Be Excellent To Each Other

I deserve to die for that extra apostrophe. Apologies, friends.

Anyone ever suffered from locked out syndrome? I had to call a locksmith last time.

Because my nose now stings, and my desk is covered in Sprite, I'm not nomming that.

I really struggle with this, albeit I can't avoid the conclusion that it is surely reasonable to allow someone who has no quality of life, is desperately/terminally ill, the right to a dignified, self-determined death. After all, one would not allow a dog to suffer, so why a human being?

That said, it's a right can of worms of course. You'd need massive safeguards to ensure there wasn't a "Logan's Run" effect whereby lonely, vulnerable old people in chronic health and failing mental faculties didn't do this 'so as not to be a burden' etc. Furthermore, I have real problems about turning off life support machines on unconscious people etc. (As I think I mentioned, my sister-in-law had a massive heart attack a few years back and we were told there was no hope of her ever coming out of coma/regaining consciousness on *any* level due to brain death, let alone recovering, and as such they were going to switch off her ventilator imminently, after we had all said our goodbyes. She's now 100% recovered; I've never seen doctors, nurses and consultants weep before).

I also think the current status quo is completely disingenuous. I don't work in the medical professions but I know people who do. Let's just say that any notion of a merciful, hastened death via whatever means supposedly never happening in the UK (let's say for arguments sake via "turning the wick up" on morphine?), is not my anecdotal understanding of the situation?

Excellent article in The Guardian about this today, by BEEX's favourite journo, Polly Toynbee!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... nicklinson

Not trying to be insensitive, but he moves his eyes, right?

Could they not rig up an eyetracker device (not a new technology either) to detect him looking at a certain point on the screen that will trigger a lethal injection/fatal electric shock/drive his wheelchair forward off a cliff? As they were saying on the news yesterday, can't you provide the MEANS to commit suicide without it being a crime, and that it's the person who in effect pulls the trigger that determines whether it's suicide or murder?

If he's bumped off by one of his family I doubt any judge would send that person down for more than a few months as a token gesture.

Pillow over the face one night, job done. It may not be legal but it would be right.

A good article there, but I personally think Toynbee too easily brushes aside genuine concerns about often neglected, lonely, depressed old people, in failing health but not mortally so, feeling a 'burden' either to their families, their peers or even simply medical staff/Society at large, taking such steps. The thin edge of the wedge is there for all to see and so are the possibilities of unintended consequences?

I basically agree with 95% of the sentiment of this piece but would be very, very fearful of bad legislation on this one, for obvious reasons. I do think something must be done (shame our useless politicians lack either the spines or political will to set wheels in motion), but not before much consultation, a good hard look at the Dutch model and an honest, real-world appraisal of what actually currently goes on in UK hospitals and hospices as well.

The NHS would probably kill dozens of patients who were asleep after cack handed vote-chasing legislation decided to "let staff on the front line" make the call to "avoid prolonging suffering".

What a twist! Cue murder investigation.

All sorted then.

Thank God someone in his family finally saw sense.

This is unhelpful

Hopefully the authorities will turn a blind eye and let this fade away, but I suspect the media will jump on it and force the issue again.

Let's hope they like bummings from burly men.

I think that's a bit unfair, surely they were just supporting him in his decision to try to do it legitimately in the hope that it would help others in his predicament.

The investigation is clearly going to form the basis for season 2, with the trial in season 3, I reckon.

It'll be completely impossible for the authorities to turn a blind eye due to the publicity this has already received so regardless of what the media say from now on in someone is pretty much guaranteed to go to jail over this.

Maybe. Maybe they were just too scared of the consequences.

Unless he really did die from natural causes. Although I agree that the timing is... Unfortunate.

Well, yes, I'm assuming here that he didn't die from natural causes because it's stunningly unlikely given the timing.

I think so, but I don't know much about LIS. Do people tend to die early and with little warning?

I suppose it depends on quite a few factors, it's possible but given that he's been suffering from it since 2005 it does seem a big coincidence. I'm sure that he would have done everything he could to not expose a member of his family to prosecution. It's hard to imagine a worse situation to be in really.

I don't think that anyone is trying to hide anything here.

Hang on, how the fuck could he communicate that?

He could communicate by blinking.

He could communicate by moving his eyes, and software turned movement into letters.
It'd probably be faster than the method Steven Hawkin uses, which is to move his cheek against a button.

Someone should get him a Swype keyboard.

Given it was apparently pneumonia, I dont really see the scope for a murder investigation.

The timing alone would be suspicious enough to trigger an investigation, I'd have imagined.

Pneumonia isn't natural causes is it?

Nobody dies of 'natural causes', there's always an element of something.

I suspect they mean 'no foul play'.

I do. Pneumonia is just the thing that finishes people off (hence its insanely high mortality rate - 7% worldwide) - plenty of things can cause it.

On the other hand, we shouldn't be surprised at this. It seems like it shouldn't be a coincidence, but it probably is. The strange thing about coincidences isn't that they happen, it's that they don't happen more often.

FTFY

Hm.

Well quite. I always thought that "natural causes" meant old age and the complications of such. A quick google has shown that natural causes is defined as illness, heart attack etc... basically anything that wasn't caused by someone or something external.

That's my learning for the day done.

Ask me about fly husbandry.

Eh? I'm not talking hippy bullshit. A 'coincidence' isn't really one at all, normally. Here, the gentleman and his family obviously had used up a lot of energy and mental strength fighting the court case, and it was too much for him. Seems a coincidence, but isn't really.

I think myp is actually right for once.

Its hardly uncommon in people who cant move for fairly obvious reasons.

I know that, but it sounds like you are.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

I wasn't saying that the timing would cause someone to be arrested for murder, I was saying that it would be enough to get them to investigate. Having the coroner sign off that no foul play was involved would be sufficient 'investigating'.

Also, everyone dies of natural causes. Almost always lack of blood to the brain.

Would it have been better had I put 'coincidences' in inverted commas?

Did you know that if you got 23 people together in a room, the probability of two of them sharing a birthday is over 1/2?

Interestingly

"The terms `unnatural death' and `death by natural causes', are not defined by statute even though provisions such as Regulation 41(1)(d) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987, and Section 8(1) of the Coroners Act 1988 use the term `unnatural' in relation to the requirement to investigate a death further."
http://www.bristol-inquiry.org.uk/final ... _18_12.htm

Unnatural death means being trampled to death while attempting to have sex with a horse.

FTFY

I'm going to Hunt you down, Maaaaan.