Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Edited to add - why do you assume that physician-assisted suicide is a liberal issue? Support for it crosses all partisan boundaries. As does opposition to it.
If you're worried about government intrusion, you should *support* this law. It means that, should you choose suicide for yourself, you know that your doctors and your loved ones won't be charged with murder or manslaughter after you're dead.
I'm not worried about it at all and I don't have anything against it, I just see people celebrating something and they haven't even read it, this isn't Oregon and California doesn't do anything without a catch.
My parents neighbor did himself in a few years back. He was in his mid 90's, nearly blind, and after years things getting worse and worse he was slated to be moved into a nursing home in a week or so. Instead, he dressed up in his finest and ended his own life in his own home.
My dad was the one who found him and I'm pretty sure that was what the neighbor expected. I was shook up but my parents took it in stride knowing he was just DONE and didn't want to be laying in a hospital bed somewhere. My own parents see this as a good thing and from the way they've been talking for the last year or so I'm glad this option now exists so they don't have to resort to a DIY death if it comes down to it.
My parents neighbor did himself in a few years back. He was in his mid 90's, nearly blind, and after years things getting worse and worse he was slated to be moved into a nursing home in a week or so. Instead, he dressed up in his finest and ended his own life in his own home.
My dad was the one who found him and I'm pretty sure that was what the neighbor expected. I was shook up but my parents took it in stride knowing he was just DONE and didn't want to be laying in a hospital bed somewhere. My own parents see this as a good thing and from the way they've been talking for the last year or so I'm glad this option now exists so they don't have to resort to a DIY death if it comes down to it.
Sounds like your parents had either explicit or implicit warning. And it sounds like their neighbor made a reasoned decision.
Please note, though, that unless your parents' neighbor had a diagnosis of "6 months left", he wouldn't have been able to make use of physician-assisted suicide.
Modern medicine means that we're all living longer and surviving conditions that were once fatal. Most of the time, that's a blessing. "I want to be 75 years old and sick", said no one ever.
For those that don't want legalized euthanasia they will have a death certificate that states that they died from heart failure or another hunger-related cause. The death certificate will probably not say that you died of starvation. But if you loose you're marbles; there is a good chance that the hospice or the doctors will make that decision for you and you will literally starve to death.
For those that don't want legalized euthanasia they will have a death certificate that states that they died from heart failure or another hunger-related cause. The death certificate will probably not say that you died of starvation. But if you loose you're marbles; there is a good chance that the hospice or the doctors will make that decision for you and you will literally starve to death.
A minor(?) quibble - physician-assisted suicide is not euthanasia. In physician-assisted suicide, the patient takes all the actions, including the final one. In euthanasia, the action is made for the patient. Euthanasia can certainly include cases where the patient wants to die but is unable to take the action - but the critical point is who actually takes the final action.
A minor(?) quibble - physician-assisted suicide is not euthanasia. In physician-assisted suicide, the patient takes all the actions, including the final one. In euthanasia, the action is made for the patient. Euthanasia can certainly include cases where the patient wants to die but is unable to take the action - but the critical point is who actually takes the final action.
The doctor makes the decision based on whether the patient is showing any sign of brain activity. Yes they can consult with the family; but the decision is primarily that of the physician - they see no hope for the patient. The only thing different is the speed of the death and the fact that the patient has no say when they don't have brain activity. Of course they could have nominated to have no medical treatment besides that of keeping them comfortable. But the patient dies either quickly (in states with legal euthanasia) or slowly from starvation in states that don't have legal euthanasia and the doctors (in both cases) initiated the procedure. So why quibble?
The doctor makes the decision based on whether the patient is showing any sign of brain activity. Yes they can consult with the family; but the decision is primarily that of the physician - they see no hope for the patient. The only thing different is the speed of the death and the fact that the patient has no say when they don't have brain activity. Of course they could have nominated to have no medical treatment besides that of keeping them comfortable. But the patient dies either quickly (in states with legal euthanasia) or slowly from starvation in states that don't have legal euthanasia and the doctors (in both cases) initiated the procedure. So why quibble?
The people who oppose physician-assisted suicide raise the specter of doctors and family doing in grandma or a disabled person for their own convenience. And the way you are talking validates their concerns.
The kind of patients you are talking about are *way* too far gone to make use of a physician-assisted suicide law. To get the prescription requires the person to be in good mental health and fully aware of what they are doing. It also requires that a person be physically able to take the meds themselves.
I know of no US state where euthanasia, as you are talking about it, is legal. Yes, we all know about advance directives and we all know that families choose to cease life-saving efforts and let someone go. But legally, it's a gray area, and people can be - and are - prosecuted if evidence is found to support the charge that someone was ushered out just for convenience or economics.
All physician-assisted suicide does is remove the possibility that a doctor can be prosecuted for writing a prescription for a lethal dose of medicine under the specified circumstances.
In a state where physician-assisted suicide is legal, if a doctor (or anyone) prescribes/administers a lethal dose outside those specified circumstances, s/he can be prosecuted for some type of homicide.
Not as strange as I think it is that a conservative who thinks abortion of a non viable fetus is murder but has no problem with the disposal of millions of fertilized embryos in IVF clinics...I'm still waiting to hear when the magic happens and a fetus gains it's soul.
Some how you people always go around the partial birth abortion......why is this?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
