Euthanasia and assisted dying.

yes they do really believe its a cost saving measure!

and again, it is in fact the person choosing to end their life, not us! 

I’ve already agreed that we’re not disputing that.

how do you chose to alleviate the suffering of others?

Depends on the cause or causes of their suffering. Sometimes it’s as simple as acknowledging that they are suffering, other times it’s more complicated and requires advocating for greater resources which the State is often reluctant or unable to provide, and I’m reliant on charity from private individuals by convincing them to part with some of their resources in order to assist in alleviating the causes of other people suffering. You’ll have to allow for the fact that I’m not at liberty to discuss individual circumstances and would rather keep it to discussing the topic of euthanasia within a broader context as it pertains to society as a whole, as opposed to how it can be proposed as a solution to individual suffering. People who are suffering generally tend to be aware of the possibility, the only thing lacking is the opportunity.

great, so you know what it actually feels like to watch a person suffer, how did/do you manage the trauma you experienced from such experiences?

By putting it in perspective is how. It’s not as though it hasn’t occurred to me that I too could end my own suffering by ceasing to exist, but I’m aware of the suffering and pain that would cause for other people, who then might choose to end their suffering in the same manner… and by now you’re already acknowledging where that chain of events goes in terms of it’s impact on society. As the author, philosopher and civil rights activist Audre Lorde points out - we do not live single-issue lives:

https://wlrc.uic.edu/news-stories/we-do-not-live-single-issue-lives/

Yes, the nursing homes is just the tip if the iceberg. If we had euthanasia here there would very quickly be pressure put on the elderly and disabled to take that option. Those pressures would indirectly come from the state and more directly from the families.

I can agree on families unfortunately

but what if all available resources are exhausted, what if society simply doesnt have a solution to their suffering, what if all known medical sciences resources have been exhausted, but yet, the person suffers, what then?

Then inevitably they shall continue to suffer, is the obvious answer to that question. Take for example people whose suffering is caused by having to acknowledge the mere existence in society of other people who do not share their values - there's two ways their suffering can be eliminated, neither of which would be remotely beneficial to society.

what do you mean by the term, 'the only thing lacking is the opportunity', the opportunity of what?

I thought it would have been obvious, given it is the topic of the discussion - the opportunity to be killed in the manner in which they would wish to be killed.

but what if we maintain the current state of allowing those to suffer, to continue to suffer, what about the pain and trauma that is induced, not just to the sufferer, but to their loved ones surrounding them, that are watching them suffer, what if we provided an alternative such as euthanasia, it might just prevent some of the pain, suffering, trauma etc etc, induced in all!

Well, in much the same way as when I witnessed the prolonged suffering and death of someone close to me and was told "It's all part of God's plan", and I pointed out - that's a shít plan, so too is the idea of proposing euthanasia as an alternative. Finding alternatives to euthanasia is how society has managed to evolve to the point it has, and if your interest is in social progress, then euthanasia is not an alternative means of alleviating human suffering. The only way to alleviate human suffering is by working together to alleviate it, as opposed to entertaining an approach based upon individualism.

This is a fairly misleading representation of Irish attitudes to social care (not to mention that the two issues aren’t remotely comparable as resources are not required to provide for people who don’t exist!).

There is significant interest in addressing the structural issues which people have identified, whereas the idea of simply paying more taxes has been shown to be ineffective. Paying more taxes doesn’t necessarily correlate with increased investment in public services and infrastructure, quite often it simply means the Government has more money to waste. On the other hand, Irish people give significantly to charities which are providing services to the public, services which should be provided by the State, but have been outsourced to private organisations because it provides better value for the taxpayer -

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-41357119.html

It would have been more accurate to acknowledge that Irish people have no interest in the kinds of solutions proposed by a minority of politicians among the opposition -

https://www.thejournal.ie/assisted-dying-programme-for-government-6595909-Jan2025/