The right to die...!

[Zef]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ad8_1205787271

[Burnin' oil]

If I want to die, I don't need the government's approval or a doctor's assistance.

[Christien]

Wow, that's something. I'm 100% in favour of euthanasia, but what struck me about that video was that the woman seemed rather happy - she had support of family, lots of hugs, even some laughter.

[Joeaksa]

My Father approached me in the twilight of his life. He had bone cancer and was confined to his bed the last 6 months, on a morphine drip. He asked if I could help him end his life with dignity if it got to that point.

How do you say no to a request like this? I could not and as a medivac pilot and EMT/Paramedic had access to what was needed. Thank God in the end it was not needed but this was one of the toughest things that I have had to deal with in my life.

There are a few things in this country that I do not agree with and this is one of them. If there is simply no way out and no cure, then a person should have other options available than what we have at this time.

[legion]

Most of us would rather go at home surrounded by family and friends than alone on an operating table surrounded by strange doctors and nurses...

[Jeff Higgins]

How about surrounded by normal doctors and nurses?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Agreed. It's a shame when the only way to not have the government in control of one of the most personal and intimate moments of your existence involves having to stick a gun barrel in your mouth or jump off a bridge.

It'd be SO nice and solve SO many problems if we got past the puritanical and kooky tendencies to try and legislate morality in this country, especially when it stems from largely theocratic, rather than secular or popular considerations.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

My Father approached me in the twilight of his life. He had bone cancer and was confined to his bed the last 6 months, on a morphine drip. He asked if I could help him end his life with dignity if it got to that point.

How do you say no to a request like this? I could not and as a medivac pilot and EMT/Paramedic had access to what was needed. Thank God in the end it was not needed but this was one of the toughest things that I have had to deal with in my life.

There are a few things in this country that I do not agree with and this is one of them. If there is simply no way out and no cure, then a person should have other options available than what we have at this time.

I lost my mother 3 months ago. Alzheimer disease. At the end she was no more able to eat-drink-live. We objected that the doctors give her serum and tube feeding to continue this kind of life. They'd put her in semi-coma...with morphine. We wanted the doctors give her something to stop that. They never wanted....she died after 11 days from deshydratation. So for me...euthanasia is not a privilege...it's a right.

[rfuerst911sc]

I have lost both of my parents to cancer. Both of their lives at the end was spent in a morphine coma. My mom and dad were hard working,proud Germans that came to the U.S. after the war. They imbraced the U.S. and were proud to be Americans. They never were in trouble, payed their taxes and raised two sons. Their reward at the end of their life was a morphine coma. Maybe Dr. Korvorkian was onto something. Sorry for the rant but there is something to be said about the quality of life and when that ends. I truly believe the family should have the right to pull the plug with sound medical advice. If there is no cure,no hope and the doctors have done all they can it's time to REALLY help the patient. Just my 2 cents.

[bell]

[Laneco]

11 days without water? If you did that to a dog you would go to prison for CRUELTY! You would be investigated, your name would appear in the paper for public humiliation and you would go to trial. You would LOSE and then go to jail - if you did this to a DOG or CAT or a HORSE! What is wrong with people?

Everyone's all in an uproar about "waterboarding" prisoners - but in this country it is perfectly okay to torture a completely helpless citizen to death.

angela

[JavaBrewer]

I've lost a few Uncle's to cancer - luckily they all were Dutch and lived in the Netherlands where dignity and grace is afforded.

[DARISC]

Zef, so very sorry.

My mom died last August, 2 months short of her 93rd birthday. She did not want to be put on life support if it ever came to that, so she signed papers to that effect which were filed with her doctors and the medical facility at her home.

Posted on the inside of her apartment door at her assisted living complex was a "Do Not Revive" form lest pramedics put her on oxygen or whatever and rush her to the hospital, should the nurse at her home somehow not tell them not to. Apparently, once put on life support it is more difficult to have the patient taken off, even if the proper papers were previously filed.

Two days after returning from a two day hospital visit where the hospitalist told me that nothing could be done for her but put her on life support, she passed away at 9:30 in the morning, peacefully in her sleep, in her own bed, with a hospice saint watching over her.

This was in CA. I don't know if other states operate the same.

God bless hospice nurses.

[dennis in se pa]

Are you kidding me?

Have you no life/death experinces?

"euthanasia is not a privilege...it's a right."

Well it certainly should be. If I could sign up for it, come that time, I would certainly do so.

I won't be so cynical as to say that the medical community so profits from a long death that it finds it too uneconomically proper to support such an action.

A bullet in the head, a respectful shot in the arm, or a 2 year prolonged agonizing death.

Which is right?

Which would you choose for your loved ones?

Which would you choose for you?

I think that should be the definative answer.

When it is time to die, so be it, let it be.

If you choose to profit from this situation you will be going...

well, it will not be to the GOOD PLACE.

Hey, we need some fuel for the fire, lest it burn out.

[sammyg2]

Oh geez, a person dying from a lethal disease in a COMA dies of dehydration and you want to make it a federal case?

EVERYONE dies. Me, you, everyone. Nothing can or should be done to change that.
Our society needs to learn to accept death and deal with the fact that dying is part of life instead of trying to act like every single death in this world is a tragedy.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Oh geez, a person dying from a lethal disease in a COMA dies of dehydration and you want to make it a federal case?

EVERYONE dies. Me, you, everyone. Nothing can or should be done to change that.
Our society needs to learn to accept death and deal with the fact that dying is part of life instead of trying to act like every single death in this world is a tragedy.

Wow...a philosophic one....everybody has the opportunity to post his opinion here. So we can see the real personality of these peoples...and it's great.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

When there is a quick, painless, humane alternative, letting a person (or former shell of a person) linger on indefinitely in a vegetative state or die slowly and painfully over time is pretty tragic, IMHO.

Does nobody else here remember the Terri Schaivo incident from a few years ago? Brought out the absolute worst in our society. I still can't believe there are people around who (if they'd gotten their way) would have had that woman (or what was left of her, more specifically) lingering around with no hope of recovery.

I made damn sure to put my wishes (not to be kept alive if there's virtually no chance of recovery from a coma or "persistent vegetative state") in writing after that. I'd rather take a dirt nap than be a meat sack hooked up to ventilators and what-not for perpetuity.