I work in a hospital, and its something we battle here in AUS as well.
We too have cultural and religious considerations - with a vast majority of our patients being indigenous Australians and generally in poor health precipitated by alchohol abuse, diabetes from poor diet and generally self-neglect, these people are know to suffer to their end and to the dismay of not just their families, but those who provide them clinical care.
It is heart-wrenching to watch.
It is such a taboo subject because to this very day WE ARE TERRORFIED OF DEATH. The end in itself is a primal fear we cannot soothe, but people who know, and have accepted, and wish to find peace for themselves and their families are being denied a basic human right. I strongly believe that yes, you SHOULD be allowed to make this choice and it should be fully supported - within strict, stringently guarded guidelines that offer support for EVERYONE involved. Remember, doctors don't treat patients so they'll die. They treat them so they'll live. Being asked to give permission to end a life would be a terrible emotional burden on the person who gets to say "Yes, you may".
In Australia, Palliative Care is provided to terminal patients and every effort is made to ensure that their death is catered to in such a way the family, friends and staff are supported, but I have seen cases in which patients have so little 'quality of life' in the final stages their death is almost cheered on because the suffering of EVERYONE is allieviated... but the memory haunts them all. No one should be 'glad' someone is dead but the misery of suffering is unkind.
Society needs to grow up and stop whining. Its easy to whine, the world wide web is basically a whining network where anyone who can type can complain - no balls or foresight needed, case in point: Wonder Woman. The TV show that was cancelled recently because of backlash? Public, internet backlash. When before has a TV that has the potential for profits and entertainment been canned due to a butt-load of whiny comments "We don't like her outfit."
Absurd. But society has the power to be a bunch of collective whingers and this topic is not something that should be up for a majority vote, it is a choice every individual should have the right to make for themselves. We didn't choose to be born, to get sick, or to suffer, and maybe we don't need to choose the time we die but if its that LAST CHOICE YOU CAN POSSIBLE MAKE IN THIS LIFE, then it is cruel, unkind, and inhumane to deny it.
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Date: 2011-06-04 11:53 am (UTC)We too have cultural and religious considerations - with a vast majority of our patients being indigenous Australians and generally in poor health precipitated by alchohol abuse, diabetes from poor diet and generally self-neglect, these people are know to suffer to their end and to the dismay of not just their families, but those who provide them clinical care.
It is heart-wrenching to watch.
It is such a taboo subject because to this very day WE ARE TERRORFIED OF DEATH. The end in itself is a primal fear we cannot soothe, but people who know, and have accepted, and wish to find peace for themselves and their families are being denied a basic human right. I strongly believe that yes, you SHOULD be allowed to make this choice and it should be fully supported - within strict, stringently guarded guidelines that offer support for EVERYONE involved. Remember, doctors don't treat patients so they'll die. They treat them so they'll live. Being asked to give permission to end a life would be a terrible emotional burden on the person who gets to say "Yes, you may".
In Australia, Palliative Care is provided to terminal patients and every effort is made to ensure that their death is catered to in such a way the family, friends and staff are supported, but I have seen cases in which patients have so little 'quality of life' in the final stages their death is almost cheered on because the suffering of EVERYONE is allieviated... but the memory haunts them all. No one should be 'glad' someone is dead but the misery of suffering is unkind.
Society needs to grow up and stop whining. Its easy to whine, the world wide web is basically a whining network where anyone who can type can complain - no balls or foresight needed, case in point: Wonder Woman. The TV show that was cancelled recently because of backlash? Public, internet backlash. When before has a TV that has the potential for profits and entertainment been canned due to a butt-load of whiny comments "We don't like her outfit."
Absurd. But society has the power to be a bunch of collective whingers and this topic is not something that should be up for a majority vote, it is a choice every individual should have the right to make for themselves. We didn't choose to be born, to get sick, or to suffer, and maybe we don't need to choose the time we die but if its that LAST CHOICE YOU CAN POSSIBLE MAKE IN THIS LIFE, then it is cruel, unkind, and inhumane to deny it.
We suffer enough, don't we?