I had a friend watch this recently with a relative and they weren’t allowed to say what was in the cocktail (so I wonder if this person could get in trouble for making this public lol). There was also an attending physician who made sure the patient finished the whole thing. The second he stopped, they said he has to keep going and finish it. And they were right next to him to the whole time, inches from his face.
Sounds like this was a failure by the attending paramedic, who was too far or had the slowest reflexes in the world lol.
The second he stopped, they said he ha as to keep going and finish it
That’s kind of fucked up to me. Seems like it’s putting the doc in a real bad position. What if the patient stops halfway through because they freaked out and want to change their mind? Is it a matter of a slow death vs a quick one or can they be saved? If they can’t be saved is the doc empowered to force them to finish it so they don’t suffer?
I never would have thought the suicide treatment would be a cup of liquid you have to drink let alone something that’s more then one swallow. Seems like a button that just dumps it all into veins would be a much cleaner way to go.
I mean, what are they doing to do, put a gun to their head?
It sounds bad, but try to think of it in context - you give a child a drinkable antibiotic. They drink half, then make a face… So the doctor tells them they have to finish it in an authoritative voice
Would half a dose of antibiotics work? Maybe, but the full side is what has been tested to work as intended.
Would a half dose still be lethal? Would it be just enough to cause them terrible side effects when they wake up from a coma? Who knows.
They can’t actually do anything other than tell them to drink though, otherwise it’s not exactly assisted suicide
I’m sure there’s an answer to “what if they back out after drinking it?” and “why make it drinkable instead of through IV?”… Those kinds of programs are designed and thought through with extreme care, because it’s terrifying to the public
I am thinking about it in context that’s why I said it’s putting them in a really bad position. I’d really like to know the answers to those questions because the situation described in the post I responded to makes me real uncomfortable with the whole thing. There shouldn’t be a scenario where a doctor has to say “you have to finish it” when they’re assisting you with ending your life. The mental toll of that would be horrible.
Let’s look at it another way - what does a doctor do when a dying patient begs them for help? All they can do is make it as painless as possible, which is what the cocktail is for
To put it another way, this isn’t some ethical struggle, it’s advising a patient to properly take their medicine. It’s normal, they’ve probably done it thousands of times. People don’t like drinking medicine, and people in a lot of pain often act like children. They’ll resist taking it, lie, hide, or just whine, despite understanding it’s necessary
It’s basically reflexive healthcare providers to encourage patients to immediately power through - if you stop halfway and think about it, you can start gagging at the thought and make the whole experience worse
Plus, these people have already gone through a process and had people sign off, and you just asked them multiple times if they were sure. I don’t think it’s likely to change their mind after tasting it
But if they refuse to finish it, that’s that. The doctor can’t force them, giving medicine needs informed consent (outside of a few specific situations). If they revoke consent, all they can really do is try to talk you out of it
This situation doesn’t bother me much, but I’m a bit curious as to a couple others…
Let’s say they start drinking, but then immediately vomits. They’ve now taken an unknown dose, what then? Do you run to get a second batch? Is there one in the room?
If you want to read up on it, I’m guessing this is Canada. They’ll have FAQs for the public somewhere
To be clear I’m not saying the doctor is in the wrong here. I’m just criticizing the method. Having the patient drink it is putting them in a difficult position that I would think could be easily avoided with a different method that wasn’t dependent on the faculties of someone who is facing their imminent death.
Huh… Ya, no idea lol. I wonder. They ask you multiple before times before you drink it and between steps, so hopefully that wouldn’t happen but that’s a good question.
I had a friend watch this recently with a relative and they weren’t allowed to say what was in the cocktail (so I wonder if this person could get in trouble for making this public lol). There was also an attending physician who made sure the patient finished the whole thing. The second he stopped, they said he has to keep going and finish it. And they were right next to him to the whole time, inches from his face.
Sounds like this was a failure by the attending paramedic, who was too far or had the slowest reflexes in the world lol.
That’s kind of fucked up to me. Seems like it’s putting the doc in a real bad position. What if the patient stops halfway through because they freaked out and want to change their mind? Is it a matter of a slow death vs a quick one or can they be saved? If they can’t be saved is the doc empowered to force them to finish it so they don’t suffer?
I never would have thought the suicide treatment would be a cup of liquid you have to drink let alone something that’s more then one swallow. Seems like a button that just dumps it all into veins would be a much cleaner way to go.
I mean, what are they doing to do, put a gun to their head?
It sounds bad, but try to think of it in context - you give a child a drinkable antibiotic. They drink half, then make a face… So the doctor tells them they have to finish it in an authoritative voice
Would half a dose of antibiotics work? Maybe, but the full side is what has been tested to work as intended.
Would a half dose still be lethal? Would it be just enough to cause them terrible side effects when they wake up from a coma? Who knows.
They can’t actually do anything other than tell them to drink though, otherwise it’s not exactly assisted suicide
I’m sure there’s an answer to “what if they back out after drinking it?” and “why make it drinkable instead of through IV?”… Those kinds of programs are designed and thought through with extreme care, because it’s terrifying to the public
I am thinking about it in context that’s why I said it’s putting them in a really bad position. I’d really like to know the answers to those questions because the situation described in the post I responded to makes me real uncomfortable with the whole thing. There shouldn’t be a scenario where a doctor has to say “you have to finish it” when they’re assisting you with ending your life. The mental toll of that would be horrible.
Let’s look at it another way - what does a doctor do when a dying patient begs them for help? All they can do is make it as painless as possible, which is what the cocktail is for
To put it another way, this isn’t some ethical struggle, it’s advising a patient to properly take their medicine. It’s normal, they’ve probably done it thousands of times. People don’t like drinking medicine, and people in a lot of pain often act like children. They’ll resist taking it, lie, hide, or just whine, despite understanding it’s necessary
It’s basically reflexive healthcare providers to encourage patients to immediately power through - if you stop halfway and think about it, you can start gagging at the thought and make the whole experience worse
Plus, these people have already gone through a process and had people sign off, and you just asked them multiple times if they were sure. I don’t think it’s likely to change their mind after tasting it
But if they refuse to finish it, that’s that. The doctor can’t force them, giving medicine needs informed consent (outside of a few specific situations). If they revoke consent, all they can really do is try to talk you out of it
This situation doesn’t bother me much, but I’m a bit curious as to a couple others…
Let’s say they start drinking, but then immediately vomits. They’ve now taken an unknown dose, what then? Do you run to get a second batch? Is there one in the room?
If you want to read up on it, I’m guessing this is Canada. They’ll have FAQs for the public somewhere
To be clear I’m not saying the doctor is in the wrong here. I’m just criticizing the method. Having the patient drink it is putting them in a difficult position that I would think could be easily avoided with a different method that wasn’t dependent on the faculties of someone who is facing their imminent death.
Huh… Ya, no idea lol. I wonder. They ask you multiple before times before you drink it and between steps, so hopefully that wouldn’t happen but that’s a good question.