Posted on 07/11/2013 11:20:28 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE www.nationalreview.com
A Canadian woman directed that she be refused medical treatment, and indeed, that she be euthanized if she had Alzheimer’s and could not recognize her children. She has the disease and is spoon fed. But the family wants that stopped.. From the National Post story:
According to Ms. Hammond, she is lifted into and out of bed with a hoist, spends her time virtually motionless in a wheelchair and is kept alive only through regular spoon-feeding. “She’s not taking it by choice, that’s clear,” said Dr. Andrew Edelson, Ms. Bentley’s doctor, who suspects the whole feeding process is purely reflex. “She doesn’t have the ability to make choice and if she had the ability to make choice, she would refuse; she’d clamp her mouth shut and nobody would try to feed her,” he said.
Under typical circumstances, Ms. Bentley would already be dead. Metro Vancouver has no shortage of seniors who have drawn up explicit end-of-life directives and do-not-resuscitate orders, and those are usually respected, according to Dr. Edelson. “I’ve spoken with a fair number of health professionals about this case, and everybody is dismayed, to say the least; we’re shocked that this is happening,” he said.
Baloney. She isn’t being forced onto medical machines, given unwanted CPR, or indeed, being fed by tube. She is alive because her body hasn’t shut down and she can eat and drink. Under these circumstances it would be shocking–and criminal–if a medical team withheld food and water from a helpless woman capable of–and actually taking–nourishment.
This is a classic case of mixing apples and oranges. People have the right to direct that medical treatment be denied, but spoon feeding isn’t medical treatment. It is humane care–the least we owe everyone.
Are we now going to allow vulnerable patients to be denied food and water when the can–and are–eating? And can you imagine forcing medical staffers to be complicit in an intentional starvation/dehydration under these circumstances?
If she eats, she eats. If she drinks, she drinks. Nobody should have the power to order themselves starved in advance when they can take food and water through natural means.
The headline says that starving her–again, when she is eating on her own!–would be to allow her to “die with dignity.” Culture of death, Wesley? What culture of death?
Abortion is legal. Abortionists and those who procure them at present commit no crime.
Abortion is still murder.
Likewise killing someone by not feeding them, when they otherwise could assimilate food and water, is active participation in their suicide, if they are cognizant, or murder, if they are not.
Denying it does not change the reality of it. The proximate cause of death will be dehydration, not dementia. Death by dehydration in a patient who can swallow and assimilate water and food is by definition either suicide or euthanasia/homicide.
Verbal engineering always precedes social engineering. But it does not change reality.
Unbelievable comments on this thread.
"Murder" and "homicide" are, first and foremost, legal terms.
Verbal engineering always precedes social engineering. But it does not change reality.
Indeed.
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There is a gulf of difference between taking no more active measures to save life or cure illness (if a person desires not to have them and has legally arranged that), and being starved to death. A person with a "Living Will" stating "Do Not Feed Me or Give Me Water" is saying "Actively Starve Me To Death". IOW, such a person is asking others to murder him. No one is legally obligated to starve or dehydrate anyone to death no matter what papers have been signed; in fact if they do so, they are guilty of murder.
To make it crystal clear - a person can choose NOT to have surgery, drugs or other active medical measures, if they so choose. But nutrition is NOT a "medical measure" - it's like breathing air. Could a person leave some legal papers saying "don't allow me to breathe air when I can't talk anymore"? Food, water and air are not "medical intervention", they are simple life sustaining basics that no doctor can prescribe or proscribe.
There is one argument on the thread that if with holding food and water from someone is murder, then why are people who starve others to death not arrested and charged with murder?
Answer - because the culture of death has ascendency. In Germany it was perfectly legal to kill the "unwanted" - those who murdered (by whatever method) those considered "unwanted" - whether incurably ill, mentally deficient, psychotic patients, amputees, and finally Jews, gypsies, political opponents and so on - were breaking no laws at all. Never a possibility of being arrested and charged with a crime.
Because in Germany, it was not a crime to kill the unwanted.
Here it supposedly is still a crime (I guess) but due to culture of death, too many people turn a blind eye, and much of the medical profession and legal system not only ignore such murders, but assist and indeed, implement.
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I agree. Hard heartedness and thus willful blindness are on the increase.
“, and I have the same stipulations in my own legal papers. “
=
So do I. Took care of all that business about 5 years ago. Just let me go.
,
Blinking is a reflex.
Opening one’s mouth to receive food is an act of volition.
You and your Dad are good people. :)
Terry Schiavo - Shameful! ................................ FRegards
If you want somethings and not others, say so. if you really and truly want nothing except palliative care, say so. Have the discussion with your doc. Make appropriate plans and put them in a legal document. Let your family know. That’s all it takes.
I am right now in the process of drawing up a directive that will state that I will be given only palliative care if I come down with certain ailments (and severe dementia is one of them). I choose to not live under those circumstances.
Such a legal document followed by a trusted person with power-of-attorney can make it stick. It is my understanding that if a hospital will not follow those instructions, then the person with power-of-attorney can go to a court and make them do it.
If you live in California, you probably should get what is known as a POLST (physicians orders for life saving treatment). States are starting to recognize this document and take it is priority one because it is a written order by your doc saying what to do (in great specificity). Eventually all states will use this type of form because it is the standard at the VA and for Medicare. It is becoming more usual in all states and doctors and health care professionals are being trained on it.
I don’t live in California but many, many thanks for that information. I’ve made a note of it and will look into it.
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