Death with Dignity

by onacruse 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  onacruse

  I've presented myself on this db with a strong inclination that there is such a thing a death with dignity, including my expressed (and still resolved) determination to refuse a blood transfusion (or any other organ or fluid implant from another human being) to prolong my life (for reasons that have nothing to do with JW pseudo-theology).

  In that determination, I obviously have a personal ideal of a "death with dignity."

  However, last night, I watched an interview wherein the commentator said "There is no dignity in death; there is only dignity in life."

  It gave me serious pause for thought.

  I'd appreciate your perspectives.

  Craig
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  "There is no dignity in death; there is only dignity in life."

  Well, you're alive to the very last breath and until your brain is dead. So you should have dignity right up until that point, don't you think? And then what remains of you deserves to be treated with proper respect and dignity. Most people bury their pets with dignity. Human beings deserve that same dignity whether it is through burial or cremation. Even when you donate your body to science they are supposed to cremate the remains and return them to you.

  Then there is that guy that has that weird show where he infuses human bodies with some kind of silicone or plastic and they don't ever deteriorate or develop odors or any type of decomposition.
• 

  RandomTask

  I don't understand how accepting a transfusion or transplant is undignified.
• 

  under74

  Well, it's a hard one. For me, I think that maybe there are grades of dignity at death. To die because a procedure was refused that could have saved someone, in my perspective would be undignified. But this is just me. To have lived a long life and be surrounded by loved ones has some dignity in it. But I think that statement you bring up is true to some extent. I watched a family member die of cancer and in the way she was surrounded by our family when she died I would say it was dignified but at the same time, physically it was undignified. I don't know Onacruse it's a confusing subject I think, there's a lot of grey area in it....
• 

  A Paduan

  from L. dignitatem (nom. dignitas ) "worthiness," from dignus "worthy, proper, fitting,"
  

  It is not proper for me to refuse such a here nor there simple treatment as a blood transfusion, choose rather to keep this dying flesh 'clean' than to give the help that I can afford those around me while alive (maybe if I was really, really old, but maybe not).

  It may be proper for you, but I don't know.

  Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse (dignity) ! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True
• 

  Xena

  I saw both my parents die. My mom suffered and lingered and wanted to die. She had her dignity stripped away from her and it was agonizing to watch. My father died in his sleep without us even being aware there was anything wrong with him. I perfer my fathers way. Quick and easy.

  That said I have to say even knowing the suffering my mother was enduring it was difficult to let her go. Death is never easily contemplated when it comes to people you love.
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Death is never easily contemplated when it comes to people you love.

  Even though we may be in physical or emotional pain and be so depressed that it matters not to us if we die, we have to think of those who love us. My children and grandchildren love me very much. I offer a lot of support to them and I nurture them. They can turn to me any time for advice and comfort. If I was gone from this earth it would leave a hole in their hearts and lives. I think that for them and for my friends I'd have to fight to hold onto life.

  There are times when it makes the most sense to let go though. If you are eaten up with cancer. Or in my mother's case, bedridden, so helpless you can't roll over, speak, feed yourself, toilet yourself, even scratch your nose or change the awful show from your TV, then it might make more sense to let go and move on to a more peaceful existence. Sadly, when it came to mom, the decision to allow her to die rested squarely on my shoulders. You know, even in that state of misery we could tell she was scared and that she fought for every last breath. Makes me teary just thinking of my ragdoll of a mommy lying helpless with life leaving her. She looked so beautiful and at peace within minutes of her death.
• 

  Steve Egner

  Hey Craig,

  We touched on this briefly in Hillsboro, didn't we?

  my expressed (and still resolved) determination to refuse a blood transfusion (or any other organ or fluid implant from another human being) to prolong my life (for reasons that have nothing to do with JW pseudo-theology).

  While certainly not related to "JW pseudo-theology, I recall that your decision is related to your belief in an afterlife.

  As a Christian, I too, hope for life after this one, but I've had no supernatural confirmation up to this point. No burning bush, no spiritual rebirth, nothing. Still I hope. However, in the absence of supernatural affirmation, I must concede that this life may be all there is.

  That being the case, I make a philosophy of living well, making choices that I hope will protect, preserve, and possibly even extend this life.

  Those choices would include transplants and transfusions, if necessary. Beyond that, I have reservations...I watched my father decline in health, suffering intense pain, right up to the point of his death, over an 8 month period. He was bed-ridden in ICU the entire time, connected to all manner of draining and pumping tubes and machines. Even so, I believe he died with dignity, because his great struggle reflected his powerful desire to live.

  And there you have it. I believe that the dignity lies in the fact that we have a choice: To what extent will each of us fight for this life?

  I know for a certainty that I would not want to be preserved as in immobile, mental vegetable... but short of that, I can promise you, I won't go down easily.

  Steve
• 

  franklin J

  ...I am not convinced in the "finality" of death.

  I believe the term "passed on" is more appropriate; and would include further existence. I have no facts to support this.

  If termination of our existing lives is the black void of nothingness and an extinguishing of consciousness , then I agree; there is no dignity in death.
• 

  Mulan

  I watched a drama Tuesday night, where a doctor said the same thing. I think he was trying to make the patient realize she could survive her illness, with treatment, and shouldn't just give up and die. That kind of death, where you give up, is not death with dignity.

  I watched my cousin die of cancer, at home, surrounded by her family. Even though her mind was not all there, and she was in and out of a coma, I felt her death was as dignified as it can be under those horrible circumstances.

  I tend to agree though, that life is dignified, and death is just final (for now), no matter how it happens.