by DoubleVision 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Was Dr. Kevorkian a murderer or a man of mercy?
Just curios about your thoughts on the subject.
I guess I've been thinking of this lately because of a lot of the brothers and sisters in my area
seem to be getting far up in years and it's hard to watch them go through all the pain they're
going through.
And it got me thinking about God's claim to being merciful.
Because from what I see is that dying of cancer or some other disease is not very merciful.
DV
More a man of mercy. He had to be a little strange to do what he did. But I think he put a spotlight on a very serious subject that needed to be addressed but seldom was.
Because of it, I think more people are letting there feelings be known about thier own end of life treatment and this will make it easier for families to deal with the situation when it arises for their aged and ill loved ones.
Kevorkian was a pathologist that never in his life treated a living patient before he started helping them die. I think he was the wrong person to lead the charge on this issue.
There seems to be an issue behind the issue that needs addressing: does a person have the right to end their own life?
If you believe a person owns their own self, and/or their body, and hence their own life, then you probably answer "yes."
Otherwise, if you believe that the government, some deity or other, etc, owns each person's life, then you may well answer "no."
If you fall into the "yes" category above, yet you can't realize that most people who would pursue euthanasia are incapable of acquiring and administering the means of ending their own life in the least painful way possible, and that therefore, inherent in the right to end your own life is the right to seek assistance--well, realize it already! :-)
So, this seems to be the question behind the question: do you own your own life, self, and/or body?
Of course, it's possible someone believes they own their own body and euthanasia is morally wrong, or conversely that one or more deities and/or the state owns your life, self, and/or body and yet euthanasia is morally permissible--I'd personally love to hear any arguments on one of these two sides.
Why not look at the almost universal attitude of humans who have authority over a suffering animal. If nothing can be done to help them it leads to ending their suffering. Of, course the choice with a human is to place them on a machine and drugs so that they maintain a heartbeat but are basically brain dead. This seems wrong to me. I would not want it for myself.
First of all, the right of a patient in pain from a diagnosed terminal illness when all options have been reasonably exhausted should include a humane way to end their suffering.
It is a personal choice. Watching my mom in pain and fight like hell to live is excrutiating. I have seen similar situations where such people openly asked if they could just end it all. We all have heard the news stories.
Kevorkian, regardless of whether he was the right man or not to lead the charge on the issue, is alright in my book. He wasn't ever looking for people to kill. He was usually approached by terminally ill, suffering people who wanted to end their suffering. They didn't want to suck on a tail pipe of a running car in their garage or shoot themselves in the head. They wanted some dignity to their death. But doctors are not "permitted" to assist in these endeavors.
For those in pain, a medical way to end their suffering should be there as an option. They are sort of halfway there with hospice care. After a certain point, hospice patients are so drugged up to feel no pain that they aren't in their totally right mind either. It isn't a huge leap to the next logical step for certain terminally ill people.
Thank you all for your response. My thinking is in agreement with all of you. I like what you said AlltimeJeff " Its not a huge leap to the next step".
There was this sister a few months back that sadly was diagnosed with cancer and she was probably I would guess around late 50's and she desided
to refuse kemo. I thought that was interesting that she refused to do anything about it. She passed away in a very short amount of time. But she made her own decision and I think we all have that right.
DV
A man of mercy. Free thinker somewhat, who bravely challenged authority and paid dearly for it with prison time over an issue of civil rights.
As has already been mentioned: When our pets have a terminal illness with no chance of recovery, do we not do the humane thing and end their suffering? No matter how difficult that might be, nothing is worse than watching a loved one suffer. Dr. Kevorkian was not looking to murder innocent people---he was simply trying to end the suffering of those who had had enough. IMO, each person must decide for themselves what to do. It shouldn't be up to the government, the church or your doctor to decide, but that's the way things seem to stand right now.
It's a strange thing that someone like Dr. Kevorkian spent years in prison for trying to end the suffering of terminally ill people, yet the Governing Body members let thousands of people died needlessly when faced with the blood issue. Is this not being guilty of Assisted Suicide? If so, why aren't these men in prison?
