Do You Believe A Person Has The Right To Die?

by minimus 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Scully

  However, Choosing to die is a coward thing to do. Its the easy way out.

  Maybe because I've had relatives remain alive while cancer ate away their bodies or alzheimer's destroyed their minds and bodies, I feel very differently about this. While I'm grateful for the extra time with my family's loved ones, I wish I could have spared them the deterioration, the pain and suffering that their illnesses inflicted on them - especially in the final weeks before they died.

  Personally, I do not want to become a burden to my family should I ever become terminally ill. I don't want my children to watch me disintigrate. I do not want them to go through the painful choice of having to put me in a long-term care facility or hospice because they're just too exhausted from doing it all themselves. I see euthanasia as being a self-sacrificing choice made out of love for my family, not cowardice. And I see it as an extension of choosing to live my life on my terms, not those of other people. If I want to have a huge party and invite all my friends to come and share some good times and say my good-byes beforehand, that's what I'll do - while I still have the capacity and wherewithall to do so.

  Love, Scully
• 

  rwagoner

  As many know this is a sore spot for me if you will....

  If the question is...a person who is terminally ill with no hope of treatment or recovery...then yes...I support the decision to die.

  If however someone is somehow disabled through stroke, accident, becoming paralysed, etc....then my opinion differs. A person like me, who has been disabled since birth accepts our disability because it is all we know. There are cases when disabilities are degenerative and grow progressively worse, like mine. I think in some of those case when the pain or other issues reaches an unbearable state, I would also support the decision to die.

  If however someone is newly disabled there is a natural period of grieving. Grieving for the loss of their former "normal" life. This grieving process must be allowed to takes its course for the person to make a rational decision based on facts and not heightened emotions and false stereotypes. The "better dead than disabled" belief is false and there are huge range of opportunities for people with disabilities in our time. Continuing education, employment, sports, even extreme sports....but most people can not see the possibilities when they are first disabled. Once this grieving process is completed and they can see all sides...while I may not agree, I would support their right to decide for themselves.

  *stepping off the soap box before I alienate everyone because I'm the kook in the wheelchair* LOL
• 

  qwerty

  Only if!? Say's it all really! I think if a person is behond recovery - then it's their body and they should have the final say! I would hate to be face agony in the future if I could have peaceful death. But till your in that position - I don't know and am not qualified to so say. Qwerty > with apain in my heart thinking of my Dad (die of cancer)
• 

  minimus

  The judge in California says that Terry Schiavo's breathing tube CAN be removed.
• 

  JAVA

  If I'm terminally ill, with no chance to recover, I don't want to be kept alive artificially. I also believe I should be able to take something to ease the passing for me and any loved ones. I, too, wonder why we are willing to end of suffering of pets, but are not humane with our own kind.
• 

  rwagoner

  The Schiavo casie is very difficult....she is obviously very low function....but she does communicate at the most basic level (eye blinks, recognizes people, etc). What complicates matters is the feud between her husband and her parents, who claim her husband actually may have caused her original stroke through abuse. There is also, from my understanding, no clear indication of Terry's wishes other than her husband's word that she did not want to be maintained via machine.

  I have made my wishes clear in a durable power of attorney for health care to my wife to avoid any questions in the future.

  Were I in Terry's situation I'm not sure what I would want...but even if I decided to die I would not want to starve to death because my feeding tube was removed.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  If we do not own our own lives, who owns them?

  Some "priest" who claims to speak for his invisible, imaginary "god"?

  Or some "judge" who claims to speak for an invisible imaginary "State"?
• 

  Valis

  rwagon...I agree about starving...I would rather be given an overdose of morphine or something and just pass on blissfully...just a little pin prick...you might feel a litle sick...
• 

  frankiespeakin

  I beleive we should not judge a persons right to live or die. It's your life, not the state's or the federal government's. I beleive that if someone wants to die and wishes to do it at an institution that will provide a good atmostphere and a comfortable, peaceful death, the state should not interfere, the person should be given a psychological evaluation to make sure they understand what they are doing, and offered treatment, that is if they can be treated in some way to eliminate thier suffering. But in the final analysis the decision must be left up to the person.
• 

  minimus

  BUT---if the person CAN'T decide??