The death of Professor David Goodall

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Rikkitic

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#235957 11-May-2018 11:57

Not sure what forum to place this under but it deserves wider exposure.

Professor David Goodall was a renown scientist. At the age of 104 he was still 'healthy' (no terminal illness) but his quality of life had deteriorated and he decided he had had enough. Coherent and articulate to the very end, he organised his legal assisted suicide in Switzerland after a final visit with some family and a tour of the local botanical gardens, and signed off with no regrets.

Personally, I think the way he ended his life showed great courage and determination and I applaud it. Too many people are made to endure unbearable suffering to satisfy some biblical notion of the sanctity of life. Real sanctity of life is allowing those who are suffering with no hope of improvement to have a comfortable and dignified end. I hope the brave example of Professor Goodall will finally boot our parliament into approving the end of life legislation so we can start treating human beings as well as we treat animals.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

MikeB4

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#2013973 11-May-2018 12:03

We recently had a family member pass away after a long agonising death. Her beliefs would never let her do this but it would have been a far better and humane ending. I am sure her god did not intend long suffering deaths it's our science mixed with archaic sense of morals that allow this.

Professor Goodall showed that with dignity a human can pass on as we are supposed to. RIP

Benjip

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#2013981 11-May-2018 12:23

What's the latest on David Seymour's end of life bill?

Lias

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#2013994 11-May-2018 12:47

Having watched my grandfather die slowly and horribly over several years with severe dementia, my mother had made it very clear to me that should she end up like that, she expects me or one of my siblings to put a pillow over her face or something if no legal options are available.

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Geektastic

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#2014036 11-May-2018 13:41

My father spent 9 months in Intensive Care, unable to walk, barely able to talk, being fed by tube etc.

When I last saw him, in that situation, he looked me in the eye and mouthed the words "I want to die". I told my mother, who simply said I was mistaken. However, I know what I saw and I know my father well enough to know that he would certainly have preferred that to what for him, deprived of everything in life he enjoyed, would have been a waking nightmare from which he stood next to no chance of recovering.

Eventually (about 8 weeks after I saw him) the doctors took my mother aside and told her that, whilst they were quite good at keeping people alive, they usually did so only where there was a reasonable chance of recovery. In this case, they saw none. They withdrew life support other than pain relief and he died within 24 hours, which showed how dependent on that external support he had been.

Having witnessed that, I wouldn't ever deny someone the option to leave life on their own terms, to be honest.

rb99

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#2014053 11-May-2018 13:53

I saw in the Guardian an article announcing that Barbara Windsor has been diagnosed with Alzheimers. One of the comments was about a chap whose father was diagnosed with Alzheimers as well and soon afterwards diagnosed with cancer. His reaction was Thank God For That, and he refused all cancer treatment so as too avoid the decline of said Alzheimers.

Edit - Am grateful my mum lived into her 90's and died of a heart attack.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2017012 16-May-2018 17:03

Hmm, really must get my will and other related stuff sorted - no way am I hanging on to a miserable life where I have to get spoon-fed and have my butt wiped by someone else, with no chance of improvement.

I've made it quite clear to my spouse and kids, dont make me hang on for their benefit - it will only make me and them miserable.

Cheap casket, a few kind words, and into the crematorium.

Hopefully, a few mind-altering drugs before I go - I want a smile on my dial when I go ..

DaveB

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#2017113 16-May-2018 19:31

“I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.”

― Albert Camus