Jack Kevorkian, crusader for right to assisted suicide, has died. (Limbaugh, injection)
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But it's not up to us to decide when it's time to go. The act of suicide is total arrogance. A selfish act like that denies others the chance to bless you by serving, and it makes a statement that you are somehow able to tell God you can make a better decision than he can.
That is the ultimate selfish statement. "I need you to suffer longer so I can be blessed."
Perhaps it was God who inspired Dr. Kervorkian to bring this issue to the fore out of compassion?
Outrage at this shows a complete lack of understanding about what occurs at the end of life. When you are in your last stages of life, be it minutes, hours, or days, any legitimately prescribed pain killer can impede normal body function and hasten death. It has happened this way for centuries, but it's only now people seem to want to nit-pick and blame someone. Medically managing the end of life is emotional, complicated, and should be a matter between a family and their doctor.
There always will be problems with anything under the sun....doesn't mean we should keep our heads buried in the sand and accept everything that happens to us, never progressing,,,,
How about all the mediacl treatments and drugs which proved to be actually harmful???See!
Outrage at this shows a complete lack of understanding about what occurs at the end of life. When you are in your last stages of life, be it minutes, hours, or days, any legitimately prescribed pain killer can impede normal body function and hasten death. It has happened this way for centuries, but it's only now people seem to want to nit-pick and blame someone. Medically managing the end of life is emotional, complicated, and should be a matter between a family and their doctor.
The problem with Kervorkian was at least some of the people for whom he provided the means to die were not yet at their natural end of life. He participated in facilitating their deaths long before imminent death was to occure and often when the individuals were quite lucid and able to communicate. That, IMO is wholly different than advanced directives giving instructions of DNR or when life support should be removed. YMMV
I've had two immediate family members who were "medicated to death" via the administration of IV morphine to the level of intentional overdose by medical professionals. I was/continue to be horrifed on both of their counts but I did not have the medical POA nor was I in the room at the time. Both would have died within hours even if their deaths had not been facilitated by overdose of IV morphine and both were already in a comatose state.
The problem with Kervorkian was at least some of the people for whom he provided the means to die were not yet at their natural end of life. He participated in facilitating their deaths long before imminent death was to occure and often when the individuals were quite lucid and able to communicate. That, IMO is wholly different than advanced directives giving instructions of DNR or when life support should be removed. YMMV
If people choose to avoid a certain pain-filled, drawn-out death, I am not going to fault them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal
I've had two immediate family members who were "medicated to death" via the administration of IV morphine to the level of intentional overdose by medical professionals. I was/continue to be horrifed on both of their counts but I did not have the medical POA nor was I in the room at the time. Both would have died within hours even if their deaths had not been facilitated by overdose of IV morphine and both were already in a comatose state.
If both would have died within hours, why are you "horrified"? And how do you know for a fact that they would have died within hours, and that their time was not then?
I see the resident defenders of individual liberty are out in full force, demonizing a man who gave that to many people, and using religion as a justification to restrict freedom at that.
i actually see some of both sides here. none of us should be in a position to judge how much another person has to put up with, in terms of pain and suffering. we all have different threshholds that we could tolerate, and i don't think it is fair to judge what other people can tolerate.
these people who went to dr k all CHOSE to end their lives with what they felt was dignity.
on the other hand, i do think that more could be done to give these people a social network which might help their mental state enough that they wouldn't feel that suicide was their only option.
a lot of those people died alone.
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