Assisted Suicide for the terminally ill

[East]

I think that what we do with our own bodies is our decision...and ours alone. I think it is outrageous and obnoxious that people think that they have a "right" to tell anyone else what to do with their own bodies...

If someone wants to end their life due to pain....disease...ect....I think we should treat them with the same respect and dignity that we treat animals....

As with anything else that people try to make illegal...if you don't want assisted suicide...don't have one...If you don't want gay marriage...don't marry a gay person....if you don't want an abortion...don't have one....

It shouldn't matter what other people think we should or shouldn't do with our own bodies...

[Hardheaded1]

Virge, I'm sorry to learn of your friend's illness.

As to assisted suicide, I hope we grow up as a culture and change.

The issue of assisted medical suicide is a legal one, filled with ramifications for licensing, insurance, liability and even ethics. As many doctors and nurses could easily be labelled as could-care-less-givers, there would be a ready supply of drug dispensers if there weren't the legal and insurance aspects. But, as you note, there are also caring professionals who'd participate for the right reasons as well.

It shouldn't be hard to get a prescription, legal or otherwise, for opiates. Doctors overprescribe them all the time. In my state, teens and others can get them black market with ease. A handful of those will do the deed, without having to involve doctors and nurses and those folks. Asking them to help is perhaps putting an undue burden on them. When you take a life, even for the right reasons, it will remain with you.

I think we should own our own deaths under such circumstances. Put your affairs in order. Say your goodbyes. Do the hard thing. A few years back, my friend from several horticultural societies ended his life. He was 89. His wife had taken dementia. He was given a prognosis that was hopeless. He parked his car on a bridge in Little Rock and he jumped into the Arkansas River.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/en...tryID=4062

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/print/article/66962

http://www.louisianas.org/awards/memoriam2.html

Yes, it was hard on his loved ones, but I think he did the right thing.

May we all lead long and healthy lives. When we can't, we should have the right, and the guts, to do what fate requires. No one should be pressured to do such a thing, but if we choose it ourselves, our decision should be respected.

I, for one, do not want to live out my last days in a hospital, or a nursing home, or even in my home, if I'm in pain, demented, or crapping myself. I won't be looking for a team to do what I should do for myself.

[MakeDigitalLove]

If we have a pet, a cat or a dog that is terminally ill and in pain, we usually don't have any hesitation in putting it painlessly to sleep. I am in full agreement with euthanasia carried out under the proper conditions; two doctors minimum and maybe a solicitor or lawyer involved. If I ever get to the stage of being terminally ill or totally incapacitated, that's the route I would choose.

Completely agree with this and feel the same way.

[ck86]

Sorry to hear about your friend Virge.

I find it quite difficult to balance the issues with life saving interventions and assisted suicide. No this doesn't mean that I'm a monster and would drag my patients beyond the point of death but as medics we need to recognise when death is the best outcome and either "withdraw" or "limit" care, thus allowing the patient to die of their disease and ensuring that they are comfortable in themselves, not only from a pain perspective but the many other things that might be going on too (without going into too much detail)

But as a responsible healthcare provider:

GUYS REMEMBER TO EXAMINE YOURSELVES REGULARLY DOWN THERE AND SEE A DOCTOR FOR ANY LUMPS OR PAIN!!

Most cases of testicular cancer are curable in the early stages

[Beaux]

In the early 90s, my friends and I went over to a couple of our HIV positive friend's homes the mornings after they ended their own pain and cleaned up for their families. We cleaned out the porn stashes, the dope stashes, distributed momentos as directed and cleaned the vomit off of their faces and changed their cloths so their families wouldn't have to see them that way. It was an act of Love.
I just hope I have people in my life that care about me that much when I go.
~Beaux

[Camfer]

One way to help prevent getting into a situation where you're facing assisted suicide is to sign a form variously called: Do Not Resuscitate, No Code, or Allow Natural Death. This is signed by you and your doctor and kept on file at every medical facility you could potentially visit.

Even with that, you can get rushed into the emergency room and the doctors could ignore your wishes. But you have some chance of being allowed a natural death instead of lingering for quite a while and having to decide again when to die, whereas if the doctors had just left you alone, you could have gone naturally.

[bluerealm]

you should see this movie.



my religion says i can't kill myself.

but my heart says don't let me suffer.

you have a point of no return ... so i don't know what to think.

watch the movie.

[JackTX]

I just heard that New Jersey was trying to pass a bill that allows for this. Much of the objection comes from religious organizations. It's definitely odd that we do this for our pets but it's a no-go for us. Maybe now that dogs are re-allowed into heaven (see: papal inconsistency), religious folks will start lobbying for a ban on pet euthanasia too

[Virge]

After I started this topic I forgot about it.

He "died" the Sunday after Thanksgiving. There was no autopsy. I talked to his wife a couple of weeks after. All she said about it was he was ready for it to be over and died while he was asleep. She sounded relieved even though she was sad. There was no reason to start asking questions.

I have mixed feelings about it if it ever comes to my turn to make a decision like that. It would be hard for me to give up and I'd fight as hard as I could but.......... then I think about dragging it out for so long and watching what it does to the people I love. Real mixed feelings.

[Aike]

I think it's a dignified way to die, having some control over how one wants to end one's life. And I like the "ouija board" approach. It's like silent collective solidarity with the one who is suffering. But, as I haven't known anyone in a similar situation, it's difficult for me to relate to this situation on an emotional level.

I think this question about assisted suicide is much more problematic when we're dealing with mentally ill people. If someone has been suffering from chronic depression for decades, would it be alright for us to help him or her die?