Death with Dignity study

[epphd]

vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/10/17690101-doctor-assisted-death-a-fathers-choice-sheds-light-on-national-issue

Anyone see this? The actual NEJM study is phenomenal. The center studied is where I was treated, and I'm really proud to be associated with them, even if the story profiled in the link breaks my heart.

[sushi]

"Last fall, a Massachusetts proposal to allow physician-assisted suicide was narrowly defeated thanks in part to substantial funding from the Catholic church and right-to-life groups, which oppose the action on moral and ethical grounds"

Not surprisingly, this pisses me off. You know why I'm so supportive of assisted suicide or death with dignity or whatever you want to call it? Because of my morals and ethics. Fuck them for trying to make that decision for everyone else and then be proud of their superior values. To me, not forcing to suffer a painful and often incoherent cancer death is the compassionate thing.

I think I've shared here that my mom seriously considered it. It wouldn't have been legally sanctioned, as this was the 80s, but she had plenty of morphine at home to do it, back in the days when morphine was pretty impossible to get for home use, even for cancer. Her Catholic guilt kept her from it, as she didn't want my sister and me to be ashamed of a suicidal mother, not that we would have necessarily been told, at least not until old enough to understand. And, of course, morphine overdose would still have been death due to cancer IMO.

I've seen too many people in their last few days. Lack of dignity definitely is a thought I've had.

[Jermys]

My grandfather and I used to run drills on how he would kill himself when he was dying of cancer. He would pretend to take the anti-nausea pills, pretend to drink the vodka, pretend to drink his liquid morphine and then pretend to put a plastic bag over his head. He didn't end up doing it, but he liked the power of knowing he could if he wanted to.

I'm all for assisted suicide. If you want to be done, you should be able to make that call.

[ECB]

I've always said that if I'm terminally I'll and you find me dead in a running car in a closed garage, it wasn't an accident. I just so, so, so wish it was our right to choose to die. With dignity.

[niemand88f]

This is such a sad issue and I just hope that some day we really do have better options - I am also all for assisted suicide, and I'm glad reports like this are being publicized to show that it is really possible to have this option without it being abused. It's not quite the same issue, but take the heartbreaking story on MM Moms for example, there's no excuse for not having better options at this point in time

[PinkSquirrel]

Apr 10, 2013 19:24:07 GMT -5 sushi said:

"Last fall, a Massachusetts proposal to allow physician-assisted suicide was narrowly defeated thanks in part to substantial funding from the Catholic church and right-to-life groups, which oppose the action on moral and ethical grounds"

There were actually a ton of people I know who voted against it because the law itself wasn't well written.  I don't remember the exact details of why, but I know loads of people who are rabidly pro abortion rights and who do abortion work who voted against the law because it left holes for abuse.  I have a feeling that had the law offered the proper protections it would have passed.