Assisted suicide

[rasmack 0]

Personally I think assisted suicide for terminally ill patients can at times be the lesser evil. Of course you need to build in the appropriate safeguards, but sometimes I think it should be allowed.

However, it should be done properly. This story in the Times tells about a 69 year old woman who died by assisted suicide after having presented faked German papers, showing she was terminally ill. The doctor at the clinic apparently didn't even check the diagnosis.

That is seriously f*cked up...

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[artistcalledian 0]

i agree with unthenasia (under proper guidlines)

Its such a personal thing, if somebody is in so much pain that they can't go on, then who am i to say they should carry on in pain?

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[popsjumper 2]

I support the idea...even the lady with fake papers....so what? SHE wanted to do it, so WTF? Who am I to say you can't escape if you want to....

How a about a corner Die-Mart...go in, sign up, pick your means of disposal and get "the shot"...could be done in the store-front window so everybody could watch.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[rasmack 0]

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I support the idea...even the lady with fake papers....so what? SHE wanted to do it, so WTF? Who am I to say you can't escape if you want to....

Then she could do it her fucking self. The doctor should have caught it and refused to cooperate.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[Jimbo 0]

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How a about a corner Die-Mart

Maybe a Suicide Booth on every corner?

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[rasmack 0]

Did someone say "Bite my shiny metal ass!"?

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[jenfly00 0]

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I support the idea...even the lady with fake papers....so what? SHE wanted to do it, so WTF? Who am I to say you can't escape if you want to....

Then she could do it her fucking self. The doctor should have caught it and refused to cooperate.

She chose a method that was peaceful, painless and endangered no others. Why does this offend you so???

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"O brave new world that has such people in it".

[Wopelao 0]

Because is asking for a Doctor to kill a person that is not terminally ill.

Maybe not endanger, but will definitely change the Doctor's career.

[Gawain 0]

There is nothing in this world that would prevent a person from commiting suicide if they wanted to. Asking a doctor for help I think is putting the doctor in between a rock and a hard place. The doctor is trained to treat, and help patients recover, not expire.

If someone wants to commit suicide, they can order a bottle of sleeping pills, go for a ferry ride in New York, or spend a hurricane season on the Gulf Coast.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[wmw999 2,600]

I think it's really wrong in the case in the newspaper, for exactly the reason that Wopelao said.

However, I also think there is a time when assisted suicide is very possibly a good thing. Who assists? Well, if you're sick enough, someone has to. Maybe a doctor who is familiar with the patient is the best qualified to both make an informed decision, and not be corrupted by the possibility of inheriting money.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Zenister 0]

i can sell anyone plans (and materials for a larger fee) for a self activated guillotine.. last time i checked shiping costs for a partially assembled model were under $100

for those who may be unaware.. Guillotin, was a French Doctor…

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[jenfly00 0]

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Because is asking for a Doctor to kill a person that is not terminally ill.

Maybe not endanger, but will definitely change the Doctor's career.

The doc makes his own decision, no?

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"O brave new world that has such people in it".

[rasmack 0]

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Because is asking for a Doctor to kill a person that is not terminally ill.

Maybe not endanger, but will definitely change the Doctor's career.

The doc makes his own decision, no?

True, but you know very well that no doctor would ever assist in the suicide of a healthy person. It was a total drop of the ball by the doctor in question to not check the diagnosis.

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[jenfly00 0]

Quote

Quote

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Because is asking for a Doctor to kill a person that is not terminally ill.

Maybe not endanger, but will definitely change the Doctor's career.

The doc makes his own decision, no?

True, but you know very well that no doctor would ever assist in the suicide of a healthy person. It was a total drop of the ball by the doctor in question to not check the diagnosis.

I just finished talking to my mom (ICU nurse) about this and she says something is not right here. Even accepting the doc does not perform a simple blood test to confirm the diagnosis, mom states any experienced nurse could identify someone "terminally ill" from end stage liver disease from several feet away. The whites of the eyes are unmistakably yellow, as well as the skin ("sometimes they glow like a caution light or a pumpkin". Whole body fluid retention (ascites) and a quick look at a urine sample would reveal it would be "coca cola brown" from the liver disfunction. Absent these very obvious symptoms, she doesn't understand why the doc would accept the diagnosis.

Unless the article is off base (no surprise there, right?) something doesn't add up.

Any experienced medical people here have a comment?

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"O brave new world that has such people in it".

[Channman 2]

Get em before their born and get em before they die. Justification, because it just felt like the right thing to do.

Seems alittle messed up to me, but hey, im just a little fella.

[Amazon 7]

Seems to me most of the Right To Life crowd dont seem ot have a problem with Retroactive Abortion.. How many people have been put to death in this country this year???

Can we say hypocrisy.... but I guess its ok if you let the state do it in your name.

[Channman 2]

>Can we say hypocrisy...NO, you can't, so don't say it or let it spill from your lips.

Paying with your life for taking a life is known as Punishment. For all that have forfeited there lives because of murder have never been repeat offenders.

I kind of like it that way, yes sir, big supporter of executions. Take a life while robbing a store or during a home invasion, rape, thug in the street killing for the hell of it, give em the Happy Juice.

[Lindsey 0]

My thoughts and feelings about assisted suicide are pretty mixed.

I think that people are far too afraid of suffering. Some degree of suffering is okay. Prolonged agony is different. Like most things, there's a continuum. What's tolerable for one person may be intolerable for the next. We have ways of managing pain.

We also have ways of helping the process of death along without administering any drug that causes death.... If a person does not eat or drink he will die, and contrary to our perception of this process, it's pretty painless. We do it often as people approach death. It's a decision that a dying person or his family can make.

Not all suffering is due to physical pain. For some people, going through a prolonged illness takes away their dignity. While I don't really understand it very well, I do recognize that for some to have control of how they will die may be more appropriate than the alternative that a prolonged illness might bring. But if such a person with a terminal illness prefers to say her goodbyes and depart on her own terms, then I think that's okay. In fact, in my mind, assisted suicide is more appropriate in this situation than in that of a person whose choice for euthanasia is to escape pain.

As far as people with emotional pain....which I believe that the organization in the article also assists with....I do not think that assisted suicide is appropriate in any fashion.

As a physician, my thoughts about what a doctor's role should be are kind of muddy too. I think that the person who our role is clearest with is the person who needs pain control. If the reason for seeking euthanasia is just pain control, then we can control pain without euthanasia. So euthanasia would be inappropriate here.

We as physicians have a role with the person who wants euthanasia for more spiritual reasons, but I don't think our role as assister of suicide is as clear. To me this is a spiritual issue more than a medical one. While we definitely are involved in patients' spiritual lives, I'm not sure that we are the best to help patients in these situations die. Perhaps the clergy are more appropriate to help these folks. We'd only be placed in this role by default--because we have the ability to write the prescription--not because it is part of our role as physicians.

I tend to lean that direction anyway. Of course, here, assisted suicide is not part of our role anyway. If it were, though, those are some of the issues that float around in my mind....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[scaryshari 0]

Devils advocate here:

So please explain the fairness of putting your pet to rest via euthanasia, while watching your loved one SUFFER for months on end, when they just want to rest in peace.

I told my daughter to take me to the vet if things look bad for me. I just put my 15 y/o lab down, and it was so peaceful...she just went to sleep. Seems unfair that I can't have that same option when my "quality of life" is gone.

is