And Rightly So!

Agonizing decision? I don’t think so. I admit, I cannot come to terms with this. It’s even more difficult for me, and any others who work in nursing, to come to grips with this issue. I know I’m totally against it and fear it will be used by people who don’t wish to continue taking care of sick and disabled family members.

ZURICH — John Close endured the painful deterioration of his body from Lou Gehrig’s disease for two years. By the time he died, he couldn’t talk or swallow. He could barely move without assistance.
“He choked regularly on his own saliva,” recalls his sister Lesley. “He didn’t want to get to this stage where he could do nothing for himself. That was a step beyond a dignified life for him.”.

I understand where John was coming from. No one wants to live like this. I don’t understand why more medical interventions were put in place to prevent these awful things from happening in the first place. There are many things that can be done to keep patients in a relative state of comfort, even with the worst diseases. I say the medical community let this man down.

John wanted to end his life. Because assisted suicide was illegal in Britain, where they lived, John and Lesley flew to Switzerland, which allows assisted suicide for both citizens and foreigners.

More than 30 terminally ill people from England have ended their lives in Switzerland since John died at the age of 54 in May 2003, Lesley says, citing statistics provided by Dignitas, a Swiss group that helps people end their lives. “I don’t want to have to go with any more members of my family,” she adds.

I realize that I am not at all objective about this. Wholesale, for profit killing is what it is. Like going to Amazon.com, or to the local supermarket…just contact this company and they’ll assist you with your death needs.
I’m sure they offer package deals, and have good sales too!

Britons might not have to make such a journey in the future. This month, Lord Joel Joffe introduced an assisted-suicide bill in the British Parliament, setting the stage for a debate — likely in January — echoing those in legislatures across Europe and in America.

It is the latest example of how governments are struggling to craft laws that respond to public acceptance of euthanasia and assisted suicide without permitting abuses.

Soon enough our friends in Great Briton will become less civilized than us. I never thought it would happen.

In the USA, the issue has reached the Supreme Court, which last month heard arguments on a federal challenge to Oregon’s assisted-suicide law. Oregon is the only state where physician-assisted suicide is legal. The court is likely to rule early next year.

While the debate in the USA centers on whether assisted suicide should be legal at all, some European countries already have laws allowing it or are considering them. The Netherlands plans to extend its existing euthanasia law for infants born with severe malformations or terminal and excruciating illnesses. And Dignitas, the Swiss group that helps foreigners who want to end their lives, recently opened an affiliate office in Germany to pressure that country’s government to legalize assisted suicide.

The BIG problem with the Dutch law is WHO defines what conditions are SO BAD that taking the life is the only answer. I cannot fathom anyone working in medicine who would even consider this a viable option. For people with end stage, truly terminal illness such as cancers and similar diseases, yes, I have no problem. But for infants born with ANY “malformations”- no- it’s wrong and it’s unethical. And the medical people know it.

“It’s very difficult to avoid this debate,” says Jacqueline Herremans, president of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity in Brussels. “People are feeling: ‘Who is the master of my life? It’s not God. It’s not the state. It’s not the physician. I am the master of my life. And I’m the one to decide if I have to suffer or not.’

“This feeling of the right of self privacy — to decide one’s own destiny of one’s own life — is growing in the population.”

Oh come on. You don’t get to chose how you come into this world; you don’t chose to even be born. You’re not really the master of your own life when you look at it this way. A belief or not in God has a lot to do with tough decisions that millions of people make everyday. You can chose how and when you die? Under what conditions, and only if the price is right- according to this thinking. Again, suffering is a very subjective thing. What’s bad to me may not be bad for someone else. Don’t be making choices about when another human should die. Especially an infant or child.

Opponents of legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide worry that they will become too acceptable and will be sought by people who are not suffering from terminal illnesses or are unable to make rational decisions.

“What I find very worrying is that now there are situations of patients tired of life, suffering of life,” says Jochemsen, the medical ethicist. “Here, you want to talk about a slippery slope, this has changed in just three years (since the Netherlands passed its law). … Anyone who is tired of life can be a candidate for euthanasia. What kind of society are we generating?”

Taking control of your own death is one thing. But when we start talking about doing this to others, thats the slippery slope that I fear we will head down. Who will speak for those lives- the infants who DO have a chance for a painfree, deformity free life with proper medical (expensive) care? I suspect a lot of this has to do with these countries who have national healthcare. I really do. I think they are promoting this issue as a means to keep healthcare costs down. I certainly cannot believe that it is medically sound to “euthanise” babies born with deformities. I have seen a lot of this and can say…with the right medical care these children end up being quite ok. The rest of this article is there for all to read. It’s a sad thing to even contemplate, but it is coming to America.
I wonder how soon we too will go back to the days of the uncivilized?

Euthanasia laws by country

Doctors must follow new Dutch laws regarding euthanasia