Dying In America ( Archived) (30)

There is a big business there the long the people live sick the better for profit I would go for euthanasia too for myself.

That's the point, isn't it? Legal, controlled and voluntary euthanasia doesn't have a chance of becoming legal in the USA because big healthcare business would lose out. It's all about money.
I'm gonna die young just to spite them.

And a long long way ahead in the future.......

They can have what's left in my old carcass for science and the family know this bur aint happy ......JMO

Dartmouth Hitchcock. Had my triple by-pass there.

They can have my old carcass as well. Not sure what good it will be unless they wonder how I lived so long. I have signed a "no heroic measures" right to die release statement. I will do my best to stay healthy but if things go sour I want the end to be certain. I have no fear of leaving this earth. It's just another phase of life.
AND, I have every reason to believe these last years will be the best ever, so, Three cheers for going for the gold.

I see problems with letting anyone other than the dying person or family making decisions on how a person's last days are lived and what attempts they decide to make to prolong death....

OOPs ...."prolong life "

I believe there is an organization called "The Hemlock Society." Now I think that they believe in assisted euthanasia. Oregon is one of the states in the U.S. that allows for assisted euthanasia.

I saw on TV a recent interview with Dr Jack Kevorkian. He is rather a reclusive individual and has some weird ideas on living, his profession and even growing up. Although people have demonized him, others who have lived or live in intractable daily pain welcomed his assistance to allow themselves to die with dignity and quickly, rather than to linger day in and day out.

It has got to be horrible to have your full mind about you and live in intractable daily pain and watch your body wither and fall apart on a daily basis till you see yourself as only a shell of the person you were. They feel themselves as a living, breathing corpse. No joy in living when the essence of who they were has been robbed from them. People in that situation live their daily life in physical and mental torture.

We might normally say no to assisted suicide but if we are ever in that intractable pain situation, we might consider it. No one can say no for sure until they have a different set of "shoes to walk in at a particular time in their lives."

BTW, last Aug when my cousin had a stroke and brain hemmorhage and was comatose and hooked up to all sorts of tubes and life support, I was the one who had to make the decision to let her "complete her journey." She stroked in Fla and was hooked up to life support before the docs found out I was the POA-HC. Sadly, they could not unhook her legally from life support, even though I asked them to. May have had something to do with the Terri Schiavo case. Anyway, I knew my cousin well enough that she would never ever want to live like that. She was so vibrant, beautiful and full of energy, laughter and life. As her organs shut down 4 days later and her blood pressure was falling, I told the doctor not to do anything to prolong the inevitable. She died by Day 4. It was the most difficult decision of my life and my conscience was clear every step of the way and still is. Fortunately, I did not need Kevorkian's expertise. It would have been worse had she been in a permanent coma state.

This is a very good topic and one that gives me pause to stop and think about life, love, happines, who we are, what makes us tick and what we want for end of life decisons and who to carry out our wishes. Something probably many of us are still hesitant to face

I had the pleasure of seeing my father out a few years ago.
At first my brother and I were contemplating slipping him something to send him off - becuase he had a paralyzing stroke.
But after two weeks he attempted to recover and began a new effort to eat and do therapy ......it makes me wonder if the entire decision should and need be made by the person dying.
Sometimes at the last moment they have a change of heart and wanna continue and recouperate .........
Shouldn't they have that choice entirely themselves ?

sure but the point was
if we dont put paperwork down we will have no say
and what if we arent able to communicate?


thats all i was getting at
i thought if people watched the video- a few measly minutes,
it might motivate at least one to get their papers in order as we tend to avoid this subject and it was well illustrated therein and i definitely know from experience - if the machine begins to run it will be on automatic and choice is hard to institute then.