8mm
Posted on 03/09/2008 10:19:30 AM PDT by wagglebee
SALEM, Oregon, March 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study shows that doctors in Oregon, where physician assisted suicide (PAS) is legal, have prescribed lethal drugs to patients not actually suffering severe symptoms of their diseases. Patients have been prescribed the drugs upon experiencing only fear of future suffering and loss of dignity in the dying process, research reveals.
The study says, "Some Oregon clinicians have expressed surprise at the paucity of suffering at the time of the request among these patients".
Under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, a terminally ill patient can request that his physician give him a prescription for a lethal dose of medication for the purpose of ending his life. Smith and other opponents of euthanasia and PAS have said that such laws, despite "safeguards" in regulations, are open to abuse and result in emotionally vulnerable patients being intimidated into making the request.
The study, from the Journal of General Internal Medicine, asked relatives of patients who died by assisted suicide in Oregon to describe the reasons for their loved-ones' requests. "In most cases, future concerns about physical symptoms were rated as more important than physical symptoms present at the time of the request," the report says.
The study backs up other reports that show fear of pain, disability and "being a burden," rather than actual symptoms of disease, is a leading motive for requests for PAS.
The study said, "Concerns about what may be experienced in the future, including physical symptoms, were substantially more powerful reasons than what they experienced at the time of the request."
The study's authors suggest that doctors receiving a request from a patient with these fears should "focus on eliciting and addressing worries and apprehension about the future with the goal of reducing anxiety about the dying process".
The study continued, "Addressing patients' concerns with concrete interventions that help maintain control, independence and self care, all in the home environment, may be an effective way to address requests for [PAS] and improve quality of remaining life."
Bioethics writer Wesley J. Smith, who was himself a volunteer in hospice, writes that a physician who accedes to requests for lethal prescriptions "is lending the weight of his or her authority to the burdens felt by the patient".
"How tragic that people in Oregon who decided on assisted suicide may have cheated themselves out of a time that, for all their fears, they might have ultimately found to be well worth the living."
Nobody has a clue what ‘dignity’ is.
The death squad has already showed up on your thread. (Sigh)
They ALWAYS do, though this seems much milder than other times.
Which is exactly what the research and studies and the actual implementation of these laws shows.
Also, what does “die a natural death “ mean nowadays anyways.? A “do not resustiate order “ means no unusual measures....so is that a ‘natural death” or are we supposed to keep bringing the person back from the brink, and THAT is the limits on dying ?
With modern medicine the whole issue is not so simple anymore. Fifty years ago most people “just died” way before people with the same illness do now because we can keep people alive longer.
so is keeping them alive, playing God too? Hmmm.
Sorry, it’s a prescription written by the doctor but the person picks up the prescription and uses it when they decide to do so.
An Oregonian
The problem is that this law is already being used to coerce inconvenient relatives into committing suicide, and with the rise in medical costs and decrease in human compassion, this is likely to be an increasing issue - the Netherlands has well documented problems with their euthanasia law.
We had a case a couple of years ago where the daughter was pressuring the Mom towards assisted suicide (presumably the Mom was an inconvenience/burden, or eagerness to collect her estate.
The first doctor said, rightly, the Mom was depressed and refused to do the prescription. The daughter found another doctor and the Mom was dead shortly therafter.
There are well documented ways to commit suicide that don’t involve the physician and aren’t particularly messy - a car exhaust, a plastic bag.
Hospice and a DNR works very well in my personal experience with my Dad - and DNR generally means using only measures for comfort - comfort may mean antibiotic if they have a particularly uncomfortable illness, oxygen so they can breathe more easily (not a respirator), mild sedatives for anxiety, maintaining comfort from pain, or just fluids/ice chips so they aren’t thirsty, .
People who are truly dying from long-term illness start shutting down, system by system and end up being neither hungry nor thirsty. You are right that it is sometimes not simple - particularly with something like brain injury or heart attack as to when/if to cut off support.
We prayed for our culture of death to become a culture of life during the petitions at mass this evening. I think every Catholic Church needs to insert that prayer into the petitions at every mass.
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