Follow
Share
Read More
This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
1 2 3
Mallory, while it's true people have been committing suicide since the dawn of time for some of us finding a way to do the deed would be far from simple. Shoot myself? Well, there is no easy access to guns where I live, it's messy, and my dad's cousin tried to kill himself with his rifle and ended up in the psych ward and ended his days in a nursing home,
Pills? But what is a lethal dose/combination? You'd think that info would be easy to find on the internet but I have searched and it it surprisingly difficult. Wouldn't want to be like those poor souls who botch the job and end up in worse shape than before and unable to try again.
Hanging? nah Drowning? god no Death by vehicular accident? Same problem as trying drugs, you may survive, and you may endanger others. Well, there is always gassing yourself with the car exhaust, providing you are still physically able to get yourself to the car and find a way to hook it all up.
Or we could just do what Oregon has done, offer a compassionate means to die painlessly for those who ask for it. I vote for that one.
(4)
Report

What ever happened to those obamacare death panels? I have a long list I'd like to submit.
(4)
Report

There are certainly many ways people can end their own lives, if they wish. The slippery slope happens to be slippery...so much so that a government could end up deciding that older people of a certain religion, or ethnicity, or body size, or (fill in the blank) are no longer fit to be occupying a hospital bed when another "more PC" person, or a member of a certain religion or ethnicity, or body type "ought to" be occupying that hospital bed, and bed getting the drugs or therapies or doctor. If the government gets involved with sanctioning legal suicide then sanctioned euthanasia of helpless Jews, blacks, Catholics, evangelical bakery owners with a conscience (insert any minority group here), all of these taxpaying US citizens who supposedly have 1st Amendment rights to practice their religion, or other Constitutional rights, suddenly become mere detritus to the all-powerful government elite. Do we really want government deciding every aspect of our lives? I know I could kill myself if I wanted to. But I don't want someone else deciding for me, because I am a minority member. Or I might change my mind, while I was unable to communicate in writing or verbally. There is a good book out there, came out this year a man who was supposedly comatose, abused by his caregivers (as in, repeatedly raped). He was aware, but could do nothing to stop the abuse. What if he had signed a prior "euthanasia release " but 2 years into his supposed coma, change his mind? Wouldn't it b3 murder to euthanasia him?
(1)
Report

Yea Gershun...I'm not exactly dying to talk about it much more either......Pun intended.
(5)
Report

This subject is so rife with what ifs and red tape. Unless you can have a team of doctors declare that you are in your right mind and nothing more can be done for you at the exact time you want to end your life there will always be controversy and loopholes.

This topic seems to constantly come up on this message board. Haven't we talked it to death already. No pun intended.
(4)
Report

Just because it is legal doesn't mean we all need to take 'how to' lessons, there will be others who are willing to help. And if our loved ones have access to compassionate professionals they won't have to ask family members or hoard medications in the hope that they can figure out a combination that will get the job done.
(3)
Report

What if your parent asked you to assist? Happened to me, I understood, but how in the world could I possibly do that?
(4)
Report

Hemlock Society,
Compassion and Choices.. (I think)
you'd have to google them.
(0)
Report

Oh, gosh, windy. I hope you didn't open the floodgate for them to come in.

Assisted suicide is allowed in places such as Oregon. Maybe other states will allow it in the future. I personally find the idea distasteful for one reason -- it involves someone that will assist. I do wish that people had the means to end their own lives if they choose without involving another person. I know I couldn't assist anyone in killing themselves, so I wouldn't want to subject anyone else to that trauma.

I guess that is what Dr. Deaths are for. Kind of gives me the shivers thinking of doing that for a living, though.
(3)
Report

Can't believe the HOSPICE KILLED MY MOM crowd is not here yet. This is a good question. There are also debates, more like screeds really, on 2 other threads about hospice currently on this forum. There are many folks who seem to feel that we should all be keep alive with feeding tubes, more chemo, dialysis, surgery, and by any and all heroic measures for as long as we can keep a heart beat, regardless of the expenditure of money and resources, but God forbid we give anyone morphine which might speed up the precession of dying. Never mind that the lions share of medical costs are expended in the last 6 months of life in the US.

I feel that each individual should be able to determine when they want to end their life, whether it's to to old age infirmities or a horrible debilitating illness at a young age. But the politics and policies of our time are driven by the fundamentalist beliefs that life begins at conception and only God should end a life, no matter how horrible and painful that life might be.

I wonder how many of the righteous who preach against hospice and assited suicide have ever had the family pet put to sleep humanely by a vet but 98 year old granny gets a feeding tube and no morphine.
(9)
Report

And even if they did make their wishes known, what if they've changed their mind?
(1)
Report

Damocles, the problem is, how do you know what they want? Unless they made their wishes in writing a long time ago, in a specific manner, there is no way to carry out the unknown.
(1)
Report

I think there is some validity in the "slippery slope" argument, as AR points out how can one person decide for another when their life has ceased to have value? I am also uncomfortable with the idea of those who do not have a terminal diagnosis being able to ask another to administer lethal medication without at least having had a full psychiatric work up. I believe in aiding those who have a life limiting illness though, as long as stringent safeguards are put in place.
(1)
Report

I think the main reason to avoid deciding the fate of another person's life outside of government responsibilities, if to avoid regrets you may develop as a result. ArmyRetired asks who are we to decide a human being's quality of life? It the continuity of life that is tricky. If life is sacred, that puts a dent in the arguments for war, the death penalty, and some medical procedures. If we as a civilized society make decisions about who shall live, then should we include people with severe disabilities, severe dementia, etc? We seem to sort of accept some situations when hastened death is acceptable. I sure hope that when my time comes, if I'm in great pain, that I go out on a carpet of morphine, versus huge suffering. I'm from a state that allows medically assisted suicide and it seems that some of the people are content to have the means available but decide to die a natural death instead. Hospice can be a big help, too from what I hear.
(2)
Report

Do you mean people of all ages or just the very elderly? Does a 25 year old quadriplegic have a lesser value of life than an abled bodied counterpart? Should a competent elderly person choose for themselves the type of quality of life they want? Brain damaged children? Coma patients? Who are we as a civilized society decide a human beings quality of life?
(1)
Report

You mean assisted suicide, yes? Not taboo. Just an uncomfortable topic.

I believe many folks feel like vulnerable people may be rushed into or cajoled into agreeing to end their own lives.
(2)
Report

1 2 3
This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter