Assisted Sucide, Choice or Coercion?
"Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean that it is morally ,desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right to interfere" - Jas Thomas S. Szasz (Hungarian psychiatrist and professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, b.1920)
This article was published in ( Read more... )
This article was published in ( Read more... )
(part 1)
My Mother died of cancer 3 years ago. It stated as breast cancer, then attached to her lungs (yes she smoked), from there it spread to her bones, and then finally the brain. When the cancer spread from her breast to her lung, the DR's told her she was terminal, and said she had at the most 3 more months to live. That was in DEC. 2000. She did not die until August 2001 (8 months latter) when the tumors in her lungs basically suffocated her. It was a very slow, painful and humiliating death.
We kept enough prescription pain killers in the house, that she could have killed herself any time she wanted to. However, she did not want to die. I think she feared death although she would never admit to it. She fought it up until the very end.
Now here is the deal...I was her care taker. If you have never taken care of a person with a brain tumor, here is what it is like: Imagine being a single parent with a new born baby the size of adult. To make things worse, this infant has memories from a past life and thinks it should be able to do things like: drive a car, do laundry, cook breakfast, etc. If that isn't enough, this infant NEVER SLEEPS! She would only nap for 1 or 2 hours at a time. I would literally spend 20 hours a day moping up soap suds off the floor, scooping cottage cheese out of the coffee maker, putting out small kitchen fires(you don't want to know what happens when you put a metal pot in a microwave) trying to convince her that you only need to wear one pair of underwear at a time, nor do you flush underwear down the toilet when you change clothes. Now I loved my mother immensely, but I remember on several occasions thinking, "God, I hope this ends soon!".
If physician assisted suicide had been legal in the state of TX., then I would have signed her up. The fact that she was incapable of making decisions for her self would have given me that power. As a matter of fact, if she wasn't throwing up so much all the time, I probably would have considered overdosing her my self. I could always say she found where I had hid the pills and ate them like candy.
However, it would not have been her choice. The woman had an incredible will to live and did not want to give up. Now in my opinion, that would be considered murder.
tired of reading yet? ... That's too bad!
(part 2)
I my self have been diagnosed with Multiple scoliosis, a disease that attacks the entire nervous system. (Wana now what it is like to have M.S.? Go here http://multiplesclerosissucks.com/empathy.html )When the disease progresses to the point that I can no longer take sufficient care of my self, I will find a way to die. I have no family of my own to take care of me when I become disabled. Even if I did, I would not want to be that kind of a burden. I truly feel that if I can't live on my own then I should not be alive.
That's just me and how I feel. I am not saying that everyone who can't take care of themselves doesn't deserve to live. I think it should be a personal choice, and if for some reason you are mentally unable to make that decision for your self, then I believe we should let nature run its course.
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