"A mother who took her daughter to die"

TimesOnline ^ | June 3, 2007 | Sarah-Kate Templeton

[pillut48]

"Seven years ago, Kates, from Newton on Trent, Lincolnshire, was diagnosed with MS, an incurable degenerative condition affecting the central nervous system. She may have had another decade or more to live; until her death last week she was still able to drive and could walk with the aid of a stick when she was feeling well.

But her fear of further deterioration, particularly as the disease was starting to affect her brain, spurred her to act."

[pillut48]

I am just about speechless after reading this. :-O

They state that the woman was seriously depressed, had possible mental difficulties, etc. yet her mother takes her to commit suicide in a "serene and beautiful death”--the consequences of this legalized euthanasia business scares me. A lot. :*(

[madprof98]

This is what awaits us in the US, probably very soon. If the California Dems had their way, we’d have suicide clinics all over that state right now.

[HangnJudge]

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

—Litany Against Fear - Bene Gesserit Rite - Dune

Permitting fear to dominate our thoughts reduces us to mere animals

[dawn53]

That was unbelievable. She obviously was depressed. I have MS, so it is hard to believe that someone who could still walk and drive (when many with the disease can’t) would feel that her disease had progressed or was progressing. I wonder if she was on a disease altering med, like one of the interferons? One of the main side effects of interferon is depression, and the woman had had plenty happen in her life to make her depressed (losing two children, disease, etc.) I wonder if the depression was being treated?

[verity]

"They were shown into a room furnished with a round table on which stood a pot plant and a candle. A coffee maker was on a dresser; in the corner was a bed made up with bright yellow linen."

Almost like a scene from Soylent Green.

[stop_fascism]

"A practising Christian, she attended her village church and, last Sunday, the vicar gave her communion in her home. The priest knew of Kates’s plans to have an assisted suicide and supported her decision."

Just amazing.

[HangnJudge]

A Christian who does this is
In breach of faith toward the Giver of All Gifts

The Vicar’s actions here will be remembered
He has forgotten that our lives are not ours to take
We do not have ownership, we have a greater thing

Stewardship

The Mother, Daughter, and Vicar are profoundly in error

[rollie]

I believe in personal choice as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else. We don’t know how severe her suffering was, we were not there. There should be very stringent safeguards in place for assisted suicide programs to protect the patient, starting first to make sure all efforts to relieve their pain and suffering and been tried and failed, and that suffering is truly physical and not mental which can be cured in so many ways these days. But a terminally ill patient in severe pain on the way to a sure death should have the right to choose to end their suffering and die in peace. We can all have our opinions about it but when you get right down to it, it’s really nobody else’s business.

[Rumplemeyer]

I too have MS, I will go only when God says it is time.

[don-o]

Ping, if you have the heart for it.

[originalbuckeye]

Never underestimate the guilt that comes out of a National Health service. In Britain you are viewed as weak if you go to the doctor. I have to talk long an hard to get my husband to go to the doctor here even when he knows it would be a good idea (sinus infections, etc.). Woe to us if anything like Hillarycare is implemented in the USA. Euthanasia would be just around the corner as the government wouldn’t want ‘the people’ to pay for excessive medical costs to make the infirm’s lives longer or more comfortable. National Health is a cold world in which to live. Prayers up for this woefully misguided woman and her supporters.

[pillut48]

Do you support unlimited, unchallenged abortions as well?
Just curious.

[dawn53]

But a terminally ill patient in severe pain on the way to a sure death should have the right to choose to end their suffering and die in peace

MS is not a fatal or terminal disease. It shortens the lifespan by an average of 5 years.

[rollie]

I said I was for personal choice when it didn’t harm others. Abortion harms an unborn child. I am against abortion for 99% of cases.

[wagglebee]

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[wagglebee]

Culture of Death Ping

[metmom]

Pro-euthanasia supporters say that if assisted dying were legal in the UK Kates could have spent her last hours near home, with her husband at hand. They argue her family would have been spared the distress of seeing her travel to a foreign country.

“I, as a husband, have been cheated out of time I could have had with my wife because we do not have this service in Britain.”

Cry me a river.

What next? Soylent Green?

[pillut48]

But suicide harms the adult permanently as well. As a Christian, I honestly don’t see the difference.

[metmom]

And just how long do you figure it will be before the decision is made for the patients? Be careful what you wish for.

Murder is murder and there's more to life than this one.

Besides, it's not true that it doesn't harm anyone else. No man is an island and everything everyone does has some impact on others.

[metmom]

But a terminally ill patient in severe pain on the way to a sure death should have the right to choose to end their suffering and die in peace.

We're all on our way to sure death. Once you see your scenario in place, all the restrictions around if will be gradually removed and then the choice taken away from the patient; the choice will be made for them.

You'll need to convince God that a person has the right to choose their moment of death and that murdering someone is OK.