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Most folk would choose everything medically possible to be performed to keep them going for another 24 hours. Why question medicine and ethics when you can kick

Most folk would choose everything medically possible to be performed to keep them going for another 24 hours. Why question medicine and ethics when you can kick a Christian instead?

smtddr 13y ago
>>Most folk would choose everything medically possible to be performed to keep them going for another 24 hours And by "most" you mean people who would have a _quality_ 24 hours. Because the person of subject in this article certainly wouldn't have made that choice. He couldn't; his mind was gone.
- ygmelnikova 13y ago
  And there's the rub.. you can't be certain.
  - PavlovsCat 13y ago
    But why disallow physician assisted suicide in cases where one is certain (as in, the patient is of sound mind, but in constant pain, and makes that decision), because of cases where you can't be 100.0000000% certain? Have you ever seen someone suffer horribly for no reason and without hope? I swore myself that if I ever have a terminal illness with a bad prognosis, I would rather kill myself before it's too late, instead of risking ending up in a situation where I can't; where I beg medical staff to kill me and they have to say "sorry, but I'm just doing my job". Yes, dementia is tricky, and so is suicide in general. It's a deeper issue than just being for or against it. How would we weigh the risk of people dying needlessly ("easier access to suicide and getting rid of the uncared for elderly"), versus the risk of people existing (I wouldn't call it living) in extreme pain, without hope, needlessly? I don't know, but I do agree that something has to change. Medicine is supposed to make life better, usually it does; but sometimes it makes it hell, and the ones suffering in that hell should have a say in wether they want out or not.
rodgerd 13y ago
Please feel free to demonstrate that the majority of opposition to voluntary euthanasia in the United States is driven by groups other than Christian ones.
- ygmelnikova 13y ago
  1. Hippocrates 2..
  - FireBeyond 13y ago
    ? You may, or may not be aware, that the very vast majority of physicians practicing in the US today have never sworn an oath, let alone the Hippocratic Oath (which amongst other things, forbids surgery)? As an EMS provider, my anecdotal evidence in the Pacific Northwest has providers overwhelmingly in support of "Death With Dignity" legislation.
bzbarsky 13y ago
There's a difference between "going for another 24 hours, lucid and able to wrap up lose ends" and "going for another 24 hours, unconscious" and "going for another 24 hours in constant debilitating pain". Most people would choose the first of those three. For the other ones, I'm not sure. And if you replace "24 hours" with "a few months" I certainly wouldn't choose either of the latter two options. And neither would most people I've actually talked to about the issue in person. Would you?

Most folk would choose everything medically possible to be performed to keep them going for another 24 hours. Why question medicine and ethics when you can kick a Christian instead?

smtddr 13y ago

>>Most folk would choose everything medically possible to be performed to keep them going for another 24 hours And by "most" you mean people who would have a _quality_ 24 hours. Because the person of subject in this article certainly wouldn't have made that choice. He couldn't; his mind was gone.

ygmelnikova 13y ago
And there's the rub.. you can't be certain.
- PavlovsCat 13y ago
  But why disallow physician assisted suicide in cases where one is certain (as in, the patient is of sound mind, but in constant pain, and makes that decision), because of cases where you can't be 100.0000000% certain? Have you ever seen someone suffer horribly for no reason and without hope? I swore myself that if I ever have a terminal illness with a bad prognosis, I would rather kill myself before it's too late, instead of risking ending up in a situation where I can't; where I beg medical staff to kill me and they have to say "sorry, but I'm just doing my job". Yes, dementia is tricky, and so is suicide in general. It's a deeper issue than just being for or against it. How would we weigh the risk of people dying needlessly ("easier access to suicide and getting rid of the uncared for elderly"), versus the risk of people existing (I wouldn't call it living) in extreme pain, without hope, needlessly? I don't know, but I do agree that something has to change. Medicine is supposed to make life better, usually it does; but sometimes it makes it hell, and the ones suffering in that hell should have a say in wether they want out or not.

rodgerd 13y ago

Please feel free to demonstrate that the majority of opposition to voluntary euthanasia in the United States is driven by groups other than Christian ones.

ygmelnikova 13y ago
1. Hippocrates 2..
- FireBeyond 13y ago
  ? You may, or may not be aware, that the very vast majority of physicians practicing in the US today have never sworn an oath, let alone the Hippocratic Oath (which amongst other things, forbids surgery)? As an EMS provider, my anecdotal evidence in the Pacific Northwest has providers overwhelmingly in support of "Death With Dignity" legislation.

bzbarsky 13y ago

There's a difference between "going for another 24 hours, lucid and able to wrap up lose ends" and "going for another 24 hours, unconscious" and "going for another 24 hours in constant debilitating pain". Most people would choose the first of those three. For the other ones, I'm not sure. And if you replace "24 hours" with "a few months" I certainly wouldn't choose either of the latter two options. And neither would most people I've actually talked to about the issue in person. Would you?