hooked up to a bunch of tubes waiting to clock out. Shit, let me do it myself at that point. I don’t want to waste away.

  100. mentalcontrasting Avatar

    It’s the humane thing to do. People should have the option to stop overwhelming pain with some sense of control and dignity.

  101. existentialgoof Avatar

    I believe that if we don’t have the right to end our lives, then we are born into de facto slavery. Therefore, I am passionately in favour of people having a way of accessing reliable and humane ways of ending their life. They shouldn’t require to have a severe and incurable medical condition to do it, either.

  102. _bisexualwarlock Avatar

    I hope we all get the choice of euthanasia if we are mentally capable at the time of making that decision for ourselves.