Women's Life Link Be Well, Be Happy, Be YOU!
Tip of the Iceberg Tuesday
(A little controversy for your day)
Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal? By Kellie R. Stone (Journey Coach)Another loaded question for you ladies today. I probably wouldn’t have given this topic much thought had I not seen my own mother die in great pain from a fourteen month bout with head and neck cancer. It’s hard to watch a loved one suffer, but it’s probably even harder for them to be the one who’s suffering. As with our right to choose or refuse medical treatment, should we be able to decide to end our suffering when nothing else can be done to relieve it? Some say yes; some say no. The line between what they call “assisted-suicide” and murder may be too fine to distinguish.
From my perspective, as one who advocates health and wellness, I find it a difficult stance to take either way. It might be something that can only be determined by the individual who is experiencing a situation that might bring up the option. I remember feeling helpless watching my mother lie in bed at the Hospice unit and even wishing that I could somehow make her pass more quickly. I pressed the button on her 
Morphine drip as often as I could to ease her pain, but it wasn’t enough. When she slipped into a coma, I found myself relieved that her pain would stop, or at least she wouldn’t feel it. If she had told me that she wanted to die, and I could have made it happen, honestly, I don’t know what I would have done.
It might be that not every situation of cancer or terminal illness would be right for considering physician-assisted suicide. Maybe it isn’t right at all. But then why do we put animals down when they are terminal or suffering too much pain? Aren’t humans supposed to be more important than pets? What do you ladies think about this delicate subject? Please share your thoughts with us. Be well-be beautiful
My recent book “The Last Goodnights” is the first memoir of assisted suicide to be published in 25 years, and only the third such book ever published. People have told me that they understood the issues much better after reading it, and appreciated learning about various aspects of the issue that they hadn’t foreseen.
Death is a topic that many people fear to discuss, which is really quite silly when you realize that it’s the one thing in our lives that we all have in common and that is truly inevitable. Part of the problem with the “Assisted Suicide” debate is in the use of different terminology . . . but the bottom line is simple: Dying people get to choose how much pain and suffering they wish to endure, and when enough is enough.
Humans aren’t “dumb animals” — literally — we can speak our minds and SAY when we are ready to end our suffering. The personal and private choice that we make, in conjunction with our doctor’s advice, is quite simply that: our personal and private choice. Ultimately, this is a personal choice issue, which is why getting the public and the politicians involved will always lead to more in the way of problems than solutions.
Cheers,
John West
Wow….Well I can’t say that I agree with Physician assisted suicide at all. I don’t know that we can compare ourselves to animals in this sense. I have a hard time believing that DR’s would be OK with this. I think it may end up causing them terrible grief. I too have watched a few family members die a slow and miserable death and I still can’t wrap my head around such an idea..