Euthanasia ( Archived) (41)

10%? Miracles do happen.

However, if I'm on machines keeping me alive...just trip over that cord and let me go, not only for myself who probably doesn't know a damn thing that's happening, but for my family and friends who are going through the ordeal.

Yes!
Although I would not want to go that far and I would make an earlier decision end end the suffering for my beloved ones and for myself.

It's not so easy to get the PLUG PULLED in many states. Florida is very resistant as I just found out with my cousin on life support. As POA-HC, I couldn't get her unplugged as the docs had hooked her up due to a sudden stroke and brain hemmorhage. I had the POA-HC decisions living in Ohio and the hospital did not have the records. Decisions were at the doctor's level only at first. Hence the importance of the initiative to have medical records be electronic all over the US. If records were electronic on the computer, her records could have been pulled up and this would have shown up. Instead, I didn't find out till later and faxed the paper form my cousin signed 10 yrs ago giving me the Health Care decision ability. It truly was painful for me to see her quality of life to being relegated to only functioning because of tubes and she having no idea of what was happening to her. She was truly a carcass with no chance of making a turnaround. My heart was so broken. :(

Yes...My mother is in a nurseing home,her mind is gone,her body is there..or her shell of a body is there.But my mother is not,in truth she passed away years ago,but the body lives on tied in a wheel chair,so she want hurt herself and others,hooked to a bag so that she can go to the bathroom,feed by nurses because she does not no how to feed herself...is this living,i think not.

It is stated in the Patient's bill of rights, thus:
* A patient has the right to refuse any drugs, treatment or procedure offered by the facility, to the extent permitted by law, and a physician shall inform the patient of his right to refuse any drugs, treatment or procedures and of the medical consequences of the patient's refusal of any drugs, treatment or procedure.

* The patient, or when appropriate, the patient’s representative has the right to make informed decisions regarding his or her
care. The patient's rights include being informed of his health status, being involved in care planning and treatment, and being
able to request or refuse treatment. This right must not be construed as a mechanism to demand the provision of treatment or
services deemed medically unnecessary or inappropriate. Making informed decisions includes the development of their plan
of care, medical and surgical interventions (e.g. deciding whether to sign a surgical consent), pain management, patient care issues and discharge planning

I wanna be allowed to reach over with the one good hand and turn the morphine valve wide open - when I choose !

Then it's "adios amigos "

I vote yes who wants to live in a vegetable state?

I hear you....brings to mind Soylent Green

I once thought this was right, my father and I had made a pact with each other, but when the time came my father fought until the end, he managed to convey to me that when dying how I saw him was not how he was. So I dont think I would write a living will, it could be carried out on feelings I have now, but as I saw could change when time came.
I have been with people close when dying and all I can say, thier reality seems different from ours. So it is a very individual thing.
Wishing you all well

My daughters already know my wishes and they are in writing ( I have a living will And my daughter has power of attorney for everything should something happen)...No machinery to keep me alive...If it is legal then to end whatever pain I am in and there is no hope that I will get better then do it...

Interesting....17 say Yes, 3 say No and 4 are on the fence.

I think we should do a trial run in USA with euthanasia - allowing republicans initially to do themselves ( whether terminally ill or not ) ........

And, if necessary - we could allow assistance .....

Yes, agreed.
I watched two relatives die with cancer, one screamed for hours before he went. I vowed that cancer would NEVER take me, but I would take it....... hope it never gets the chance to test my theory !
My Dad died at 62.... big heart attack, you know watching my uncles die the other way made it easier to accept his quick departure, lived and died with his boots on..... now that's the way to go.

Couple of quotes spring to mind
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."
or
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'WOW What a Ride!'"

I voted "no" to having a plug pulled because that is traumatic for families, especially if they are on the fence themselves.

There are certain instances where it is better to be in hospital/hospice, or whatever, and close to painkillers etc in doses that no doc would give you at home.

Sometimes it is better to have someone on a machine that keeps them living until relatives get there to say goodbye.

It depends entirely on what you are dying of........

My death, like my life, I hope, will not be all about me. My cadaver will be going to a teaching hospital, when they have finished taking all the parts they need for other people.

That will most likely require some hospital keeping me on life support, to keep organs fresh, until that is arranged. The hospital will then decide when to pull the plug.

But if you had, in your hand, a Living Will/Consent Form from that particular person?

OR YOU had written the consent form...would you want them to pull the plug KNOWING it's what you had requested of them?