Tourists Trek to Mexico for 'Death in a Bottle' (Euthanasia)

ABC News ^ | 7/31/08 | Susan Donaldson James

[wagglebee]

If Don Flounders waits for the asbestos-related mesothelioma that is ravaging his lungs to kill him, it will be a slow, painful death.

Don and Iris Flounders sought help from Exit International when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer. The couple traveled to Mexico in January to buy Nembutal so they can take their own lives when the time is right.

(ABC News)

But one day -- maybe just weeks away and at the moment of his choosing -- the 78-year-old plans to drink a bitter mixture of alcohol and pentobarbital, a barbiturate that is used to euthanize pets.

Flounders told ABCNews.com that he flew halfway around the world from his native Australia to obtain the illegal drug in Mexico, which, like Switzerland, is fast becoming one of the recommended destinations for so-called death tourists.

The lethal drug, once widely available in the U.S. as a sleep aid and now used primarily in veterinary medicine, was an ingredient in the fatal cocktails that killed Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland in the 1960s.

Since 2001, the pro-euthanasia group Exit International has helped nearly 300 people -- mostly Australians, New Zealanders and a handful of Americans -- to find what is being called "death in a bottle" in pet pharmacies in Mexico.

[wagglebee]

"Ask any woman," she said. "The back alley is a dangerous and degrading place to get medical care. It used to be the VW bus and Dr. Kevorkian. Now it's the vet pharmacy."

The hubris of these people is sickening.

[wagglebee]

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[the invisib1e hand]

Mainstream media pushes euthenasia. Those folks look like happy bellier-uppers at a tavern.

Reminds me of a t-shirt I saw an attractive girl wearing once. It showed a series of skeletal figures in various sexual positions. It was kind of sickening, really. And no matter how she indicated that she would have appreciated my attention, I was simply polite and that was that.

[Jack Black]

The moral absolute here is what exactly? That suicide is always wrong? Even in the case of excruciating pain and terminal illness? So that includes the familiar Western practice of allowing pain medication (morphine typically) overdoses to kill people if the dose is needed to stop the pain? Even on the battlefield? You would what, insist on providing benedrine along with morphine to a soldier with both legs blown off bleeding out? Just curious.

Please explain your moral absolute for my edification.

[swmobuffalo]

One could say it was their business and no one else’s.

Death from mesothelioma isn’t a pretty way to go.

[isrul]

If they want to off themselves, Okay by me. Just don't try to involve others in it. Don't let them try and debase the medical profession by making them be executioners. You know the thought of leaving with the one you love and being together for eternity is beautiful. But whatever gave anyone the idea that his is the case?

[wagglebee]

The moral absolute here is what exactly? That suicide is always wrong?

Yes.

[isrul]

I believe suicide is always wrong, because I believe my life is not mine to end. I did not give myself life so I have no right to deliberately end it. However, if someone else chooses to do so. What can I do? If they choose to end no other life but their own?

As far as a battlefield situation, I cannot comment. As to ending the immediate terrible suffering of another at their request, I don't think I could. I don't think I would ask such a thing of another. But, in truth, you never know. I know it would be wrong to lay that on someone else. But who knows what agony may birth?

[RichInOC]

You know, if I were going to Mexico for death in a bottle, I’d just as soon go down to Tijuana for one last weekend at the clubs. That way, I’d at least have fun on the way out.

[isrul]

Yeah. And you may have no need to continue your journey.

[Jagman]

Seems like the Flounders are floundering.

[Live and let live conservative]

One could say it was their business and no one else’s.

The ultimate question is, who owns your life? The premise of many on the left seems to be the State. The premise on much of the right seems to be God. They're both equally full of it.

[ladyjane]

The State can decide if they want to dehydrate and starve you to death.

The State has decided that you cannot make that decision for yourself.

[imintrouble]

I am conflicted.

We give our pets more alleviation to their suffering than we allow ourselves.

If one has ever visited a hospice or palliative care setting where ‘life’ is struggling to breathe, having diapers changed irregularly if one is still functioning, and shots to alleviate pain because one cannot swallow medication except water or liquids. Most hospice centers now administer higher than regular morphine doses to keep the suffering to a minimum and ease the person into the next step.

What would you want for your loved one? Youself?

Selfish? Perhaps - but what of those left behind to make those decisions when we could spare them and make our own decisions while we are healthy and of sound mind, and then relax and enjoy life as it happens for us.

I think there should be choice for some who have already exited ‘life’ as we know it and are waiting for that final breath, perhaps in pain and/or discomfort. Hopefully they aren’t aware of the reality of their situation.

Forgive me if I have offended anyone - it is my own personal conundrum and am not insisting it is the right way or the only way.

[Hugin]

I would suggest morphine, tourniquets and plasma. A lot of solders have had their legs blown off in Iraq and are living good lives with prosthetics.

I don't disagree with your broader point though. I don't want doctors to administer the drugs, but if people with painful terminal conditions want to end their lives, that's their decision. I have no problem with their being able to buy what they need to do it.

[ExtremeUnction]

Why go all the way to Mexico for barbiturates when there is plenty of stuff in your medicine cabinet that will kill you. People O.D. everyday intentionally or unitentialy) on mixtures of alcohol and tranquilizers, opiates and/or antidepressants. Sheesh. Think people!!

[Live and let live conservative]

The State has decided that you cannot make that decision for yourself.

They have and I find that immoral.

[ExtremeUnction]

Why go all the way to Mexico for barbiturates when there is plenty of stuff in your medicine cabinet that will kill you. People O.D. everyday intentionally or unitentialy on mixtures of alcohol and tranquilizers, opiates and/or antidepressants. Sheesh. Think people!!