Posted on 01/13/2014 2:17:35 PM PST by xzins
State law provides a fundamental right to a terminally ill, competent patient to choose a physician’s aid in getting prescription medications that will allow a peaceful death, a state judge ruled Monday in a seminal case.
Second Judicial District Judge Nan Nash said Drs. Katherine Morris and Aroop Mangalik, both oncologists at the University of New Mexico Hospital, could not be prosecuted under the state’s Assisted Suicide Statute, which is defined as the act of “deliberately aiding another in the taking of his own life.”
The practice recognizes that the patient is dying from his or her underlying disease and allows the patient to have medication, usually sedatives, that may be taken at a time of the patient’s choosing to achieve a peaceful death. Patients who most often choose the option are those dying of cancer.
Nash found that the right exists under the New Mexico Constitution, which prohibits the state from depriving a person of life, liberty or property without due process.
“This court cannot envision a right more fundamental, more private or more integral to the liberty, safety and happiness of a New Mexican than the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying,” Nash wrote in the opinion. “If decisions made the shadow of one’s imminent death regarding how they and their loved ones will face that death are not fundamental and at the core of these constitutional guarantees, then what decisions are?”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
I do care if killing yourself is approved.
No one will know how it ever really went down. Good way to rid yourself of the politically incorrect.
And how do you know they wanted to die?
All you’ve got is a dead body. Maybe even a piece of paper.
But it’s the “off your enemy and have no questions asked” bill
That’s what death panels do.
So, I disapprove of death panels. Do you?
That's what I was thinking. Sort of like "life of mother" with abortion. "It will mess with my life's plans" is what that quickly became.
Anyone who cares has a right to object. Free speech is given by God. Others might not like to hear it, but objections at such a time should be voiced.
We need death penalties to approve suicides?
lol
My girlfriend was "terminally ill." I met her on Match.com in the summer of 2010, about four months after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and halfway through her course of chemotherapy after having surgery and before undergoing radiation.
Her oncologist talked in terms of "curing her" with those treatments. By New Years eve, she was done with all her treatments, had recovered her strength,if not her hair -- that came later, albeit not like her pre-cancer hair.)
The next year and a half with her was blissful beyond description. I fell hopelessly in love with her within weeks of our first meeting. I had met my true soul mate -- an internationally acclaimed classical musician, a pillar of the local classical community, with a 30-year career that saw awards in Europe, Russia and the US, and 30 performance CDs that are still available on Amazon.com.
As a trained jazz musician myself, we clicked on every possible level and I loved her beyond words. The music connection was like nothing I have ever experienced.
Then, in spring 2012, she started experiencing some symptoms that ultimately led to a diagnosis of leptomeningeal metastases -- meaning that cancer cells had shown up in her spinal fluid.
The medical literature shows that no one has survived this disease for more than a couple of years, and that there was no agreed-upon treatment.
After her diagnosis in the hospital, followed by more surgery, a course of oral chemo and radiation, she could not even walk. She moved into my place in June 2012, and slowly got stronger. It was my great privilege to be the one who got to care for her.
By August 2012 she was able to walk (with a cane) and go to her job as music department chair of a local well-known university. She even was able to drive herself there. But she was never able to play her instrument again.
She was barfing constantly from the chemo drug, and experiencing all kinds of other horrific side effects for months.
And then on Christmas Day 2012, she couldn't move her legs. A trip to the emergency room led to a week on the hospital, followed by a consensus by her oncology/neurology team that her prognosis was somewhere between "short and less short."
That led to her treatments being discontinued, and she was transferred to a hospice, where she slowly deteriorated over the next four weeks.
During those four weeks, she lost her (considerable) cognitive function, the use of one arm and both legs, her ability to tell me my name, her ability to tell me her name, her ability to recognize her own playing on her classical recordings, her appetite, her voice, and finally her consciousness.
She was doped up constantly with increased doses of morphine to end her constant pain.
She stopped breathing on January 29, at 4:43am. She took my heart with her, and now, almost a year later, I am still in deep grief over her loss.
So that's the definition of "terminally ill."
I can tell you, after watching her horrific ordeal, that if I am ever diagnosed with cancer, I will not go through that. And even if I wanted to, I couldn't afford it. My girlfriend had a super Cadillac health plan that paid out millions for her treatment. Me? Even after bankrupting my family, it still wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of what she went through.
And under those circumstances, I believe it would be my right to elect to exit this life on my own terms. Tell me I'm wrong, and I'll tell you where to send the checks to pay for my treatment to keep me alive.
Ruling says they can, not that they have to.
Doctors can perform abortions, or choose not to.
Also the distinction between the physician doing the killing (ie pushing a bolus of morphine or potassium) versus giving the patient the means to do it themselves. Latter happens regularly. Any diabetic can inject themselves with an entire vial of insulin and kill themselves. Or ingest their one month supply of pain meds with the same result. Is then the prescribing of these meds ‘assisted suicide’?
What the heck is happening in New Mexico?
I was born there, grew up there, went to college there. Moved away years ago to work (no jobs in my field). Now, I don’t want to go back, except to see the magnificent scenery of the northern part of the state...
this is a complicated issue having dealt with several people died in my immediate family and cared for them day in day outout
what really kills someone terminal slow death is it the accelerated dope doses or lack of food or water or all of the above
there is no simple one-size-fits-all answer like freepers often desire
when my time comes and it will sooner rather than later nearly 60..... just give me the good dope
make me comfortable
do not have me lying in my own feces or urine
Keep my mouth wet.....and spray me some Dr tichenors or scope for death breath.....which those know...know is distinguishable and awful
....family.....my lovely southern wife particularly
And at least one hot Ukrainian nurse for sponge baths
At home with my Rott
Its a plan I think
Much as I drive I will likely go out as a metal sandwich
I am not against a kind push into heaven for those days or hours away who are in unalleviated pain
You know what kills most cancer folks is either starvation...cancer takes the food for itself
Or thirst
Or the stuff kills a vital organ....less likly
In my view, she did the right thing fighting to live ‘til the end.
I’m so sorry.
Hell, just hand out a bottle of morphine and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
I never accept the taking of life, self or otherwise.
To many great reasons not to do so.
Sorry for your loss.
Holocaust II
It absolutely opens the door, doesn’t it?
Without the knowledge that you have gone through, I already agreed with your opinion. Thanks for sharing the heartbreaking story. My heart aches for you.
The door was opened in 2008. Only those too stupid to see the truth from the beginning are shocked.
If the patient is awake, and strong enough to remove the ET tube...they are probably ready to be rid of it.
It's just a rule of thumb...and thumbs get broken.
FWIW-
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/nuremberg.htm
No one knew anything at the end! Sound familiar?
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