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Considering that euthanasia isn't even an option right now, I don't see the urgency in having the discussion. But if it became an option and they were against it, then instead of just telling me their "wishes," they need to have an actual plan in place about what should happen when they're unable to care for themselves. Their plan shouldn't just be "Oh, you're our daughter so you'll take care of us until we die." There's no guarantee that I'll be able to do that nor would I want to watch them suffer if I could do something to end it. The truth is that it IS often a huge burden to be a caregiver and it's not a crime to admit that it is. There are caregivers wishing that the person they're taking care of would die. Many people wouldn't take on that role if there were other options.
How old are you and how old are your parents?
It's generally never "too early" to have the discussion we're talking about, which shouldn't be simply about euthanasia, but about what they expect from you and what you are willing to do. I'm 55 and my oldest daughter is 34 and we had our first of many discussions about just this sort of thing probably 8 or so years ago, and we revisit the topic often, especially since my husband and I have been dealing with caregiving situations for the past 6 years or so and it's fresh on our minds.
Considering that euthanasia isn't even an option right now, I don't see the urgency in having the discussion. But if it became an option and they were against it, then instead of just telling me their "wishes," they need to have an actual plan in place about what should happen when they're unable to care for themselves. Their plan shouldn't just be "Oh, you're our daughter so you'll take care of us until we die." There's no guarantee that I'll be able to do that nor would I want to watch them suffer if I could do something to end it. The truth is that it IS often a huge burden to be a caregiver and it's not a crime to admit that it is. There are caregivers wishing that the person they're taking care of would die. Many people wouldn't take on that role if there were other options.
You should find out what they want. If they don't want to be killed, then you should not agree to be legally responsible for them if they cannot take care of themselves.
Dad had a stroke which cut off oxygen to the brain too long. He woke up but didn't know who I was or remember his life, and his memory had been fading for some time. He got to stay at his apartment until it was discovered he had a tumor as well. But Dad wasn't Dad anymore. He was put in a convalescent hospital, and I'd work up the courage to visit, and he'd look at me and ask who I was. I'd say his daughter and he'd deny it, didn't know me. According to him Mom was alive too. But he was forgetting so much he ended up living in this fantasy world he made up himself.
They kept him drugged up for pain but the cancer was untreatable. His death was a godsend. But the hardest part was when he was not so bad off but no longer Dad.
I'm not sure what you do if you live in a different place than family, but I'd like something statiing its my wish not to be kept alive unless I'm mentally 'here' and can make the choice. Something to talk to my son about.
I'm certain if Dad had been able to tell them, he would not want to have had all the real life drained out before he could be free.
Dad had a stroke which cut off oxygen to the brain too long. He woke up but didn't know who I was or remember his life, and his memory had been fading for some time. He got to stay at his apartment until it was discovered he had a tumor as well. But Dad wasn't Dad anymore. He was put in a convalescent hospital, and I'd work up the courage to visit, and he'd look at me and ask who I was. I'd say his daughter and he'd deny it, didn't know me. According to him Mom was alive too. But he was forgetting so much he ended up living in this fantasy world he made up himself.
They kept him drugged up for pain but the cancer was untreatable. His death was a godsend. But the hardest part was when he was not so bad off but no longer Dad.
I'm not sure what you do if you live in a different place than family, but I'd like something statiing its my wish not to be kept alive unless I'm mentally 'here' and can make the choice. Something to talk to my son about.
I'm certain if Dad had been able to tell them, he would not want to have had all the real life drained out before he could be free.
All the more reason to have the conversation NOW with our loved ones.
You're assuming that they even have assets to leave to me. Maybe they don't.
Parents can be surprising but whether there is an inheritance or not, you need to have that conversation with your parents long before their health is an issue.
"Assisted suicide" is when you decide you have no further reason to live.
"Euthanasia" is when someone else decides you have no further reason to live.
Not true at all.
Euthanasia absolutely CAN be requested by the patient. It's not necessarily up to "someone else". The very definition of euthanasia is the painless ending of life. It can be voluntary or involuntary.
noun
1. Also called mercy killing. the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition.
Otherwise known as hospice.
Still keeps the medical profiting off the dying.
Having a living will only goes so far for the infirmed. I learned the hard way with my mom's living will directives.. A doctor can override it ..And did.
For those in the medical field...The patient is ultimately your boss! They make the health decision. If it goes against your ethics,remove yourself.
Physician-Assisted Suicide is where patients with a terminal diagnosis (life-limiting disease) formally request a prescription for a fatal dose of a drug which they can administer to themselves at a time of their choosing. The term “Physician-Assisted Suicide” is being replaced with “Physician-Assisted Death”. It is a patient-initiated and controlled form of dying, to treat an unbearable situation, and is legal in two states in the U.S.A. (Oregon [Death with Dignity Act 1994] and Washington [2009]), and in Europe in The Netherlands.
Euthanasia is when a physician or other healthcare provider does something, such as administering a known lethal dose of a drug, to deliberately kill a patient, with or without the patient’s consent. It is not legal anywhere in the U.S.A.
Some physicians feel that the request for PAS or Euthanasia indicates a lack of a good Palliative Care program, which can offer Palliative Sedation (see below) to control terminal symptoms if other methods fail to do so.
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