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I hope when I get that degraded I will live in a society kind enough to euthanize me, rather than slowly torture, drug and humiliate me, while extending my deme
by ZhuanXia 7y ago
I hope when I get that degraded I will live in a society kind enough to euthanize me, rather than slowly torture, drug and humiliate me, while extending my demented, horror-show 'life' to the maximal possible extent in order milk my children, savings, and/or the state. Soylent green is a utopia compared to what we have now.
Dr. Scott Alexander writes well here on how we treat the demented: http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/
"And now every time I hear that phrase I want to scream. 21st century American hospitals do not need to “cultivate a culture of life”. We have enough life. We have life up the wazoo. We have more life than we know what to do with. We have life far beyond the point where it becomes a sick caricature of itself. We prolong life until it becomes a sickness, an abomination, a miserable and pathetic flight from death that saps out and mocks everything that made life desirable in the first place. 21st century American hospitals need to cultivate a culture of life the same way that Newcastle needs to cultivate a culture of coal, the same way a man who is burning to death needs to cultivate a culture of fire."
- Gatsky 7y agoI have to say it is unlikely there will be sanctioned euthanasia for age related decline or dementia. The practicalities of implementing such a system are probably prohibitive, the primary problem being ending the life of someone without the capacity to tell you that is what they want. This is in some ways insurmountable, because although your 50 year old fit and happy self would definitely want to be euthanised if they had severe dementia, how do we 'know' that this same person who now has severe dementia also wants to die? It is similarly unlikely there will be a test which can predict imminent dementia well enough that you would be happy to euthanise yourself while you still have decision making capacity. As others have said, what you can do is have some legal document which explains your wishes if you lose capacity to make decisions, where you specify the avoidance of life prolonging therapies, intensive care, resuscitation etc. The other thing which is important is having someone that will take over medical decision making whom you trust will act according to your wishes, in the event you lose decision making capacity. Another aspect of this is making sure friends and family are aware of your wishes. This is a kindness to them as much as anything, so that when the time comes to withhold or withdraw medical treatment, they don't have to ruminate on whether it is the right thing to do.
- ZhuanXia 7y agoReversal test, how do you “know” they want to live?
- Gatsky 7y agoWell living is the default, so the burden of proof lies with changing that state. Alternatively you could argue that they still get out of bed and eat and engage, and perhaps these are signs enough of some desire to live. Anyway, I think there are some philosophical complications which require exploration.
- adrianN 7y agoLiving is not the default for someone who can't take care of themselves anymore.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoNor is it a default for someone in great pain, 24-7.
- im3w1l 7y agoThere are a lot of people with their intellectual capacities intact that express a wish to die. They don't get to die either. For the most part society doesn't care about your wishes. I think what it really comes down to incentives. As a society we don't want bullying people into a suicide to be a viable strategy for getting the inheritance money early. Or for getting rid of people in general.