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Assisted suicide and euthanasia

Whether you agree or disagree with assisted suicide it is a subject nearly everyone has an opinion about. I won't get into the legalities of the terms . Assisted suicide, passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia. But I am talking about ending ones life when no chance a cure or or recovery is possible. I am also not talking about DNR orders , Do Not Resuscitate orders. But about ones right to chose when they will die when faced with a terminal or degenerative and or incurable illness.

If you have ever watched someone you love suffer and die from any of the numerous terminal illnesses that plague or world today you would probably support it as well. I have had the unfortunate luck of watching far to many of my family and friends expire from a variety of these maladies. Both of my parents, three of my grandparents,, aunts and uncles, cousins, a nephew, and several close friends have suffered through painful, body and mind altering conditions. That would leave them a shell sometimes almost unrecognizable , of a human being. Lung cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, AID S, lupus, and several other terminal illnesses. But the one that that affected me the most was witnessing the slow, unforgiving , unrelenting, degenerative disease of Parkinson's . Over a period of up to 15 yrs or more it picks away at your muscle control , and your motor skills. Eventually making it impossible to do anything for yourself. Unable to talk, walk, write, feed yourself, use the restroom etc,etc regressing to an almost infantile like state. I watched my grandfather slowly consumed by the affects of this disease and it is truly heart breaking and gut wrenching to see someone you love suffer and dwindle away to the remnants of a human being. It is also unfortunately an affliction that I myself am now faced to battle and endure.

I believe a person should have the right to chose not to suffer and not to make their family witness the horrible affects that are a result of these afflictions
Assisted suicide is legal in 10 states I believe , euthanasia in none. It is not legal where I live and knowing and witnessing first hand what the eventual
results of this malady will be. I have no intentions nor will I let my condition progress to the advanced stages.

If you have never had to deal with any of them , I hope you never do , but the odds on that are slim. So that's something you might want to keep in mind if and when it pops up on your voting ballet. Bless everyone that has dealt with, is dealing with and that will have to deal with these afflictions.
DS1980 · 41-45, M
100% agree that it should be legalised.

Watching loved ones in pain, losing their dignity.

We do not allow animals to suffer in such a way.

I have seen it with my grandmothet, sadly I will probably see it again.

People, with no prospects of recovery, with no quality of life, deserve the right, if they are able to make the decision, to be allowed to make it.

It is not just the person in question that suffers, but everyone by whom they are loved.
HumanEarth · 56-60, M
The sad part is, I heard that Hospitals make big chunks of money forcing people to stay alive. The longer they live, the more money make.

That's the problem
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
Well of course they make a lot more money that way . Human earth
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@DS1980 Amen to that. Hopefully more people in America we I'll realize that and make it happen.
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MrsMONAKanful · 36-40, F
@HumanEarth my dad had MS he could but had to have a walker
MrsMONAKanful · 36-40, F
@HumanEarth does ms really kill a person
HumanEarth · 56-60, M
@MrsMONAKanful

My mother passed away from MS in 1990. My mother was in a special wheelchair that strapped her in, so her head wouldn't flop around and her body would stay straight

She was only 44 years old and just 10 years before her death she was able to run, and play with with kids.

The disease moved though my mother very rapidly. This was way before they did MRI to even test for the disease, the only pills they had her on were the uncontrollable shaking of her body.

The shaking similar to Parkinson's, but much way more different. It started with the hands with little twitches. Then the twitches would get stronger to where she could hold nothing and had to eat bare handed or be feed.

Then she start loosing her balance, falling down a lot, then her legs slowly stopped working. I had to carry her to the bathroom and give her baths.

Then her head and breathing was the next thing to go. Doctors had to insert a tube into chest and put her on a breathing machine.

Three months later my mother died
Being a retired RN, I support freedom of choice when it comes to dying. And DNR is a form of this too. Practical when it is informed consent. I have taken care of all kinds of people from those involved in trauma to terminal illnesses. Many suffer needlessly. In addition, families who do not discuss this topic as related to Health Care Directives are often undecided and confused when it comes to end of life decisions. If you have elderly relatives, please discuss this with them. Could save suffering when and if they are unable to give consent. Nothing to do with voting. It is just common sense and reality of life.
LilPrincess · 41-45, F
In Feb of 2012 my mama was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. For months she pleaded with the doctor to help her. By November of 2012 the worst started and by December she was gone. I still can't get out of my head the last 36 days she was alive.

My brothers death in 2021 was equally heart breaking. He lost both legs to a rare infection in his blood. I saw him 2 weeks before he died and it was like he was already gone.

If the doctor is 100 percent certain than I agree that it should be legalized.
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@LilPrincess My condolences on the loss of your mother and brother,
Puppycat23 · F
Working in healthcare I agree that it should be legalized. I’ve seen many patients in the last stage of their disease suffering while on their death bed in the hospital. They’re just placed on comfort care and given morphine to minimize the pain.
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@PoetryNEmotion You are so right!! And neglected they are. Many people don't have anyone advocating for them , and that makes even that much worse.
@goodlil666 It is not the fault of the caregivers. The dying people often have little family around them if any at all. The lack of staffing is on the management or mismanagement as I call them. Frazzled nurses cannot do good nursing. It just isn't realistic. I always made sure my dying patients or residents were first seen. When I was in charge in one home, I checked upon the resident in the respite room first. I even gave pain meds. Why should a dying person be denied comfort measures? It will only get worse. It will never improve now.
Puppycat23 · F
@PoetryNEmotion True, family members should be advocating for their dying loved one. But sadly some family members don’t even show or don’t want to be present at all and I don’t know why. There is one patient in particular that I think about on occasion, she was young, on comfort care and no family members were present. All the nurses could do was give her ativan to calm her down, the rest of the night was depressing.
Primnproper · 56-60, F
My stepdad died last November of bladder & lung cancer and in the last 48hrs there we waited for 4hrs for them to come and administer more drugs and in those hours he was in terrible pain. We don’t let our animals suffer so why should we.
HumanEarth · 56-60, M
Agree
Pretzel · 61-69, M
My body
My choice
Pretzel · 61-69, M
@goodlil666 and I am not sure how much review and approval needs to be done. That being said I think that providers should be exempt from lawsuits by next of kin
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@Pretzel it is important to keep some kind of record keeping and oversite because several nurses and health care workers have been serial killers. It's a good chance that the most successful and prolific serial killer in America was a nurse.
Pretzel · 61-69, M
@goodlil666 sure.document a t, but not control 🛂 t.
Northwest · M
It's called Death With Dignity, and it's legal in my state.
DS1980 · 41-45, M
@goodlil666 Nor in the UK where I am x
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@DS1980 I didnt know it wasn't legal in the UK
Northwest · M
@goodlil666 Our former governor lobbied hard for it. He had Parkinson's and was diagnosed with after he left office. The bill was approved in 2008. Gov Gardner died in 2013.

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner is a documentary HBO produced.
CountScrofula · 41-45, M
a close friend of mine elected for MAID in Canada, medical assistance in dying.

It was a dignity to someone who was suffering greatly. I am very grateful she had that option to end things on her own terms.
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eventtemple123 · 22-25, M
I've seen multiple people with dimentia so bad they can't even speak or remember how to move their arm. What's the point of staying alive if what you have is completely uncureable, costing your living relatives a fortune, and you're not even sentient? I'd rather just go out than be THAT miserable and bleed my family's savings dry.
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@goodlil666 Back in 1992, when my Grandfather was dying of cancer, Kevorkian was huge in the news, dr assisted was still considered highly unethical and illegal. His last week he was in a coma and my grandmother kept him at home, opting out of hospice. A few short hours before he died the dr said he was still in a lot of pain and gave an uncle a bunch of tubes with sponges on the ends filled with morphine and told my uncle to sponge his tongue every 30 minutes with it, none of us, in our grief and desperation to stop his pain we didn't realize the dr deliberately overdosed my Grandfather and killed him until a year later he was in the news for losing his license because he was a Kevorkian sipporter, the dots connected.
goodlil666 · 51-55, MVIP
@NativePortlander1970 So what are your feelings on that?

What I am talking about is a person's right to end the suffering , pain, and trauma before it gets to the point of them being bed ridden and no longer being able to do anything for themselves. That is no quality of life.
@goodlil666 I'm pissed because my Grandfather didn't have a say in it, he still had a chance of recovering.
Peaceandnamaste · 26-30, F
I agree with this, I want to die with dignity, if I was a dog I would've been euthanized a long time ago.
PleasurePunch · 100+
Thanatos Society is a resource for anyone interested in any aspects of subject...
Very well stated. I agree.
We have what are called Death with Dignity laws in my state, and after much going back & forth, physician-assisted suicide is now legal here. There have been concerns about it being abused, but suicide monitored by a licensed doctor, is what people want access to—[b]not[/b] euthanasia.

And at this point it is for people who have terminal [b]physical[/b] illnesses. Some are trying to include emotional or mental illnesses, which is more difficult to assess, so I don’t see it being approved anytime soon.

 
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