Doctor Assisted Dying

[Deepwater6]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/assisted-dying-experts-debate-doctors-role/story?id=16761944

 

I can't agree with this article more. I have watched multiple family members go through horrific "cures" for Cancer only to see the the terrible side effects and make the their last 3-6 month's a living hell instead of a peacful time with their family.

 

If I was diagnosed with a mild form of cancer and it could be easlily be eradicated I would get the procedure. If I were to be diagnosed with a larger form and were told you can live 6 months if you do nothing or you can live one year if you do the radiation and the chemo, etc. I would take the 6 months. To see people who were very close to me lose there hair, vomit excessivly, etc. For loved ones not to recognize where they are or who there with is not how I would want to spend my last days. Yes the final days are going to be ugly, but there is no reason to start that ugliness early in a vain attempt by the doctor to cure me. When I no longer feel that this life holds anything for me I would like the option to leave it with dignity. The article blames the medical community but I also suspect that many religious PAC work against this as well.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Deepwater6

[LaurieAG]

Hi Deepwater6,

 

I have watched multiple family members go through horrific "cures" for Cancer only to see the the terrible side effects and make the their last 3-6 month's a living hell instead of a peacful time with their family.

Three and a half years ago my then 70 year old mother was diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the upper pancreas and was given 2 years to live. She had a bile/liver bypass, a porta cath was installed, and she commenced a finely tuned regime of chemotherapy. Her mother and father had passed away at 96 and 86 years of age respectively and there was no family history of cancer so the treatment was viable.

 

On the other hand my fathers mother passed away from cancer aged 86. She had gone into hospital for an operation and was discovered to have extensive cancer so they just closed her up without performing the operation and she passed away six months later.

 

Many things like current life expectancy must be weighed up before a treatment is advised and ultimately the person with the cancer is the one with the final call.

 

Unfortunately there can be unforseen complications, in my mothers case, her bypass failed 5 months later, she refused to have another operation and just wanted to come home. She passed away 2 weeks later. The night before she departed the nurses set up a morphine pump with a Y tube and left instructions that when the pain got too great, a dose of morphine was to be injected into the free Y tube end.

 

Approximately six months later I had a dream that somehow brought closure.

 

I was in a car with my father and we were trying to navigate through a series of very tight alleyways. I got out of the car so that I could direct my father and I noticed that the car was a Rover 3500, the same car that my mum and dad had hired in Ireland in 2000. There were funny looking red and white electronic control boxes on each corner and the car just squeezed by each time. When we had got through the two corners I opened up the door and was surprised to see that my mother was in the passenger seat. I said, "you are not supposed to be here", and she replied "I know that" (a usual saying) and gave me a big hug.

[Deepwater6]

LaurieAG I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. Both my parents died in their early fifties, but I have a grandmother well into her 90's so I hope longevity skips a generation. I too dream about my father often. In the dreams he is usually giving me advice as he would often do before passed.

[mugwande]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/assisted-dying-experts-debate-doctors-role/story?id=16761944

 

I can't agree with this article more. I have watched multiple family members go through horrific "cures" for Cancer only to see the the terrible side effects and make the their last 3-6 month's a living hell instead of a peacful time with their family.

 

If I was diagnosed with a mild form of cancer and it could be easlily be eradicated I would get the procedure. If I were to be diagnosed with a larger form and were told you can live 6 months if you do nothing or you can live one year if you do the radiation and the chemo, etc. I would take the 6 months. To see people who were very close to me lose there hair, vomit excessivly, etc. For loved ones not to recognize where they are or who there with is not how I would want to spend my last days. Yes the final days are going to be ugly, but there is no reason to start that ugliness early in a vain attempt by the doctor to cure me. When I no longer feel that this life holds anything for me I would like the option to leave it with dignity. The article blames the medical community but I also suspect that many religious PAC work against this as well.

 

You maybe true on the other side but wrong again because in life we expect the non expect able you may live after being conformed by medical doctors that going to die soon. I v seen this before

[Chewbalka]

My grandfather had stomach cancer... A huge cancerous tumor was growing in his stomach... He was a well built strong man as he go older he basically looked the same with a giant hard stomach. He never went to the hosptial for it he just sat there and took it like a man... It got so big he could barley eat all he consumed was mushy food so he would at least get some nutrition out of it. Then one day as he was sitting there sipping his tea on holloween night and it ruptured and he died... If i end up in such a predicament as stated above i would rather just not go to the hospital so that way these hard decisions will not have to be made by my loved ones. This is not a fantasy story its he truth as oddly as it sounds happining on holloween night.

[Guest MacPhee]

If i end up in such a predicament as stated above i would rather just not go to the hospital so that way these hard decisions will not have to be made by my loved ones.

 

Let's be truthful. If you do end up in a such a predicament, won't you cling on to life as long as you can?

You'll think "screw the loved ones, life is precious, I don't want to lose it, I'll hang on as long as possible."

 

Especially if the loved ones are waiting to get some money from your demise. "Ruddy vultures, let 'em wait!"

 

Death has this consolation: a man can exact revenge in his Will. Unless it's contested. But it won't be, if you draft it carefully.

[Chewbalka]

Lol thats funny especially the vulture part! I don't really have that much to offer to my family once i pass on. And i am certain the last thing i want to do is cling to life while suffering the whole time... Makes little sense to me to prevent the unavoidable especially if its painful. My will was filled out when i was eighteen and has not changed since then. Its a rather large possibility that these people in my will may pass on before i do which will cause a re write but so far so good... I am very certain if you actaully met and knew me as a person, you would agree to the fact that i am one of the most screwed up individuals you have ever met. And all that i have said you would agree to as fact lol. But hey its no biggy if you disagree with my view of my death as fact lol... I don't really care i just had a great giggle at the vulture joke ya had! Let them theres nothing there! In my senario, not sure yours, its not my place to say lol. Heres a life story to how screwed up my view on life is! I find it hysterical but many did not. In Afghanistan during fire fights i used to for fun run up to other soldiers and ask them if they saw a health pack just in case the **** hit the fan! You could imagine the look on there faces as they are wondering if they might die as i am making a huge joke out of it! I found it hysterical that the soldiers who played war games on ps3 or xbox were the ones who had the hardest time over there. So i would say these types of jokes to rub it in there face that those types of games are the farthest thing from reality at the expense of a good giggle! I have lost alot of friends over seas but i do not feel bad for them. And i don't envy them either, they will always be missed and its such a shame that they lost there lives in such a **** hole of a country and not at home... The worlds a sick place... A very very sick place, even in the places we view as beautiful. Sickness and filth is always near by... Most of us just ignore it... Pretend it does not exist... But i see it... Heres a story in relation, a few houses down from where my dad lives a husband killed his wife and stuffed her in his freezer obviously he got caught otherwise i would not know. Now a young couple lives there with a new born baby... Its amazing that such a terrible horrific thing happened there, and it seems as though it did not... Is that not twisted? Would you move your family into that house? Its ****ed... Well maybe i am the only one who thinks so... Maybe i am just screwed up...