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Youth in Asia
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 Youth in AsiaThe rules are strict. Two qualified physicians (not a single dentist as the liars claimed) must both sign essentially an affidavit confirming the patient is terminal, with less than six months life expectancy, and in excessive pain. So what is the point? Suffering because it pleases Jesus? That is deviantly demented, whether you believe Jesus is a sadist or not. My pastor explained, when I was a child, that suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. He wasn’t singling me out, he said that to everyone. So that made a big impression on me. Often it is just a plea for attention, and successful only by accident. Don’t tempt the fates. But some are earnest, like the shotgun folks, or Japanese train jumpers. Sepuku doesn’t interfere with the schedule, and is the preferred method for observing honor. Or kamikaze pilots—one way to take out an enemy ship. If I were in a persistent vegetative state, like Terry Schiavo, what is the point? To increase hardship and suffering of my family for what? What gain? Brain dead is dead. If it means anything then part the corpse out so others might live or function. I have usable organs I’ve kept relatively clean and healthy—if others may benefit when I’m finished, how is God not honored? And if nothing is useful, I cannot understand artificial support. We didn’t have life support back when Skara Brae villagers worked their fields and tended the livestock in their paddocks. If they required a heart lung transplant or a new kidney or liver, their neighbors dug a hole or set them adrift to feed the fishes when they perished. There was no stupid feeding tube for the comatose. If you couldn’t swallow you perished, whether your mind still worked or not. Modern medical tech has expanded our options, often into the utterly absurd. Tommy Tuberville agreed we should abolish IVF because, “we need more babies.” That is the kind of logic that dictates PVS patients must be preserved at all costs, even if it means denying treatment of easily preventable mortal disease to others because we squandered the resources on vapid stupidity. I mean literally. Nothing is stupider than not having a functioning brain. We don’t connect rocks or tomatoes to life support. Wait, tomatoes are a fruit. Zucchini, then. Nope, another fruit! Ok, carrots? Those seem like smart vegetables. Cauliflower. That’s a dumb veggy, right? So we don’t hook cauliflower up to life support. No chance the cauliflower will ever recover the faculty of speech. If I stand a chance of recovering functionality, go ahead and hook me up. My friend with covid would have died without the ventilator, but he is alive and well now. Only minor long term disabilities. So that’s where I am. If I’m terminal and suffering, I want a choice. Maybe six more months is worth all the pain, and maybe it isn’t. But I should be able to decide that, not some bone headed legislator motivated by personal ignorance, apathy, or irrational religious belief. This isn’t an attack on religion, as some faiths are rational. Someone asked a nun in a hospital if heroic measures should be taken to prolong the life of an eighty year old sister in her last stages. “Good heavens no,” she replied. “Whatever on earth for? The woman is DYING.” Death isn’t a failure, none of us are getting out of this world alive. Except possibly Elon, and for him it just means death on another world. So yes, I strongly support death with dignity. Who am I to decide another’s choices? I’m barely competent to field my own. |
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Oops The poet Colin raised some interesting points I thought merited discussion here. |
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Bob from COR Yes. <<First, the common fear is that unwanted geriatrics will be 'encouraged' to take the option. This could be called 'incitement to suicide', and I have no doubt it would happen in some cases. But is that better or worse than the neglect that would likely happen in such cases? Anyone who would talk an inconvenient relative into 'voluntary' death might also be the type who would not gladly make his continued survival very comfortable.>> There is no provision for that in the Oregon or Washington DWD (death with dignity) statutes. Two licensed medical physicians are required to concur the patient is a both terminal and in severe pain. I don’t know how hard it might be to talk someone into requesting assistance in that circumstance. Maybe. I had a cousin who was diagnosed with breast cancer early in her fifth pregnancy. She couldn’t get treatment without getting an abortion (legal in this state). In Texas they would have simply explained state law required that she die, and good riddance. Texas legislators initially ignored even ectopic pregnancy—any woman so stricken deserved excruciatingly painful death. Later they amended the law, but not really enough to allow any doctor comfort in performing ectopic abortion—such women remain required to depart the state for life saving treatment. Anyway, back to my cousin. She had four healthy babies, but elected to forego cancer therapy. Not the choice I would have made in her sandals. But still—human beings suffer free will. So as typical the pregnancy hormones exacerbated malignant cancer growth, and though she lived long enough to give birth, by the time she was able to begin treatment she was in a lot of pain and terminal. I went to visit her when doctors confirmed the worse. Very unsettling. She didn’t use the assist, she didn’t really need it. She only held out another couple of weeks, but her final week was comatose. I miss her—though not nearly as much as her family, I’m sure. <<Second, how many people are aware of current practice in most jurisdictions? I have a friend who is a doctor in palliative care (i.e., care of the dying). It is not uncommon for painkillers to be administered to terminal patients up to the point needed to provide relief. If eventually that crosses the threshold it is investigated, but on the basis of whether the overdose was 'justifiable'; not whether or not it could have been foreseen to be lethal. I call this 'euthanasia by soft degrees'.>> That’s the thing. If a patient signs a release, the doctors cannot be sued to lose their practice by angry family members. Schiavo made national news because her husband was well aware of her final wishes, but her parents were misled by false hopes. She had zero chance of recovery as her brain was destroyed. But her husband lived her so much her living corpse suffered no bed sores common to PVS patients. He stayed with her and rotated her more often than hospital staff requirements. He just realized keeping her plugged in was a pointless expense, squandering resources that could be put to far better use. When the towel is beyond all possible repair or use, you throw it in. <<Third, we should make sure we are not just looking at a 'Law' in the legalistic sense, but aware of the full context. Every law permits exceptions. You are permitted to kill someone if that person presents an immediate threat to the lives of others. You are permitted to commit property damage by kicking your neighbour's front door in, if the purpose is to rescue his kids from a burning house. God's laws are no different; they are generalities, meant to be followed unless some exceptional over-riding consideration enters the mix.>> These kill exceptions fall well outside assisted death. If you’re not suffering severe physical pain (mental anguish isn’t covered), the DWD law provides no recourse. Severe is ill defined, but persistent six or above is a reasonable start. “Today’s a bad day I’m calling it quits” doesn’t work either. The process is a bit drawn out. I’m not sure how many days are required, I imagine at least a week. But if you’re sure, you’re sure. And after you administer your own dosage (the doctors are prohibited), your decision becomes truly final. No second guessing drip surcease. It’s very peaceful, pushing off into the eternal void. I was present when my grandmother died. I missed my grandfather’s passing by about an hour due to incredibly dense fog, plus I didn’t feel like there was much point in my being there when he really wasn’t. They were salt of the earth people, lived by all who knew them. I figure when you die either you will be missed or you won’t. I think I prefer the former, that my going is a loss mourned, rather than a loss celebrated with delight, pleasure, and relief. There is apparently a place you can send urine samples they promise to save for you and then empty out over Groper’s grave when he sheds his mortal coil. Possibly interred on a golf course somewhere. I would contribute to that. I will certainly take a trip to Rushmore to vent my bladder over his rocks should that bill to add his visage to the monument ever pass. I know you can’t trespass up there, but it would be well worth the trip and any penalties. We had a bottle of Champaign set aside for his conviction, which we celebrated, and another for his sentencing, which we didn’t celebrate given the travesty and miscarriage of justice occurring with that. The Resolute Desk could have been situated in a cell for a time. |
