Should we choose the time of our death?

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http://www.edmontonsun.com/comment/c.../15287631.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/01/terry-pratchett-euthanasia-tribunals

Should we consider this? I'm torn. I don't want to live and suffer an excruciatingly slow death just because someone else is uncomfortable with alleviating my pain. I also fear douchebags offing Granny so as to increase the $ in the inheritance.

 

If you have an incurable disese and make the request while in sound mind then I don't see why not. People go to war against pthers inflicting torture but if somebody is tortured by an illness then nobody cares. They are allowed to suffer because nobody wants to accept that death is preferable.
There does need to be safe-guards though. If someone is not in a position to make a decision (ie, late stage dementia) and can be easily pushed into making the choice then it shouldn't be an option. However, if you are aware that you are going to lose cognitive function and set out your request before things get too bad then where's the problem?
I worked in a care home and I remember one woman saying to me that there was no dignity left for her husband. If he had known 10 years before that he was going to end up having to be spoon fed, cleaned, shaved and had his drool wiped up by someone else then he would have made the most of his life and then ended it in the manner of his choosing rather than hanging on

 

My mother died a horrible death from lung cancer (she was a smoker) in 1990. Ever since then I have believed people should be able to end their lives with dignity. My dad and I have discussed this many times and neither one of us could ever convict someone for a "mercy slaying", we don't care what the law or judge says.

The one thing that will stick with me to my dying day was seeing my mother laying in a hospital in excruciating pain and her "morphine drip" was set to 30 (30 what I have no idea). I remember asking the doctor how much morphine was she getting and he told me if he took that tube out of her arm and stuck it into an addict they would drop dead. Yet, she was still in pain.

Smoking robbed me of my mother at age 23, she never got to meet my wife or my son. I do not smoke, neither does Mrs. Snook. Teen Snook knows the story and knows smoking is one of the things I will absolutely never tolerate.

 

I sympathise with you snook, I never got to meet either of my grand fathers, they both died of smoking related illness, one only weeks before I was born... he survived the battle of Britain to be taken down by his habit, my mothers mother had a cancerous lung removed and died when I was 10, and my mother is doing the same thing to her self and there's not a damned thing I can do about it. Smoking is something I despise.

on topic, I agree with euthanasia, but its a hard area to control, many may feel pressured into taking their own lives even if they dont want to or are afraid, just so that they dont burden their families later in their illness.

 

I used to quite firmly agree that euthanasia should be carefully considered as a viable possibility.

After losing someone though, so rapidly, I don't think I could accept someone killing someone else that I loved... even if they were already dying.

 

No, we shouldn't. The time of our birth is not up to us and neither is the time of our death.

 

I think everyone has the right for a humane death, so in cases where there are no hope for recovery I do believe euthanasia to be an acceptable solution. There are, however, several potential ways of abusing the system or decisions being made in the spring of the moment so there are a lot of legal considerations to be taken into account.

The Finnish population in general does accept euthanasia according to some surveys I've seen but it's not a very actual topic right now, but as the population grows older I imagine it will become a political question quite soon.

 

When your dog is old, ill, in pain and going blind you ask the vet to put it to sleep because it's cruel to keep them alive and suffering.........

 

Yes, your parents chose when to conceive you, therefore they should also get to choose when you die.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!"

 

Bill Cosby talking about his father. Great routine.

 

Absolutely. I choose 3:00 am, because hopefully I will be asleep at the time.

 

Interesting point of view. Has Homo Sapiens evolved over the last couple of thousand years? I ask as we live much longer now then our ancestors did in biblical times. Is this because we are evolving and our expiration date is getting longer or is it because through science and medicine we have "chosen" a way to extend our time of death?

 

If someone is in the midst of dying a miserable painful death, I think that having a mechanism that ensures:

A: The person is in his/her right mind.

B: There is no available treatment that could save his/her life

C: No coercion is taking place

Then we should respect a person's right to decide his/her own fate.

 

The only drawback to that is it would be really hard on the wife and kid the next morning.

 

These aren't always verifiable though, so if they don't qualify, they MUST suffer? The right mind one could be particularly regrettable: suffering would be at least equal, imo, between the sane and insane, if not potentially worse for the insane. Is there no way out for them? What if the suffering drives one insane?

Nor trying to be snarky, just proposing that there's ways for some people to slip through the cracks and have no way out. There's not a lot of dignity to be had in dying, no matter how you slice it. "In a perfect world ..."

 

Well, we don't have kids, so no problem there. As for my wife, it would be hard on her only if she wasn't careful enough to make it look like I died of natural causes.

 

What if the individual is suffering a miserable, painful terminal disease, and also has a cognitive defect (eg. Alzheimer's, which in itself is considered a terminal disease)? Should people who have a mental disorder be forced to suffer through an agonising death process? The best way out of this is probably to plan for such scenarios when they are first diagnosed with a mental disorder, before it progresses too far.

On the other hand, I do understand the very real risk of killing someone who is asking to die because they are depressed, or receiving substandard treatment for their symptoms. In America there is also the financial aspect, where being terminally ill for years could make you a pauper.

Some Americans I have talked to implied that some health organisations and nursing homes are only intent on bleeding you dry of your money. I have heard horrible stories of nursing homes fighting to keep feeding tubes and life support on vegetative patients, against either the patient's previously expressed wishes, or that of their next of kin. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. The health business in America seems rather mercenary.

 

That alone is reason enough to have a living will. It takes the decision out of your family's hands, as you express your wishes before you become terminally ill, or develop some type of cognitive defect.