Define "terminally ill"
“Define “terminally ill””
Under Obamacare its when you are no longer a contributing member of society, aka not paying taxes.
Technically, we're ALL terminally ill - nobody gets out alive.
No physician has ever been convicted of a crime for medicating a dying patient with morphine.
That said, direct killing should remain illegal, for all the slippery slope reasons.
Is it ever necessary? Is it ever licit?
Those who know don’t say, and those who say, don’t know.
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.
Holocaust II
Define "individual rights"