Death with Dignity
 

A thought came upon me when reading about the apparent recent TV murder and suicide.

As I age, I can perceive a time when an elderly person receives the "terminal" news from docs. And close to "the end point" enduring extreme pain as your body, and perhaps mind, slowly declines.

Provided some serious meds to alleviate some of that pain, but still. And the inevitable continues - many days or weeks with your family watching no quality of LIFE impacting your loved one laying there. Enduring rough emotions and expending $$$$$.

My choice at that point would be an understanding with loved ones that I CHOOSE to determine the time and method of my End when I want to. When there is absolutely NO hope. And possibly "live out" the inevitable in a coma/vegetative state or such. IMO NOT fair to ME or the Family. MY Choice would be a Dignified end of life. Our society endures so much which endangers healthy life. We should have a law that provides for a dignified death within strict regulations. period.

There are several USA states that passed a Bill covering this. Florida, not yet.

Agree totally. Often that is the last truly informed decision a person can make, and it seems criminal to take that opportunity away.

Mom did it right. At 85 he was a recent cancer survivor (surgery took a lot out of her), living with a bad heart (triple bypass and a pacemaker) and severe arthritis and accompanying ambulation problems meant that she was basically non-ambulatory except for a few steps now and again. Fortunately her mind was unimpaired. One day she took a tumble and suffered a compound fracture of both leg bones just above the ankle. She knew she'd never walk again, and on top of her other issues she decided she'd had enough. She and my sister, whom she lived with at the time, discussed everything and Mom decided to call the pacemaker company and have them turn it off. Let nature take it's course. Next morning, she was dead.

I hope I have those kinds of guts and clarity of thinking, when it becomes my turn.

Did the pacemaker company turn it off with a simple request over the phone ? No doctor ? No mountain of paperwork ?

I worked in hospitals and nursing homes my entire career. I've watched perhaps a thousand people die of terminal illnesses- some of which were horrific.

The battle cry of opponents of Assisted Suicide is to claim that "Effective Pain Management" will give the person a comfortable journey through their battle. The only times I've seen Effective Pain Management is in the final days or hours of life. Doctors are reluctant to give people adequate doses of pain killers because OTHER advocates, such as Social Workers, scrutinize their decisions and claim that people who are "Over Medicated" are in a daze and this affects the quality of their life.

Some oppose assisted suicide for religious reasons- If your religion tells you to suffer in horrible pain then go ahead. But your religion should dictate how I should bring an end to my agony.

I've watch patients slowly suffocate to death. I've had countless patients beg for more medication, and some beg me to kill them. This is the real world of hospitals and nursing homes folks. It isn't like the television ads and brochures. When you drive by a nursing home you should be aware that there is likely horrible suffering inside.

Death With Dignity in Florida | Nolo

I did find this.

I have spoken a lot of late to various people who have worked in nursing homes quite a bit. They do all seem to agree with some posters that life in the nursing homes near the end can be horrific. Probably why most are no longer working in nursing homes but coming into people's homes to help.

This group may be of help-- TRI-COUNTY CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER. Google it.

We did use them a few years ago for our parents' needs.

Ooops- should be "But your religion should ~ NOT ~ dictate how I should bring an end to my agony."

Just curious, which religion dictates cruel suffering before death? We shoot horses when they can’t recover for humane reasons, are we less kind to people?

Even though there’s no law that approves killing yourself, I doubt you’ll get arrested if you do so. It would be nice if we did have an assisted suicide law though.

Here you go:

Religious Groups’ Views on End-of-Life Issues | Pew Research Center

Thank you, now I know which religions I could never practice. Any faith that glorifies suffering to me does not make sense. I can’t quite visualize a God that takes delight in human suffering. My impression is faith is to give one hope, meaning and joy.

So agree. Some organizations may be blind to facts and truth.

I agree, except that it never seems to end with a consenting doctor prescribing a pill.

Next, the busybodies demand that every doctor do it, regardless of their own personal belief or Constitutionally-protected religion (as in Oregon). Then, all businesses are required to offer the service free of charge through their insurance. Next thing you know, your insurance company or friendly government-run healthcare service starts suggesting that maybe you should take that pill instead of expecting them to pay for a hundred-thousand dollars worth of chemo. Then, your kid starts complaining about blowing his inheritance just so you can selfishly live another year.

By the way, England's National Health service is already starting down that road -- rationing healthcare, while making the suicide pill available to anyone who asks

Until we get a world where common sense is common, maybe we ought to just do leave it to those who want a quick exit to choose one that doesn't require assistance.

You could never be a Christian then. The whole point of that religion is that a rabbi made a lot of statements that were unpopular to the local government, and riled up what amounts to a peace and love rally that really got under their skin. So they vilified him and flogged him over 100 times, then forced him to carry his own cross to the place of his death, where he was then nailed to the cross, his hands and feet bound, with a crown of thorns on his head, and made to die slowly, up there on that cross. He suffered as a sacrifice for the sins of everyone else.

And now we have all these christians glorifying this sacrifice with bloody-painted statues of jesus hanging from crosses over the bedrooms of America.

That's just Christianity. Other religions have similar.

It's why I reject the religiosity of my upbringing, but embrace the cultural, ethnic, and traditional aspects of Judiaism instead.

Well whoopeedo for you!

Soylent Green ? Old book and movie ! People have always had the right to end their life. Had a friend who decided she did not want to live with her VERY severe diabetes, facing one amputation after another that began with just a couple toes. She overdosed on medication and died by just falling asleep. To involve the "government", congress, legislation, a plan for enforcement, etc. etc. is a very dangerous, Pandora's box, a slippery slope ! It will, in the end, it will ultimately incorporate infringing on religious freedom, and already you get a hint of what lies ahead when people on this platform even post such things as: what kind of religion glorifies pain and suffering ? Actually, if one has studied religions of the world, there are such religions, but that should never become the prerogative of the government, or for that matter, just of people on a social media site. History has already shown us, in other areas, that legislating such matters never ends well. People will not take this seriously, but I can see something like that eventually viewed as a way to "solve" the problem of addicts living on the streets, of the shortage of psychiatric facilities for our chronically mentally ill. We already know that many in the political class are more equal that many of those they are paid to represent, so when health care is rationed, will the decisions be qualitative or quantitative ? Soylent Green, that novel of complete "science fiction"....