Posted on 05/01/2005 9:27:05 AM PDT by SmithL
My Basset Hound Delilah died before I could, as the euphemism goes, put her to sleep. This was decades ago, and it made me believe that when I got another pet -- a cat named Chloe, whom I brought home 18 years ago -- I should try to allow that animal to die a natural death.
It was not to be. One day, as Chloe was making her rounds -- smelling all the flowers in the back yard -- she was having trouble navigating a small slope. I went to investigate. Her left eye was filled with blood. I took her to the vet.
At 17, Chloe already had kidney problems, a thyroid condition and arthritis. Mark, the vet, gave her a shot to ease the pain. Two days later, Chloe hadn't eaten any food. She could barely move. She had lost half her body weight. We told Mark to put her down -- to kill her -- to end her suffering. My little girl was gone.
I've never bought that argument. Euthanizing pets is not always the result of compassion. As Nancy Peterson of the Humane Society of the United States noted, some 6 million to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters each year. About half are euthanized.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Animals don't have such considerations. They don't have aspirations, plans, or hopes. My dog exhibits gratitude, and an eagerness to please me. But I don't believe her life has anymore significance to her than pure animal survival.
Its a nice feelgood story..however taking away the option of euthanasia is taking away individual freedom. The government has no business meddling in the middle of personal matters. If a person wants to die, no matter what kind of physical or mental state they are in, why should any bureaucratic body stop them? Let the friends and family or whoever the person who wants to die would let talk to them try to change his or her mind. That person made a choice to fight and stay alive, but some people prefer not to go through that experience, and if it makes them happy and do so voluntarily, why take away the option? And in terms of animals...they are wonderful companions who also work toward happiness..although their motives are far less complex than ours. It's just a judgment call and I would prefer to leave government out of that as well.
Too late - our society has been there and done that (with no end in sight on the near horizon).
and that "slope" is a slippery one
euthanasia in theory is "freedom".
But you have no RIGHT to tell someone to kill you...and In practice, it means making it legal for a doctor to decide who should live and who should die. And this leads to corruption of doctors every time it is practiced.
The "stoics" in ancient Rome had this as an argument...but in ancient Rome, these same stoics thought it was okay to abandon abnormal infants and normal female infants...and often elderly slaves.
In the Netherlands, the list of those eligible for euthanasia grows longer and longer.
"But you have no RIGHT to tell someone to kill you...and In practice, it means making it legal for a doctor to decide who should live and who should die. And this leads to corruption of doctors every time it is practiced."
I certainly think one has a right to tell someone to kill them..whether the other person wants to act on it is another story. As long as it is consensual between person who wants to die and the person who will help that person die I see nothing wrong with it. Perhaps there should be contracts stating it was a consensual decision to halt any legal challenges.
"...and In practice, it means making it legal for a doctor to decide who should live and who should die. And this leads to corruption of doctors every time it is practiced."
Any hospital where someone is incapciated and is recovering from a surgery or some sort of illness..they are at the mercy of the doctor. We hear stories of homicidal nurses who inject poisonous drugs into some patients killing them (the angel of death stories)..but that isn't consensual.
Everyone is elgible for euthanasia as we are all mortal...its just a matter of consent.
If everyone spayed/neutered their pets, the killing of millions of animals (at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars) would end, the shelters wouldn't be running at capacity because people would go there to adopt their companion animals and all would be well.
I have four dogs, a purebred chocolate lab I got from a guy who was taking her to the pound; the other three I rescued from the side of the road, dumped by their previous owners.
Euthanasia is permissible for pets but not for people. Much as we love our pets, they are not people. True, sometimes they are nicer than people, but they are still not people. The rules are different.
I've had many, many beloved dogs over the course of my life. I would never euthanize any of them unless it was necessary. So far, that has happened only once: a faithful German shepherd who in old age went deaf, blind, and lame and finally just couldn't drag himself around any more.
I was in the vet's office when the vet put him to sleep. His last act was to lick the back of my hand as he died. Our other dogs have all died naturally.
You have a "right" to kill yourself, maybe, or at least nobody can stop you. But you do not have a right to corrupt our medical profession and our hospitals by asking doctors or nurses to kill you. History shows that that quickly leads down the slippery slope to involunatary euthanasia and euthanasia for convenience of family or taxpayers. It happened in Germany and it's happening now in Holland. Openly in Holland, and semi-openly right here in the U.S., with people being killed against their wishes.
It's a very bad thing when doctors start looking at their patients with the attitude, "Should I heal this patient, or kill him?" Very dangerous indeed. A doctor's only thought should be saving lives, not taking them.
Perhaps we shall sell home-euthanasia kits to keep the doctors out of it! It would fill a niche market and probably would be a big success. We can make lots of money! Hold on..I have to go to the patent office...be right back!
That statement was semi-serious...an interesting compromise. Anyway like I said...unless the dying person or person who wants to die okays it...it shouldn't be done. The person has the right to ask..but the doctor has the right to refuse.
We go farther for people than for our pets. For instance, I had to euthanize my last dog because she became paralyzed from the waist down. She was almost 100 lbs, and with my disabilities there was no way I could physically care for her.
She had lost bowel and bladder control and dragged herself around, and I couldn't afford a large size dog wheelchair.
A person would have much more options than my poor dog had, with the same conditions.
"Perhaps we shall sell home-euthanasia kits to keep the doctors out of it! It would fill a niche market and probably would be a big success. "
People already do this. It's called suicide. No needs to change any laws since this is already allowed.
A person has the right to take his/her own life but keep the doctors out of it.
The Sixth Day
1:24 God said, 'The earth shall bring forth particular species of living creatures, particular species of livestock, land animals, and beasts of the earth.' It happened.
1:25 God [thus] made particular species of beasts of the earth, particular species of livestock, and particular species of animals that walk the land. God saw that it was good.
1:26 God said, 'Let us make man with our image and likeness. Let him dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock animals, and all the earth - and every land animal that walks the earth.'
1:27 God [thus] created man with His image. In the image of God, He created him, male and female He created them.
1:28 God blessed them. God said to them, 'Be fertile and become many. Fill the land and conquer it. Dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every beast that walks the land.
1:29 God said, 'Behold, I have given you every seedbearing plant on the face of the earth, and every tree that has seedbearing fruit. It shall be to you for food.
1:30 For every beast of the field, every bird of the sky, and everything that walks the land, that has in it a living soul, all plant vegetation shall be food.' It remained that way.
1:31 God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. It was evening and it was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 9:1-6 "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
1 Corinthians 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [NKJV: Holy Spirit] which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Thou shalt not kill (You cannot 'murder' human being without
consequence either in one's personal life or in the case of government the consequences will be national)
Jer 5:22 (NIV) "Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence?"
Job 23:13-16 (NIV) "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me."
Mat 10:28 (NIV) [Jesus] "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
but certainly they would like to have the access to a less painful more sure method...but then I would be entering the whole stopping the drug war rant. Face it...razor blades and shotguns in the head are too crude!
Btw, I was surprised to learn that Debra Saunders --the SF Chron's only conservative columnist-- is married to Wesley J. Smith, who is a longtime friend and author/collaborator with Ralph Nader.
This must be a little like the Matalin/Carville marriage!
But both Smith and Nader are right about euthaniasia. Smith also wrote the excellent book Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder.
I wouldn't have any problem with this if it was official policy.
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