End of life question

[Tim]

When our pets get old or sick and approach the end, we make the hard choices and put them down if it's the humane choice. It's always a hard choice, but it's one made out of love.

Why don't we do the same thing for our loved ones? Do we love our pets that much more?

 

[pjbleek]

When our pets get old or sick and approach the end, we make the hard choices and put them down if it's the humane choice. It's always a hard choice, but it's one made out of love.

Why don't we do the same thing for our loved ones? Do we love our pets that much more?

when my dad was told his chemo wouldn't help him anymore we followed his wishes and allowed him to come home and live out his days (actually two months later) and we fed him, bathed him, etc...

 

[Pumpkin]

I think the problem is, there is too much room for abuse.

If someone is ill but no necessarily ready to give up, who's to stop someone killing that person and claiming it was their wish?

 

[HK]

I am all for euthanasia. I think there should be strict regulations in place to try and prevent or at least minimise the abuse possible, but ultimately I think people should be allowed to ask their loved ones to help them end their lives.

There's nothing humane about prolonging suffering.

 

[hart]

My mother had terminal cancer but her heart was very strong. She was out of her head with it in the hospital kept trying to pull the tubes out. I finally got in bed with her to calm her. I was in there for about 24 hours. Finally the nurse said it was time to give mom some more drugs in her IV. One type of drug was to spare her pain and relax her, the other type of drug was to insure she didn't seize because if she did she'd probably die.

I was in my early twenties, an only child, my dad was a long time out of the picture. So I told the nurse to go ahead and give her the pain med, but withhold the anti-seizure drug. So they did, my mom seized in about an hour and passed away.

So Tim, sometimes they do let the family decide......

 

[pjbleek]

My mother had terminal cancer but her heart was very strong. She was out of her head with it in the hospital kept trying to pull the tubes out. I finally got in bed with her to calm her. I was in there for about 24 hours. Finally the nurse said it was time to give mom some more drugs in her IV. One type of drug was to spare her pain and relax her, the other type of drug was to insure she didn't seize because if she did she'd probably die.

I was in my early twenties, an only child, my dad was a long time out of the picture. So I told the nurse to go ahead and give her the pain med, but withhold the anti-seizure drug. So they did, my mom seized in about an hour and passed away.

So Tim, sometimes they do let the family decide......

:smiley31::smiley31::smiley31::smiley31::smiley31:
never easy

 

[hart]

No it wasn't PJ but I felt she did die with dignity. I wouldn't mind going that way myself. But damn it hurt at the time, I've never made a decision that cut me so deeply, even though I do think it was the right one. And I've alway looked at that hospital with fondness for having the guts to offer me the choice. Obviously, wasn't a Catholic hospital

 

[StripedCat]

I am all for euthanasia. I think there should be strict regulations in place to try and prevent or at least minimise the abuse possible, but ultimately I think people should be allowed to ask their loved ones to help them end their lives.

There's nothing humane about prolonging suffering.

:homo:

 

[HK]

That's a tricky area Ravana - at what point is someone justified in thinking they have no quality of life likely to return? As with your example, even terminal patients have a slim, slim chance of recovery.

Added to that - what about those who are suicidal for non-physical illness reasons? Like those with depression, who get to the point where they genuinely have no desire to live and have seemingly exhausted all options except more waiting - do they also get the option of assisted suicide? How do we judge whether a life is no longer worth living?

When it comes to debilitating illnesses I find the matter simple enough, but when you dig deeper it gets far more uncertain.

 

[Delorean]

A family friend years ago was dying of cancer, it got to the point where we were all told to come to the hospital and say goodbye because she was unlikely to live for much longer. They offered to give her more drugs, I guess similar to what Hart was offered for her mother, but her husband refused and took her home to look after her in her final days. She went into remission and was well for 4 more years until it came back and she passed away. Had euthanasis been an option she would have missed out on 4 years of life.
It's a very grey area, it's just so hard to know when it would be right to do it being that cases like my friend's do happen. I do support the option, but you just never know...

 

[Panacea]

I don't know how up to the family it should be...unlike pets, humans can speak for themselves. The decision should be in the hands of the person doing the suffering. Unless the person is unable to, of course, which makes it murkier, but that's why writing up last wishes is so important. I am in support of euthanasia.

 

[BornReady]

I believe everyone has the right to end their life. However I can understand an insurance company not wanting to pay a policy on someone who killed them self. So I suppose laws would be needed to regulate under what conditions someone is allowed to kill them self and still collect their insurance policy.

 

[Tim]

I believe everyone has the right to end their life. However I can understand an insurance company not wanting to pay a policy on someone who killed them self. So I suppose laws would be needed to regulate under what conditions someone is allowed to kill them self and still collect their insurance policy.

There are rules built right into insurance policies concerning suicide. Most policies will not pay out on suicide for the first year or two, then they will after that. So we really don't need laws concerning suicide and life insurance, that can be left up to the insurance companies to decide like they do now.

I firmly believe that if someone wants to end their life, that they should be able to at any time. But with that, I believe that their loved ones should try to help them chose life.

 

[Alien Allen]

There are rules built right into insurance policies concerning suicide. Most policies will not pay out on suicide for the first year or two, then they will after that. So we really don't need laws concerning suicide and life insurance, that can be left up to the insurance companies to decide like they do now.

I firmly believe that if someone wants to end their life, that they should be able to at any time. But with that, I believe that their loved ones should try to help them chose life.

Geeze it pains me to agree with you

This has always been a subject I was interested in. And have some experience. Plus I live in the burbs of Detroit where Jack Kevorkian plied his trade.

My father had cancer and after the operation refused to take chemo. He was 85. He suffered a bit but was kept pretty comfortable and was not bed ridden until the last month. From the start of symptoms it was 7 months before he died. It took a couple months to figure out what was wrong. They gave him a year but obviously that was not very accurate.

My mother was in her 90's and had a knee replacement and basically she never got out of the nursing home or hospital and lived for a couple weeks. She could not breathe at the end due to heart and lung issues that for some reason the operation spiked out of nowhere. She did not want to be kept alive artificially and we had the choice to either keep her on meds and in pain or put her on morphine and take her off the meds where she would be comfortable and die. We put her on the morphine. She died within 6 hours.

My brother a year plus ago was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and given a year. He has done radiation and chemo. And after going quite a bit downhill initially has stayed about the same for the last 6 months. During that time he has been in a nursing home as he has little motion in his left side. He has trouble talking and it is just a matter of time.

I am not close to my brother but after visiting him all these months in the nursing home there aint no way in fucking hell I will let myself be put in that kind of a position. I have a 9mm and I will use it if I ever got to that point.

Now how we try to regulate euthanasia if we ever allowed it would be the scary part. Because the govt will surely fuck that up.

Great topic Tim :thumbup

 

[Thornless]

I think the problem is, there is too much room for abuse.

If someone is ill but no necessarily ready to give up, who's to stop someone killing that person and claiming it was their wish?

Same can be said for pets...

I am with Tim, if my quality of life is so hindered that I can't do anything for myself and my family is keeping me alive on machines.... I would want peace.

 

[Francis]

When our pets get old or sick and approach the end, we make the hard choices and put them down if it's the humane choice. It's always a hard choice, but it's one made out of love.

Why don't we do the same thing for our loved ones? Do we love our pets that much more?

Wow, you picked a topic that is very hot here at this time and making Worldwide news..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/18/idUS189988+18-Apr-2011+MW20110418

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/...wsuit_110426/20110426?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

It really comes down to the right not to make people suffer and that right is long past its day I think.

The argument that Abuse will always happen has had its day.. Abuse happens to living people and they are abused by keeping many alive when they suffer in pain none of us could imagine.. I have been through a lot of stuff at a younger age I would never want to be put through in my late 80's knowing I would never come back from it..

And this thing about being selfish about wanting to die early.. Bullshit..

People can be considered selfish for wanting to hold onto someone who is nothing but a shell of a person.. It really makes no sense sometimes and logic is just not in the best interest of the patient who should be the one who decides their fate..

That's my opinion, right or wrong...

 

[Accountable]

I believe everyone has the right to end their life. However I can understand an insurance company not wanting to pay a policy on someone who killed them self. So I suppose laws would be needed to regulate under what conditions someone is allowed to kill them self and still collect their insurance policy.

Holy crap! Is everybody slaves of the insurance industry?? It's the insurance company's money. People should read their contract ... then shred it and go save their money. If policies still exist for truly catastrophic events, get one of those.

If an otherwise sane person wants to commit suicide, fine. No doctor should be required to help, and if someone is going to help, they ought to have plenty of witnesses.

 

[brieze]

I'm with HK. To a tee, she said it all.

 

[Mystic]

I am all for euthanasia. I think there should be strict regulations in place to try and prevent or at least minimise the abuse possible, but ultimately I think people should be allowed to ask their loved ones to help them end their lives.

There's nothing humane about prolonging suffering.

:homo::thumbup

 

[Pet Sounds]

There are many differences. One is that a a person has a will, and probably most often doe not want to die. Secondly, and probably more importantly, we DON'T care about animals as much, which is why we let them go sooner. Nobody lets their mother die because they can't afford a procedure. That happens with pets all the time. People always have to choose between life saving surgery and their bank account. We also don't make anywhere near the effort to save animals that we do humans. If my cat has kidney problems, he's finished. A human with a similar problem can be be treated and still have a somewhat normal life. Because mechanisms are in place that prioritize human health over animal health.