A button for the over 90's

[biggs682]

My mother has all of a sudden come up with the idea that there should be a life ending button for people once you reach 90 .

No real idea where this has come from in all fairness. Mum is in good health for her age IE 90 in January.

And if she hadn't smashed her hip during COVID she would be a lot better.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Drago]

Politicians should have one fitted age 18.

 

[Venod]

It's a very observant thought from your mother whilst she still has the capacity for such thought provoking things, the
MIL was as bright as a button at 90 and could shame me at cryptic crosswords, she is now 101 and bed bound with serious dementia, I don't know the answer to the old age dementia problem but the MIL situation is painfull to observe.

 

[PaulSB]

If your post is meant to be taken literally I would fundamentally disagree with your mother. I'm not necessarily against assisted dieing but the idea that all a 90 year old has to do is press a button is both dangerous and ridiculous.

Imagine an individual having a really bad day. I know I have at a much younger age. Instead of facing life, seeking help one might just press the button. Then it's too late.

 

[grldtnr]

I am minded for assisted dying, , ( not me personally at the moment!), but it's all a bit naff discussing this as an issue, once brown bread dead, how or what is authority going to do to you?
I mean yer dead, Fred.
If things get that bad ,that you wish to pass over the River Styx you might do any number of things, that will cause collateral damage.
The issue is if to allow a third party to assist, which I suspect is the pontificating.

 

[Mo1959]

Hmmmm. Not sure about that. All down to how healthy you still are.


https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a45313969/dot-sowerby-sets-half-marathon-record/

 

[Drago]

If your post is meant to be taken literally I would fundamentally disagree with your mother. I'm not necessarily against assisted dieing but the idea that all a 90 year old has to do is press a button is both dangerous and ridiculous.

Imagine an individual having a really bad day. I know I have at a much younger age. Instead of facing life, seeking help one might just press the button. Then it's too late.

Perhaps a button thet requires 3 presses, each a week apart?

If the next press doesn't arrive on the 7thnday then the whole thing resets.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Perhaps a button thet requires 3 presses, each a week apart?

If the next press doesn't arrive on the 7thnday then the whole thing resets.

Within a month, there would be an automatic button pressing device available on Amaz0n.

That's not to be flippant, more that I think that the minimum failsafe would be 'assisted' i.e. a third party involved, and some form of consultancy beforehand.

This whole issue is currently taboo in Germany, for obvious historical reasons, in fact I think it's considered unconstitutional, although I don't know if that's ever been tested. I know there have been cases of people going into Switzerland for this purpose.

 

[grldtnr]

Perhaps a button thet requires 3 presses, each a week apart?

If the next press doesn't arrive on the 7thnday then the whole thing resets.

....either that or the buttoneer had 'carked' it.
Death is a laughing matter, 'Coz this living lark makes life hard!!!!
Not being morbid, but kicking buckets is the surest thing going!

 

[oldwheels]

Not too sure about that idea.
As an 89 year old I admit to having bad days and wonder why I bother trying to carry on with life but so far have managed.
I was a carer for my wife who had Parkinson's and her life at the end was not a garden of roses so have some idea of the problems age degeneration brings.

 

[Drago]

....either that or the buttoneer had 'carked' it.
Death is a laughing matter, 'Coz this living lark makes life hard!!!!
Not being morbid, but kicking buckets is the surest thing going!

I've often said I want to die heroically and in a manner that causes as much paperwork as possible.

Fighting terrorists trapped in a nuclear reactor building while an escaped tiger prowls, and then with a dying gasp my body collapses on the boundary of three police force areas should create paperwork for the Civil Nuclear Dibble, MI5 and MI6, the RSPCA, London Zoo, the Office For Nuclear Regulation, National Crime Agency, three different police forces and, with a bit of luck, TV Licencing.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I'm sure I read somewhere that when Captain Cook first landed on Tahiti he realised that Tahitians, when they reached the age of 70, were strangled by their children. I presume it was because resources were limited and someone of that age was seen as only a drain on resources. I can imagine that either a. there were a lot of 69 year olds on Tahiti or b. a lot of childless elderly.
How about that plan (with a different age obs)?

 

[Andy in Germany]

I'm sure I read somewhere that when Captain Cook first landed on Tahiti he realised that Tahitians, when they reached the age of 70, were strangled by their children. I presume it was because resources were limited and someone of that age was seen as only a drain on resources. I can imagine that either a. there were a lot of 69 year olds on Tahiti or b. a lot of childless elderly.
How about that plan (with a different age obs)?

Something similar existed in Japan, where in times of famine the family would carry elderly relatives into the mountains and leave them there, knowing they'd succumb to cold, thirst and wild animals. This meant they could sidestep the Confucian ethic of "respecting parents" because thy haven't actually harmed their parents, they just took them into the mountains. Nothing to see here.

 

[Drago]

I'm sure I read somewhere that when Captain Cook first landed on Tahiti he realised that Tahitians, when they reached the age of 70, were strangled by their children. I presume it was because resources were limited and someone of that age was seen as only a drain on resources. I can imagine that either a. there were a lot of 69 year olds on Tahiti or b. a lot of childless elderly.
How about that plan (with a different age obs)?

A bit like Logan's Run but with men in grass skirts and no Jenny Agutter.

 

[welsh dragon]

My mum was doing her own cooking and cleaning and going going to church at the age of 93. By the time she was 97 she couldn't do any of that and was bedbound having to have carers in the morning and night. She often told me she didn't want to live like that and wanted to go as it wasn't living at all. Mum finally passed away 2 years ago at the age of 101. To see such a funny vibrant lady be like that was heartbreaking and if she had had a button, she would have used it even though her religion sees that as a mortal sin.

I would totally be in favour of a button if that was what they really wanted later in life. It's a very contentious subject. I read today someone who said " we know how to keep people alive however we don't know how to help people die even if they are in intolerable pain".