re: Opinion on Assisted suicide...its legal in 11 states

I'm more libertarian, but, like with guns and red flag laws (who defines a red flag vs. a yellow, etc.) I commiserate with folks who have relatives that want to go. My grandfather stopped eating months before he just... checked out and stopped breathing (I think he was 90ish). But, especially with the amount of mental illness in non seniors, the basic question starts with whether someone is mentally competent to make the decision (see one of my highlights below.)

Canada is instructive of how this shite goes off the rails quickly. Also realize that most of the countries have approved it have at least semi-socialized medicine, so these things get approved as a budget optimizer, and not something that has the best controls in place for the patient.

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Alan Nichols had a history of depression and other medical issues, but none were life-threatening. When the 61-year-old Canadian was hospitalized in June 2019 over fears he might be suicidal, he asked his brother to “bust him out” as soon as possible.

Within a month, Nichols submitted a request to be euthanized and he was killed, despite concerns raised by his family and a nurse practitioner.

His application for euthanasia listed only one health condition as the reason for his request to die: hearing loss.

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And FFS:

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The countries that allow euthanasia and assisted suicide vary in how they administer and regulate the practices, but Canada has several policies that set it apart from others. For example:

— Unlike Belgium and the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal for two decades, Canada doesn’t have monthly commissions to review potentially troubling cases, although it does publish yearly reports of euthanasia trends.

— Canada is the only country that allows nurse practitioners, not just doctors, to end patients’ lives. Medical authorities in its two largest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, explicitly instruct doctors not to indicate on death certificates if people died from euthanasia.

— Belgian doctors are advised to avoid mentioning euthanasia to patients since it could be misinterpreted as medical advice. The Australian state of Victoria forbids doctors from raising euthanasia with patients. There are no such restrictions in Canada. The association of Canadian health professionals who provide euthanasia tells physicians and nurses to inform patients if they might qualify to be killed, as one of their possible “clinical care options.”

— Canadian patients are not required to have exhausted all treatment alternatives before seeking euthanasia, as is the case in Belgium and the Netherlands.

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