Posted on 05/23/2009 9:39:46 AM PDT by wyowolf
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- 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. Compassion & Choices, an organization that says it advocates choice for the terminally ill, said Linda Fleming of Sequim, took her prescribed medication and died Thursday evening at home with her family, her dog and her physician.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Keep in mind that on the average 85% of what you spend to care for yourself medically, as an individual, will be SPENT during the last TWO MONTHS of your LIFE.
Ping!
well my cancer costed over 130k, that was 5 years ago. :) but it was worth it.. :) still here. I cant imagine going through what my freind went through at the end, constant pain, nothing helped. after seeing that i dont think i could go through that...
Huh? Why do we have this law and a mom has to go on the run with her son to avoid more chemo. Anyway, I’m a nurse at a nursing home and really hate cancer :(
I am all for assisted suicide for people in such extremity. I wouldn’t allow my pet to suffer at the end (& in fact just had to have my 20 year old cat put down). I don’t see why I should have to suffer to satisfy someone else’s moral qualms. But it should only be MY choice, no one else’s!
I disagree. I think insurance companies should be able to suggest an option -- they're the ones paying through the nose for end of life care, and they just pass costs on to the rest of us. My business can't afford the sharp rise in premiums -- we need new ideas to control costs w/o resorting to Hillary Care.
Your friend was not receiving professional end of life care if she/he suffered like that. What a crime! Did you try to help with that? That is so cruel!
We have been unfortunate enough to have a lot of family members die of cancer and I would not describe any of their end of life experience to be as you described. Thank goodness, because I would not have been able to stand watching them suffer.
Then it would have been about you, not them.
How easily we flout God's laws to avoid the inconveniences that pop up in our lives.
Your friend did not have to suffer. In hospice care, the terminal patient’s pain is managed. When the pain increases, the pain medication is increased. The patient is given as much pain medication as is needed to relieve the pain.
Yes, well that is the way we thought it would be also when my dad was dying of lung cancer and we obtained hospice care services for him. It was a living nightmare. They did not manage his pain well and not only that they blamed it on the fact that “he is not accepting death and that makes it harder.” The pain medicine they gave him was oral and he couldn’t swallow so they told us to crush it. Still couldn’t swallow it so after 24 hours of ignoring our phone calls begging for help they changed meds. In theory hospice care sounds wonderful, but in practice it was hell. We surviving family members still have post-traumatic stress over it and it has been 7 years.
What a horrible experience!
In the last couple years my mother-in-law had hospice care for Parkinson’s, and my father for pancreatic cancer. In both cases the care was excellent and neither patient was allowed to suffer excessive pain.
I am so sorry for the traumatic experience with Hospice that you had. Our story is a bit different. When my dad was dying from stage 4 prostate/lung/brain cancer it was the hospital that would not give the drugs, saying they were worried about an overdose...imagine that...overdosing a dying man...we were beside ourselves so we called in Hospice and they used oral liquid morphine and it really made a huge difference. My dad died that very same day but the level of pain was totally different after the liquid drugs. In the long run, I think it was the morphine that assisted with his death. We have been thankful to Hospice ever since. I can’t believe the hospital was worried about the OD...he was dying for pity sakes. What difference does it make? I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you for your kind responses. I am sorry for your losses also. I am glad that your hospice experiences were positive. Hockeyfonzie, your experience with the hospital is heartbreaking and I do so identify with your ordeal. I am sure that you are right when you say that the hospital did not provide adequate pain control because of the fear of OD which makes no sense to me. I still don’t understand why our hospice seemed so unwilling to provide adequate pain management.
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