Rational suicide:

[grandmoon]

Beverley Broadbent was not dying of a terminal illness, nor was she depressed or unhappy. But at 83, she wanted to die.

After living a rich and satisfying life, the Brighton East woman said the ageing process had come to feel like a disease that was robbing her of her physical and mental fitness. In February, she said she had had enough.

''I look well and I walk well so people think I'm fine. But I have so many things wrong with me,'' she said. ''The balance is gone. It's taking so much time for me to keep fit to enjoy myself that there's not enough time to enjoy myself.''

In several interviews with Fairfax Media, Ms Broadbent said she planned to take her own life so she could have a peaceful, dignified death. She said she did not want her health to deteriorate to the point where she had dementia or found herself in a nursing home with no way out.

The environmental activist chose to tell her story because she believed many elderly people wanted to die when they felt their life was complete, but lacked the means to go gently.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/rational-suicide-why-beverley-broadbent-chose-to-die-20130401-2h34...

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/rational-suicide-why-beverley-broadbent-chose-to-die-20130401-2h34...

[cherry*135]

As I said above I think there is a difference between someone whose quality of life is very very low (bedridden) and other elderly people who may just decide their life is complete and want to die.. even though they are physically active and have no ongoing pain.

[cherry*135]

 I often think of people here on the forum are younger because old people often don't use the net much. Let alone work out how to chat on a forum. 

That is quite insulting. The internet has been around for a decade or so.. there are plenty of senior people that know how to use it just like you do.

[the_bob_delusion]

 But I want them to be happy and live without pain. 

You can live to a great age and not have any pain. Do you think every resident in a retirement home (excluding those in the hospital section) spend their days in pain?

I speak of pain in many facets not just physical or psychological, e.g. pain of losing your dignity, your mind....etc etc. 

[jean2579]

I believe so. 

It sometimes amazes me when we see an animal suffering and in pain. We choose to end their suffering because it's the "HUMANE" thing to do. Yet we couldn't give the same respect for our fellow beings. 

I don't know where the line should be drawn but I'll fight the "no exception whatsoever" the right to life people argue for. 

I agree 100%.  

[the_great_she_elephant]

Have you asked your adult children if they would support you if you were to make

the choice of rational suicide?

If the time ever comes when I have to make that choice, I shall inform my children of my decision and hope, for their sakes, that they will support it. In the end though that will be theirs just as the decision to end my life (if I ever make it) will be mine.

[the_bob_delusion]

 I often think of people here on the forum are younger because old people often don't use the net much. Let alone work out how to chat on a forum. 

That is quite insulting. The internet has been around for a decade or so.. there are plenty of senior people that know how to use it just like you do.

That was just my opinion. I think those on here are exceptions to the rule. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

It's OK Bob, I am 72 and I don't feel 'old' ; but I have a had a great deal of experience of life and there is certainly a lot more of it behind me than there is in front of me. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

You may know your own mind now, but you can't see into the future and see if you will suffer from dementia, in which case you would no longer know your own mind.

If I had dementia the question of whether I would end my life would become irrelevent. This thread is about rational suicide

And as for seeing into the future - the partner of a close friend of mine couldn't see into the future either. He was fit and healthy and then, one day in his early sixties he had a cycling accident that left him a quadriplegic. Luckily he learnt how to drive a motorised wheelchair, using his mouth and a remote. When he decided he'd had enough he took a taxi to the local  waterfront and drove himself off a jetty.

[cat_mioux]

If she had considered it and weighed up all of her options and still thought that this was the right time for her, then YES? It is her life, her decision. Only she knows the right time.

Really?

Are people who are depressed able to weigh up all their options? Are people who see no end to their isolation and loneliness able to weigh up all their options? Are people living with pain able to think rationally? Take away a persons pain through better pain management and I suspect they'd be better able to 'weigh up' their options.

Bob, you think another persons pain is none of anyone's business?

We are not individual islands living in a vast ocean. All living creatures are connected. We, as the human race, have the ability to help other human beings. It's called compassion.

Of course another person's pain is my business and I'll do what I can. As a collective we can change the problems people suffer so they can see life as a gift, so they can feel they belong, so they can feel they have something to contribute.

If someone was about to jump off a bridge, would you really say to them "ok I'm going to let you jump, I'll even watch, because it's your life and it's none of my business".

[the_bob_delusion]

You may know your own mind now, but you can't see into the future and see if you will suffer from dementia, in which case you would no longer know your own mind.

If I had dementia the question of whether I would end my life would become irrelevent. This thread is about rational suicide

And as for seeing into the future - the partner of a close friend of mine couldn't see into the future either. He was fit and healthy and then, one day in his early sixties he had a cycling accident that left him a quadriplegic. Luckily he learnt how to drive a motorised wheelchair, using his mouth and a remote. When he decided he'd had enough he took a taxi to the local  waterfront and drove himself off a jetty.

You make a good point. We're debating "rational suicide" meaning, you've made a good rational judgement your medical condition is likely to get worst and hopeless and you're likely to lose your mind over the next few years. Is it certain? No. Is it rational and logical, Yes.