This is a compelling social trend to follow. Its not easy to accept or reject this, and I must say I have mixed feelings about it.
CNN: Cancer patient first to use Washington's assisted suicide law
A 66-year-old woman with stage 4 pancreatic cancer became the first person to use Washington's assisted suicide law, a nonprofit organization announced Friday.
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The Health care Vampires hate these laws. They want these people to die only after they've sucked every dollar possible out of their pain wracked bodies. How else can they make a profit if their victims can escape?
It amazes me that we have "mixed feelings" about this issue. We not only have no qualms about "assisting" in the death of an ailing animal, we even deem in compassionate. And the animal can't tell us directly of its wishes...
This case is especially compelling. The woman (in excruciating pain) expressed that she wanted to be aware & conscious at the time of her death vs. in a drug fog.
I'm afraid I don't see it as a black and white issue. We had a dog who had cancer and after consulting with much wiser people than myself we decided to let the dog die at its own pace. Many people would see this as inhuman, but I attended to the dog with 24 hour diligence. She also had some pain medication.
Here's a little story about her death. 24 hours before she died, Jayne came home from work. The dog was laying on her side unable to move, her breathing was labored. Now one would think that if we were going to "lay her down" this was beyond the time. One thing happened though that I won't forget. When Jayne came home, the dog began to wag her tail, happy to see Jayne. If you are a dog owner, you know what that means.
This is an extremely personal matter. It can't be judged on a general basis. It has to be judged case by case with spot on attention.
Also, I am not familiar with the details of the law. So, I can't really evaluate its leniency. There is physical pain, but there is also excruciating psychic pain. That's primarily why people commit suicide, its the psychic pain. My brother committed suicide, from psychic pain. So perhaps you can understand why I have "mixed feelings."
"Personal" is the keyword. This is another issue where some of us want to be able to tell the rest of us what we can do with our lives @ a level they IMHO have no business meddling.
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