how do you write it when Dr. Death dies?
Jun. 3rd, 2011 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronica_richThere aren't many people of the entire human population who can make a lasting impact, to the point where their name becomes a verb and/or noun in the language itself. But unless you live under a rock in this country (and in some others, even) or you're very young, you've probably heard of Dr. Kevorkian, who died today. (Natural causes, not assisted suicide - I know, that was my first question too, right?)
Kevorkian didn't sell his machine at Walmart; he didn't peddle it door to door, encouraging people to give up the ghost and go to their Maker (or into the ether, or the ground, or wherever each one thought they'd end up). He didn't advocate death in a Logan's Run-esque manner for people who hit a certain age or stage of illness. He simply helped those who were too sick to recover, to pull the trigger themselves, so to speak - and it had to be THEIR DECISION.
In this country, at least, it's not unusual to pay a vet to euthanize your pet; hell, it's expected that if an animal gets to a certain stage of illness or advanced age and illness, that a compassionate person will put them out of their misery rather than let them continue to suffer. Yet, not only do we criminalize those who would actively help end the life of a loved person who has made their wishes known to this effect (I'm not talking about removing a feeding tube), we make it barbaric for sick people who want to end their own lives. If you want to die, you have to acquire the drugs and go through whatever discomfort and fear might be involved in overdosing, or stab or shoot yourself - and risk missing. Kevorkian offered something less painful and controlled by the dying person themselves. (My philosophy, I suppose, is if you have a terminal illness, you've probably already suffered enough pain that death itself shouldn't just add to the pile.)
Like anything else in life, suicide is a gray area - and it should be. There shouldn't be any "all or nothing" laws about it. There are circumstances other than treatable depression in which a person wants to end their life, and cases when a person's physical health has plummeted and is NOT going to improve because we don't know yet how to cure an illness. My mother never told me she wanted to end her own life, but if she'd gotten to the point where she was definitely not getting any better, only worse, and she'd still been in her right mind and asked - should I have said no? I could certainly have argued, and I certainly would have been distraught ... but would I have had the right to prevent her from contacting Kevorkian herself?
Kevorkian didn't sell his machine at Walmart; he didn't peddle it door to door, encouraging people to give up the ghost and go to their Maker (or into the ether, or the ground, or wherever each one thought they'd end up). He didn't advocate death in a Logan's Run-esque manner for people who hit a certain age or stage of illness. He simply helped those who were too sick to recover, to pull the trigger themselves, so to speak - and it had to be THEIR DECISION.
In this country, at least, it's not unusual to pay a vet to euthanize your pet; hell, it's expected that if an animal gets to a certain stage of illness or advanced age and illness, that a compassionate person will put them out of their misery rather than let them continue to suffer. Yet, not only do we criminalize those who would actively help end the life of a loved person who has made their wishes known to this effect (I'm not talking about removing a feeding tube), we make it barbaric for sick people who want to end their own lives. If you want to die, you have to acquire the drugs and go through whatever discomfort and fear might be involved in overdosing, or stab or shoot yourself - and risk missing. Kevorkian offered something less painful and controlled by the dying person themselves. (My philosophy, I suppose, is if you have a terminal illness, you've probably already suffered enough pain that death itself shouldn't just add to the pile.)
Like anything else in life, suicide is a gray area - and it should be. There shouldn't be any "all or nothing" laws about it. There are circumstances other than treatable depression in which a person wants to end their life, and cases when a person's physical health has plummeted and is NOT going to improve because we don't know yet how to cure an illness. My mother never told me she wanted to end her own life, but if she'd gotten to the point where she was definitely not getting any better, only worse, and she'd still been in her right mind and asked - should I have said no? I could certainly have argued, and I certainly would have been distraught ... but would I have had the right to prevent her from contacting Kevorkian herself?
