Comments on: William Lee and the “I’m lucky to be alive” patient

By: Dave Bush

Dave Bush — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:30:22 +0000

To put the same facts in a different perspective – it is entirely likely that precisely because assisted suicide is illegal this poor woman had to plan to do it alone and in secret.

If assisted suicide was legal, she could have sought appropriate counseling, safe in the knowledge that if it failed to change her plans, she would then receive assistance in with her plans.

By: Ian Barley

Ian Barley — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:59:29 +0000

As a “failed suicide” from my twenties I was interested in this article. I believe that access to means is the determining factor in the rate of success of different groups of suicides. But I’m not an expert and am ambivalent about any blanket measures that make suicide a more clumsy outcome for the terminally ill who chose that course of action.
What did impress me was that the descriptive passages in para 1 & 6 are the most effective and clear description of my experience of suicidal depression that I have ever found, anywhere.

By: Dr Mike Launer

Dr Mike Launer — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:32:02 +0000

I was attracted to this article by the title. I regularly hear the phrase ‘lucky to be alive’ from PTSD patients with minimal physical injury, usually, just whiplash from a road traffic acident. The phrase is usually put in their mind by an overzealous ambulance or A&E staff member who passes an off the cuff remark about the patient being just two cm from death. In my experience this guarantees PTSD. Maybe we need a national anti-PTSD campaign.

By: Matiram Pun

Matiram Pun — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:49:51 +0000

Thank you Dr Lee,

This is great article indeed. The access to the information and service for such acts will definitely lead to many other (?) premature suicide among others than intended (terminally ill).

I think access to such information should be restricted only to those terminally ill or the people who fall in that category.

Best wishes,
mati

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:35:04 +0000

Nitrogen is cheaper and that’s how I intend to go if I am ever terminally ill. I don’t want my last words to be all high pitched a squeaky.

By: EB

EB — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:02:51 +0000

This surely is a very interesting article. In the presented case, all worked out for the best. Undoubtedly, in patients with depression, far other means than internet-provided suicide instructions are necessary and desirable. However, in terminally ill as well as old, multimorbid patients, the situation seems to be a diffent one to me. Modern medicine occasionally prolongs lives beyond reasonable boundries.

As the demographic structure of our society reveals, the question of euthanasia is one that will undoubtedly be increasingly discussed in future. It remains a personal choice of each individual. Depriving the public of facts about this topic will not make the questions in the heads of the concerned evaporate. An open discussion is the way we need to go and I thank the BMJ for reporting on respective cases in the past.
I do not agree with Dr Papagiannis who states that euthanasia is not consistent with a “firm belief in life”. I believe that in specific cases, it is a way to end your own life in dignity.

By: Dr Anthony Papagiannis

Dr Anthony Papagiannis — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:41:59 +0000

Thank you for this very timely entry. It is well known from the American experience that availability and easy access to handguns means an increased number of violent deaths (and suicides). The same presumably applies to other means of self destruction. Unfortunately the BMJ has recently chosen to publish the case of a COPD patient submitted to medical euthanasia in the Netherlands. When mainstream medicine sends out such signals to patients and the general public, it is no wonder that demand for such “services” grows. We should be more firm in our belief in life and overall support for depressed or terminally ill people, rather than leading them to the exit.