Brighton man dies at Swiss euthanasia clinic (From The Argus)

brave man.rest in peace.x

There needs to be a change in the law. I hope this man's struggle will help in some small way. RIP

i have to say i am privigled to have met John and it was unknown to me who he was until i saw the tv programme.

what an amazing talent he had and am shocked to hear about his death

my thoughts are with Claire and his family and may he rest in peace xx

I think its wrong as a country we dont facilitate this human right we are forcing people that suffer to go abroad away from their surroundings.

RIP Johnny I loved your work.

It is a pity we treat people like cr@p and make them jump before they need too or are unable to do so.

If you treated a dog like this and kept it alive when it was suffering you would end up in jail, how weird!!!

"Johnny Hicklenton was put to sleep at a Swiss euthanasia clinic" should have been the headline,make no mistake.Benefactors of his estate will no doubt have offered him plenty of encouragement to come to the decision he did.OK,it was Motor Neuron disease that debilitated him,but our knowledge of Black Holes would certainly be a lot less had Stephen Hawking took this way out!

It must have taken incredible strength to follow through on the decision to go to Switzerland. I sometimes wonder if,in similar circumstances,I would have the courage to make that decision. What a brave,brave,brave man indeed. RIP.

Rocker wrote:
It must have taken incredible strength to follow through on the decision to go to Switzerland. I sometimes wonder if,in similar circumstances,I would have the courage to make that decision. What a brave,brave,brave man indeed. RIP.

No braver than those jumping from the cliffs at Beachy Head,not unless you think different?

CHANGE THE LAW !!!
Maybe the Argus could do a vote on this,
Very sad thing to have to do, RIP

jon s wrote:

Rocker wrote: It must have taken incredible strength to follow through on the decision to go to Switzerland. I sometimes wonder if,in similar circumstances,I would have the courage to make that decision. What a brave,brave,brave man indeed. RIP.

No braver than those jumping from the cliffs at Beachy Head,not unless you think different?

I do think differently.
People who jump off Beachy Head are mentally ill.
This man was not, and considered his options unemotionally in the cold light of day. That takes some bravery.
Jumping off Beachy Head when you aren't of sound mind doesn't.

People who jump off Beachy Head are not necessarily mentally ill.People have jumped for many reasons,you can call them cowards if you wish."Jumping off Beachy Head when you aren't of sound mind doesn't."No way you can prove this.

Nyberg wrote:

jon s wrote:

Rocker wrote: It must have taken incredible strength to follow through on the decision to go to Switzerland. I sometimes wonder if,in similar circumstances,I would have the courage to make that decision. What a brave,brave,brave man indeed. RIP.

No braver than those jumping from the cliffs at Beachy Head,not unless you think different?

I do think differently. People who jump off Beachy Head are mentally ill. This man was not, and considered his options unemotionally in the cold light of day. That takes some bravery. Jumping off Beachy Head when you aren't of sound mind doesn't.

People who jump off Beachy Head are not necessarily mentally ill.People have jumped for many reasons,you can call them cowards if you wish."Jumping off Beachy Head when you aren't of sound mind doesn't."No way you can prove this.

Nyberg wrote:

jon s wrote:

Rocker wrote: It must have taken incredible strength to follow through on the decision to go to Switzerland. I sometimes wonder if,in similar circumstances,I would have the courage to make that decision. What a brave,brave,brave man indeed. RIP.

No braver than those jumping from the cliffs at Beachy Head,not unless you think different?

I do think differently.
People who jump off Beachy Head are mentally ill.
This man was not, and considered his options unemotionally in the cold light of day. That takes some bravery.
Jumping off Beachy Head when you aren't of sound mind doesn't.

I would be worried about anyone who considered such options 'unemotionally'. Such detatchment is not where you want to starting thinking about suicide.

(Just to be clear, I'm not saying detatchment makes one want to think about suicide, just that you don't want to detatch yourself from everything before you evaluate whether suicide is an option. Didn't want people misunderstanding).

jon s wrote:
"Johnny Hicklenton was put to sleep at a Swiss euthanasia clinic" should have been the headline,make no mistake.Benefactors of his estate will no doubt have offered him plenty of encouragement to come to the decision he did.OK,it was Motor Neuron disease that debilitated him,but our knowledge of Black Holes would certainly be a lot less had Stephen Hawking took this way out!

jon s, I knew Johnny and actually he had no estate to speak of so I can happily ignore your evil comment about his benefactors, it says more about you. And yes of course it takes more courage than jumping off Beachy Head, Johnny spent over a year counselling his family and preparing them for the loss of such a wonderful presence in his life. He gave them time to come to terms with what he was doing, time to say everything that needed to be said and to appreciate every moment they had with him. He was also in a lot of pain and traveling was very difficult. It would have been much easier for him to overdose himself, he certainly had enough medication to do so. You really should try to imagine walking in other people's shoes before you judge so quickly and so harshly.

jdonna wrote:

jon s wrote: "Johnny Hicklenton was put to sleep at a Swiss euthanasia clinic" should have been the headline,make no mistake.Benefactors of his estate will no doubt have offered him plenty of encouragement to come to the decision he did.OK,it was Motor Neuron disease that debilitated him,but our knowledge of Black Holes would certainly be a lot less had Stephen Hawking took this way out!

jon s, I knew Johnny and actually he had no estate to speak of so I can happily ignore your evil comment about his benefactors, it says more about you. And yes of course it takes more courage than jumping off Beachy Head, Johnny spent over a year counselling his family and preparing them for the loss of such a wonderful presence in his life. He gave them time to come to terms with what he was doing, time to say everything that needed to be said and to appreciate every moment they had with him. He was also in a lot of pain and traveling was very difficult. It would have been much easier for him to overdose himself, he certainly had enough medication to do so. You really should try to imagine walking in other people's shoes before you judge so quickly and so harshly.

Based on what you say,I'll quite happily take the benefactor comment back.But,I can't help being cynical about assisted suicide.Remember,thi
s clinic is a business,Dignitas is not a charity,they're doing what they do to make money and it's this that turns my stomach and many other peoples.

jon s wrote:

jdonna wrote:

jon s wrote: "Johnny Hicklenton was put to sleep at a Swiss euthanasia clinic" should have been the headline,make no mistake.Benefactors of his estate will no doubt have offered him plenty of encouragement to come to the decision he did.OK,it was Motor Neuron disease that debilitated him,but our knowledge of Black Holes would certainly be a lot less had Stephen Hawking took this way out!

jon s, I knew Johnny and actually he had no estate to speak of so I can happily ignore your evil comment about his benefactors, it says more about you. And yes of course it takes more courage than jumping off Beachy Head, Johnny spent over a year counselling his family and preparing them for the loss of such a wonderful presence in his life. He gave them time to come to terms with what he was doing, time to say everything that needed to be said and to appreciate every moment they had with him. He was also in a lot of pain and traveling was very difficult. It would have been much easier for him to overdose himself, he certainly had enough medication to do so. You really should try to imagine walking in other people's shoes before you judge so quickly and so harshly.

Based on what you say,I'll quite happily take the benefactor comment back.But,I can't help being cynical about assisted suicide.Remember,thi

s clinic is a business,Dignitas is not a charity,they're doing what they do to make money and it's this that turns my stomach and many other peoples.

Yes, you're right, it does cost, but so does private medicine and this is exactly what this should be see as, medical practice. People travel abroad for all sorts of medical treatment all the time. But they shouldn't have to, and that is why the debate needs to continue in this country.

My daughter has MS and the quote made by Mr Lavis is her reason for planning her trip to Switzerland: “He beat MS. It takes away the control of your life but this gave him control.” When the time comes this is her way of being in control when control of her body will no longer be hers. As a mother the only thing I could do was to find a way of slowing or halting the progression. I may have been successful in discovering CCSVI as a possible contributory factor in MS. I took my daughter to Poland to be treated and although early days, she seems to have made some progress. This is itself is encouraging because her MS has been getting steadily worse in the past 4 years and another 4 years would have seen her taking that one way trip to Switzerland, at the age of 35. I'm an activist now to bring awareness of CCSVI to the UK, maybe treating it will give people with MS a few more useful years.
ms-ccsvi-uk.org