Terminal illness and ending life

[psalms 91]

Once approved I see it down the road as a way to get rid of the elderly, prisoners, etc. As someonme older I really dont want to see this kind of thing

 

[Lamb]

Oooh Logan's Run!

 

[psalms 91]

Perhaps but it is real

 

[pmdhjp]

Being in the end of life part of healthcare for a while, I see it much more as not forcing some to suffer, when their pain and discomfort can not be controlled and they only have a short time to live anyway.

If it was allowed, it could be firmly controlled, so it was not abused.

 

[tango]

Should people with a terminal illness have the choice to end their own lives?

As a Christian I say no since that should be up to God. But I've seen some people suffering horribly and in the back of my mind I wonder if it would have been better for them to have that choice?

I generally don't see a problem with allowing other people to make a choice that I might find abhorrent. My concern with allowing the terminally ill to end their lives is the potential for it to be abused.

It's easy to draw the distinction between the way we regard dragging a dying animal's life out until the bitter end as cruel and abusive because the "right thing to do" is to put it out of its misery, and yet if it's a human in endless pain with no possibility of recovering putting them out of their misery is called murder, and the "right thing to do" is to merely dull the pain until the painkillers suck their life away. That said, if today we allow the terminally ill to choose to die will we start seeing pressure on the wealthy elderly to just end their lives so their heirs can have an inheritance before it's spent on residential care? If I'm struggling to pay my bills and Great Aunt Maude is in the nursing home feeling a bit sorry for herself, is it good to even make it possible to suggest that maybe it's time she went to the euthanasia clinic if my motives are little more than getting my hands on her cash?

 

[dogs4thewin]

No, but they SHOULD have the right to refuse treatment.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Hospice has always been wonderful to our family members! I can't boast enough about them.

amen my dad was on hospice. H passed much sooner upon getting on than they thought. They thought he had several weeks and he passed 12 days after he was allowed on I love them a LOT. The nice thing is that they are there for the family a year or better after they pass away.

 

[MarkFL]

Yes, and if I were to become terminal and miserable I will do what I want regardless what any silly law says. It's my life and I can end it whenever I choose. Let them prosecute my corpse if they want.

 

[Lamb]

amen my dad was on hospice. My passed much sooner upon getting on than they thought. They thought he had several weeks and he passed 12 days after he was allowed on I love them a LOT. The nice thing is that they are there for the family a year or better after they pass away.

Oh yeah! I forgot that they continue with the family to heal afterwards.

 

[psalms 91]

I didnt know that, that is a really good thing they do

 

[Forgiven1]

No, but they SHOULD have the right to refuse treatment.

That already is a patient right. In the facility I work in, we are to offer treatment 3 times. If they refuse 3 times we chart treatment was refused. One of the things we do is explain why said treatment is needed so the fully understand what they are refusing.

 

[Forgiven1]

Hospice is when end of life takes place in a hospital like setting - it's a staffed nursing facility. When they come to your home, it's called palliative care. It's good there are so many options for how to live your final months, weeks and days, but we rarely give much thought to how to die.

It may depend on each state, but hospice can and does go to a private home. My husband's aunt was on hospice and they came to her apartment.

 

[dogs4thewin]

It may depend on each state, but hospice can and does go to a private home. My husband's aunt was on hospice and they came to her apartment.

Yeah I am in Georgia and when my dad went on hospice March 4th of this year they came to the house.

 

[dogs4thewin]

I didnt know that, that is a really good thing they do

Yeah it is different now than it once was to get on you have to have less than six months to live, BUT if you do outlive that you can be on for years ( as long as your condition is still terminal so so long as you do not go into remission or anything.

 

[psalms 91]

Yes I have had experience with them a while back and they were very nice

 

[tango]

Yes, and if I were to become terminal and miserable I will do what I want regardless what any silly law says. It's my life and I can end it whenever I choose. Let them prosecute my corpse if they want.

The bit that's tricky is if you want to end your own life but are physically incapable of doing it. Someone who helps you in accordance with your wishes would technically be guilty of murder under some laws.

The balancing act is hard to strike - if you truly want to end your life it seems excessive for the law to step in and insist you have to prolong the inevitable for a few more weeks, but at the same time we need protection from the less scrupulous who could put pressure on a wealthy yet infirm relative to end their own life before medical bills ate up the inheritance.

 

[MarkFL]

The bit that's tricky is if you want to end your own life but are physically incapable of doing it. Someone who helps you in accordance with your wishes would technically be guilty of murder under some laws.

The balancing act is hard to strike - if you truly want to end your life it seems excessive for the law to step in and insist you have to prolong the inevitable for a few more weeks, but at the same time we need protection from the less scrupulous who could put pressure on a wealthy yet infirm relative to end their own life before medical bills ate up the inheritance.

Yes, the scenario I had in mind is one that might not be the case at all for me...me knowing I am going to die, and in agonizing pain with no hope for recovery, yet able to procure the means to end my life without enlisting the aid of anyone else, a position in which I would never put another person.

 

[tango]

Yes, the scenario I had in mind is one that might not be the case at all for me...me knowing I am going to die, and in agonizing pain with no hope for recovery, yet able to procure the means to end my life without enlisting the aid of anyone else, a position in which I would never put another person.

I remember some years ago reading an interview with a fairly elderly British actress who said she didn't want to be a bother to anyone if she became old and incapable, and didn't want to spend her last few years drugged into oblivion not even knowing where or who she was. She said if she sensed herself going that way she was going to go into the Scottish Highlands with a bottle of whisky, and drink the whisky to mask the pain of the cold before she slipped into unconsciousness.

It's not a way I'd choose for myself but under circumstances like that where it's entirely her own decision and she's not pressured into it by anyone more concerned with their inheritance than their relative, it's hard to see why anyone should have the right tell her she's not allowed to do it.