[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Ten states and Washington DC all support "assisted suicide" as an option for the terminally ill. In addition, all states have DNR options and advanced healthcare directive (living will, durable power of attorney) options.

One of these days I'll fill out an advanced healthcare directive form, but I'm not ready to face my own mortality yet. I still think I'm going to live forever.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Your god has already granted you a miracle. He gave humans the minds with which they could develop science, and remedies, and relief of pain, in addition to all that he provided through nature's bounty. He gave humans the decision-making processes necessary to determine whether or not they should be forced to endure suffering, and the ability to end it whenever they wanted, so long as they were unfettered and physically capable of doing so. And if that wasn't enough, he gave humans opposable thumbs and language, so they would write down or record their wishes, should there come a time when they would want their lives ended but be physically incapable of carrying out their decisions on their own.

You choose to ignore all that god has given you, in exchange for something you read in a book that may or may not have been written by anyone sane, over 1500 years ago.

Enjoy your suffering. When the time comes, if I feel I can't endure any more. I'll ask to be released from life.

So tolerant...

[Veiragirl]

Originally Posted by Tvflguy

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.

Totally agree!!!

[NavyVet]

Originally Posted by PersonOfInterest

Christians will suffer and endure the pain and be happy to do so. The family of those suffering should be willing to suffer along with the ailing member of the family. God knows how much pain and suffering he wants you to endure. He will take you when he is ready for you. It is not your place to interfere with his timing of your departure. You may pray during your suffering and seek a miracle recovery. God will listen and may grant that miracle if there is sufficient supportive prayer and a compelling request.

This is one of the most INSANE things I have ever read.
Just another piece of evidence that it is religion (not money) that is the root of most of the evil in the world. SMH

[Whitley]

There are other types of suffering, suffering other than physical pain. When someone feels they can not endure the suffering of mental illness, poverty or lack of love, (Or even harder the pain of losing a loved one), should the option exist to legally end your life then as well. There are many variables that exist with this topic. While fighting stage 3 can, there were days I felt I could not go on. I begged my wife to please let me just stay in bed. Looking back, I am not able to understand how I was thinking back then. Today, feeling better (Beat the c but have pain from the procedures), I can not comprehend how I could have been ready to give up. I am glad my wife quite literally dragged me from the bed, by my foot to the chemo. Had to explain the large lump on the back of my head to the doctor. Life, unfortunately, comes with pain at times. I find emotional pain more difficult than physical. Making it acceptable to throw in the towel would, in my opinion, lead to the end of lives that may have much more to contribute.

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by Whitley

There are other types of suffering, suffering other than physical pain. When someone feels they can not endure the suffering of mental illness, poverty or lack of love, (Or even harder the pain of losing a loved one), should the option exist to legally end your life then as well. There are many variables that exist with this topic. While fighting stage 3 can, there were days I felt I could not go on. I begged my wife to please let me just stay in bed. Looking back, I am not able to understand how I was thinking back then. Today, feeling better (Beat the c but have pain from the procedures), I can not comprehend how I could have been ready to give up. I am glad my wife quite literally dragged me from the bed, by my foot to the chemo. Had to explain the large lump on the back of my head to the doctor. Life, unfortunately, comes with pain at times. I find emotional pain more difficult than physical. Making it acceptable to throw in the towel would, in my opinion, lead to the end of lives that may have much more to contribute.

Yes, but it is YOUR life. I understand there may be moments of giving up and being helped through at those times is appreciated later. We are talking about a different situation. We are talking about when there is no foreseeable help to have any quality of life. And, in my opinion, it is NOT up to someone else to decide for you what happens to you.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

True story: once upon a time there was a man named Tucker Stilley. He was a musician and a multi-media artist, and successful in the film editing business with his wife, who was also an accomplished film editor. They had a gorgeous daughter. And then he was diagnosed with ALS.

He prepared for it, gathered his friends and family to help him get through the trauma of slowly becoming a "brain in a jar". He was only 30-something when he was diagnosed. He passed away just two years ago, at age 60 (we were the same age). He spent more than 10 of those years in bed, immobile, unable to speak, eat, or breathe on his own, with tubes for feeding and waste, using a thing called an "eyewriter" and an overhead computer to communicate (sometimes one letter for each word at a time) and do art. By the end, he only had the use of one eye, which made communicating especially difficult.

I - would not have been able to live like that. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of other people who knew him, family, friends, admirers, co-workers, teachers, neighbors. He also had financial support through donations, since disability didn't cover his home care at first, and the costs for oxygen, tubes, health monitor machines, the hospital bed, 24/7 nurses (not merely home care - actual RNs) exceeded $10,000 per month. But I know that if I was informed that my last days would be spent as a brain in a jar, I would want to end it before it progressed that far. I wouldn't be able to handle it at all. If you've ever read Frank Herbert's Dune series, it'd basically be a Guild Navigator in a ship out in space, in mid-fold, that didn't ever actually go anywhere.

I'd likely tell them - once I'm no longer able to breathe or eat without tubes in my neck and stomach - it's time to let me go. I can't even imagine - and I've tried. I wanted to empathize with Tucker. But I just was incapable of it. I can't imagine it. He was amazing. Created art, which was replicated by a host of volunteer assistants who took the digitalized artwork and brought it to life in galleries for sale (which also helped support him and his care).

His daughter has no memory of him being healthy. She just graduated from college. An amazing family. But - that's a true story of what someone -could- do, should they choose to stick with it to the end. You need some serious fortitude to withstand that kind of existence I think. But Tucker certainly had that.