Right to die

[element]

Seriously why did Kevorkian get convicted just for helping people die with dignity? I mean if these people decide for themselves that they want to die who is anyone else to intervene?

This thought came up because of the Terri Schiavo case of course. If you had to decide between starving a loved one to death (or yourself if you were in that situation) would you want them kept alive with a feeding tube or slowly die by starvation?

Is it me or does starvation seem inhumane? We treat death row inmates better than that.

I enclosed a poll, I wish I could add a more humane way to die as a third choice but apparently this lady's family doesn't have that choice.

Which would you choose?

 

[nageov3t]

if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery,
I'd want to be taken off the machines - but I'd continue to post on ATOT.

 

[sonambulo]

i would take her to 'switzerland' for a 'vacation'

and then i would 'euthanise' her

 

[element]

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

You'd want to starve to death? Do you have any idea what it feels like?

 

[cwjerome]

Evidently her brain makes it so she doesn't feel hunger/pain like normal. No comment on the Terri Schiavo situation, but...

In general terms if the person is in his/her right state of mind I believe it should be legal to kill oneself (for the same basic reasons I am against the draft- a person should have a right to their own life)

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

She does have brain activity, just so you know.

 

[Gaard]

Originally posted by: element

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

You'd want to starve to death? Do you have any idea what it feels like?

You can feel it when you have no brain activity?

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

She does have brain activity, just so you know.

I was under the impression that there was no brain activity.

"a 1996 CAT scan revealed much of Terri's cerebral cortex had simply disappeared, replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Several EEGs since have confirmed that she has no brain activity."

http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm...ails.cfm&StoryID=30471&Section=Columns

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

Absolutely true. People's position on this really comes down to a fundamental question: To whom does your life belong? If it belongs to God or Society, then fine, you have no right to decide to end it.

But if your life belongs to *you*, then no one has a right to prevent you from ending it.

Jason

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

:thumbsup:

Pretty much spot on.

 

[WiseOldDude]

SHE isn't alive, so this is not a valid poll. Yes the body she once occupied still functions, but Terri is dead and it is past time to stop experimenting with how long the body can be tortured

 

[Kibbo]

Originally posted by: WiseOldDude
SHE isn't alive, so this is not a valid poll. Yes the body she once occupied still functions, but Terri is dead and it is past time to stop experimenting with how long the body can be tortured

Sorry WOD, you can't torture the dead.

But I agree with your overall point.

If I had no higher cortex left, I will assume that there is no spark of conciousness. I would (assuming what I know of neurology is correct) then I prefer that my body be allowed to die, by starvation or other means if available.

 

[dardin211]

She has been in this state for 15 years now. It's time for people to just let go. I find it more cruel to allow her to live in her condition then to allow her just to die like nature intended.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: element

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

You'd want to starve to death? Do you have any idea what it feels like?

If you did feel anything, would be some hunger pangs that don't last long especially since water is being withheld. The kidneys start to fail and release toxins into the blood stream which further makes the body and brain not feel any pain.

 

[Harvey]

Assuming the docs are right, the only good news is, Terry Schiavo's brain is so far gone, she isn't able to sense anything. It's a sad story, but I think allowing her to die is the more humane option.

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Assuming the docs are right, the only good news is, Terry Schiavo's brain is so far gone, she isn't able to sense anything. It's a sad story, but I think allowing her to die is the more humane option.

Have no fear--our fine Republican electorate are going to get that feeding tube shoved back in soon as tomorrow or Monday so this is all going to be moot anyway.

GOP = GHOULS O PLENTY

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: loki8481
I was under the impression that there was no brain activity.

"a 1996 CAT scan revealed much of Terri's cerebral cortex had simply disappeared, replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Several EEGs since have confirmed that she has no brain activity."

http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm...ails.cfm&StoryID=30471&Section=Columns

Maybe you're right. Every site looks like they have some different take on the situation. If she has no brain activity, then the situation is totally different.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Maybe you're right. Every site looks like they have some different take on the situation.

The parents have deluded themselves into thinking any twitch of the body from a randomly firing nerve or a muscle spasm is Terri "responding" to them. They are so unwilling to let her rest in peace they just won't face reality.

Meanwhile some religious extremists are using her body to advance their own "anti euthanasia" causes.

I hope this time she can finally rest in peace, and her husband can rest after 15 years of trying to carry out her wishes. To anyone thinking he had other motives, please note that he did just turn down that $1 million bribe from Robert Herring to give up guardianship.

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Maybe you're right. Every site looks like they have some different take on the situation.

The parents have deluded themselves into thinking any twitch of the body from a randomly firing nerve or a muscle spasm is Terri "responding" to them.

"We laugh together, we cry together, we smile together, we talk together," Mary Schindler told reporters as supporters maintained a vigil outside the hospice where her daughter is cared for. "Please, please, please save my little girl."

Time to let go.

 

[umbrella39]

Originally posted by: element

Originally posted by: loki8481
if I had no brain activity and no reasonable chances for recovery, I'd want to be taken off the machines.

in a perfect world, doctor assisted suicide would be legal for extreme cases like this.

You'd want to starve to death? Do you have any idea what it feels like?

If it is the method you oppose, place the blame where it lies. If lethal injection were an option, she would have been allowed to die a long time ago. The pulling of the tube is a clever way to buy time to drag it through the courts or in todays case through Congress. That way the RTL can keep getting the tube put back in, time and time again. They need to get lives of their own and stop meddling in Teri's.

 

[sonambulo]

yeah, i mean, let's let her live

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

While I hate to belittle people that "believe" they are doing the right thing . . . I find it curiously ironic that people are being arrested trying to give bread and water . . . to a woman that cannot "eat" or "drink".

This woman does have brain activity. She just doesn't have any "higher" brain function.

There's a cruel irony in the "vigor" with which the GOP Congress is rushing to "feed" this woman, while simultaneously proposing significant cuts in food aid to millions of poor Americans.

 

[Gaard]

I think DeLay must've missed this one.

Baby dies after hospital removes breathing tube

The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, nearly 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open, his mother said, and smacked his lips.

Then at 2 p.m. Tuesday, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his birth Sept. 25. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died.

"I talked to him, I told him that I loved him. Inside of me, my son is still alive," Wanda Hudson told reporters afterward. "This hospital was considered a miracle hospital. When it came to my son, they gave up in six months. ... They made a terrible mistake."

Sun's death marks the first time a U.S. judge has allowed a hospital to discontinue an infant's life-sustaining care against a parent's wishes, according to bioethical experts. A similar case involving a 68-year-old man in a vegetative state at another Houston hospital is before a court now.

 

[Taejin]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard

Originally posted by: loki8481
I was under the impression that there was no brain activity.

"a 1996 CAT scan revealed much of Terri's cerebral cortex had simply disappeared, replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Several EEGs since have confirmed that she has no brain activity."

http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm...ails.cfm&StoryID=30471&Section=Columns

Maybe you're right. Every site looks like they have some different take on the situation. If she has no brain activity, then the situation is totally different.

I hope you end up nearly braindead and trapped in your body in a hospital bed with no way to communicate to anyone for 15 years. Then you can be miraculously cured and tell us how much fun it was, and how much you appreciated everyone keeping you alive when all you wanted was to die.