8mm
Posted on 09/28/2008 5:14:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
Tell her to go first. Maybe others will be inspired by her act. /sarcasm
One can only hope that she gets to experience dementia herself, (if she isn’t already.)
I am watching a dear friend care for a demented parent and another parent in the early stages. Both are in their 70s. My friend is the very best nurse practitioner and trauma nurse I have ever seen. She served in Gulf War I and is now diagnosed with MS as a service-related disabilty brought on by exposure to chemicals encountered by the troops, who came into the hospital in their field uniforms/gear which were full of the poisons. She is only 54.
While she has been prepared to continue her practice from a wheelchair, the organ most affected is the optic nerve.She has 20/20 vision, yet her visual field is full of what she describes as *holes*.
None of us are assured that her 25-year-old daughter will be able to care for her, should she need that care.
She didn’t even tell anyone until the MS became obvious. While she would never in a million years allow either of her parents to be *put down*, she herself will quietly do whatever she must if she can when the time comes.
I have had someone I loved ask me to end their life. It would have literally involved pulling the plug on life support equipment. I could not do it. It is not that easy to take that responsibility. For me, it was impossible.
There should be no state coercion in such matters. They must remain in the hands of each individual and apply only to themselves. The corruption that would ensue from any sort of mandate by so-called objective observers is far more frightening to me than the conditions being endured. And those conditions are indeed quite horrible.
I think I would agree with you that I would not want to have my life prolonged if I was extremely debilitated. But we must each make that decision and not give it up to anyone at all. The outsider cannot weigh the value of a stranger’s life if they have no connection to them. The close family cannot be made to bear that burden of being the one to end a loved one’s life.
I think no one wants to have to make such a decision for anyone else.
And the "modern utilitarian view of life" is a direct outcome of putting health care under the aegis of government and taxes.
Secular humanism/Godless liberalism has destroyed Europe. The final chapter we see unfolding now is the vaccum being filled by Islam.
When the only way you can cut taxes going to a wasteful bureaucracy is by killing people or allowing them die, then people will be killed or allowed to die.
I can tell you that in this country, specifically in the Atlanta area, my experience has been the opposite extreme. Misguided families who don't know better and doctors sometimes either consciously or unconsciously exploiting those medicare payments. Elderly people being kept alive against their will is about 99% of the problem the way I see it. Frankly, it's unconscionable. Being force-fed with stomach tubes and essentially preserved while their bodies break down, they get bed sores, which is very costly, very painful and unnecessary. Admittedly I have no idea what's going on in England but there's a happy common sense median everywhere and it's called hospice!
Sure, liberals should off themselves.
Worth repeating.
End of life care, or life ending care, is not a decision that can be made objectively. Every individual has their own wishes and how they are to be carried out should be arranged privately with trusted individuals of their own choosing.
The only duty anyone should have is to know when an elephant in the room should be ignored.
What I do take issue with it the way the elderly have become marginalized. It used to be the elderly were revered and looked up to for wisdom. They were protected as they protected when they were young. Now, they're constantly bombarded with propaganda telling them they're useless and a burden on family and society. No wonder so many are willing to let go of life.
How horrible it must be to have a family member ponder between your life and your grandkid's education.
ping
I don't think she'll like a taste of her own medicine.
I for one (on this board anyway) sympathize. We had a tough situation with my elderly mother over the summer. I won’t go into all the details. Clearly expressed in her health care proxy were directions not to allow any medical procedures to prolong her life. DNR, no intubation, respirators, etc. (She recovered and is doing well now, enjoying her grandchildren).
She was a nurse all her life and most of her patients were elderly. She hated how families extended the lives of their very sick relations while their quality of life was horrible.
How can we not respect our parent’s wishes? If they don’t want to waste away in pain or pain-killer induced fogs they shouldn’t have to.
Just my $.02
Get it in writing and you will have nothing to worry about.
First they came for the unborn, but I'm not the unborn, so I did nothing.
Then they came for the handicapped, but I'm not handicapped, so I did nothing.
Then they came for the mentally ill, but I'm not crazy, so I did nothing.
Then they came for the senile, but I'm not senile, so I did nothing.
Then I got old and sick and they came for me, and I could do nothing.
Read my post man. I said if the PERSON wants to go out with their dignity intact, it’s their own choice.
I’m not advocating that the hospital or the government make the decision. In my mother’s case it was her wishes, clearly written in a legal document when she was of sound mind, dictating the way she would like to be treated in the event of a medical emergency or medical condition that may cause her death.
Read with your glasses on next time.
They will die in God’s time, not at Lady Warnock’s urgings.
Sounds like this lady needs prayers.
I may have addressed the post to you, but it's really to FR at large.
Do the demented have a duty to die?
Good question.
If the answer is “Yes”, then American will be exceeding short of Democrats.
That'd pretty much empty out Congress.
Bada BING!
I'd laugh, but it's too close to the truth.
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