slowsider wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 12:28 pm
Noggin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:41 am
Humans are weird in that the 'right' thing to do seems to be to preserve life, at the cost of
quality of life/happiness.
Iirc you were very miserable before your shoulder revision and physio. You've even remarked that the NHS patched you up but medical science elsewhere has got you back on your bike (and contemplating other ways to injure yourself). Can you see where I'm going with this?
Not really, no! See below response to your second comment -
slowsider wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:59 pm
Screwdriver wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:39 pm
slowsider wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 12:28 pm
Iirc you were very miserable before your shoulder revision and physio. You've even remarked that the NHS patched you up but medical science elsewhere has got you back on your bike (and contemplating other ways to injure yourself). Can you see where I'm going with this?
I can see where you're going and it's bang out of order. Noggin has the perfect right to express an opinion on such a deeply philosophical conundrum without being "disqualified" due to personal circumstance. A mild or temporary disability is not really in the same topic area as assisted suicide.
I think you're being rude.
Far from disqualifying Noggin, I'm suggesting that people's perception of quality of life can be distorted by
an absence of hope. Ive been there. Without knowing what other treatments there are, lack of hope could lead into a depressive spiral. Even without physical injury people can choose to end it.
I was never in a position that my quality of life was such that I would have chosen to end things. Mostly because I have a lot of friends with missing limbs, false limbs, friends in wheelchairs etc etc. If the pain in my shoulder couldn't have been managed, then I'd have told them to remove the arm and I'd learn to live with a false one. People do. There was never a lack of light at the end of the tunnel. It felt dark often, but I knew that there were still options and so no, your suggestion does not match, or even get close to my situation
Mentally I've often wanted to opt out, but I wouldn't ever do that because I have more reason to fight my battles than to quit (and I've seen what someone committing suicide does to those left behind - and been a 'left behind' 3 times. Not an option for me)
My feeling is that a lack of quality of life, where deterioration is the only way, is not something people should be forced to live with. My Grandmother was over 100 when she died. From around 80 she had a lack of hearing, lack of eyesight and in the last 8-10 years serious lack of mobility. She had been an active 70+ year old, playing bridge regularly with friends, living independently, seeing, hearing and talking with friends and family. From around 80 she deteriorated fast on the sight and hearing part, and osteoporosis added pain and a crumbling spine. So for a good 8+ years she lived in almost silence, almost dark and massive amounts of pain - but with all her faculties, so she knew how bad her life was. And no, I don't believe she was happy. But as a family, it wasn't discussed. (TBF, there is a good chance she hung on - or her kids wanted her to hang on - until she was 100 cos she beat my other grandmother and it was always a milestone that was talked about, when she wasn't telling anyone who would listen that 'this' would be her last birthday/christmas/family gathering/trip out etc etc etc)
THAT is the sort of situation I would not want to have forced on me. While I can still do, or enjoy from the sidelines, sports and hobbies I enjoy/love, then no, zero comparison
I do sort of get what point you are trying to make but no it is not even close