Posted on 09/19/2014 7:21:54 AM PDT by wagglebee
Sometimes I get emotional whiplash. On one hand, we see very prominent bioethicists say that we should starve Alzheimer’s patients to death if they asked to be killed in an advance directive.
Compassion and Choices teaches oldsters how to commit suicide by self-starvation.
People like Peter Singer claim we should be allowed to lethally inject Alzheimer’s patients non-persons even if they never asked–despite having cared very well for his so afflicted mother.
Then, there is the story of the man who gave his beloved wife, dying of Alzheimer’s, his last breath. Literally. From the KFOR story:
An elderly couple, who had been together for more than 60 years, was found dead inside their home. Investigators say Dave Molter died trying to give his wife, Corrine, CPR; giving his wife his last breath.
Brandy Williams broke down, talking about losing a couple she called best friends. “Just wonderful people. I’ve never met anybody like that in my life,” said Williams.
Williams was the caregiver for Dave and Corrine Molter.
Corrine had advanced Alzheimer’s and Dave waited on her hand and foot. “Just being there and seeing it with my own eyes, it’s like true love like no other. It’s the kind you see in movies, not the kind you see in real life,” she said
We used to take Mr. Molter’s kind of devotion, if not for granted, at least as more of a general expectation.
Today, not so much: Far more media and societal attention–and validation–go to those who support their very ill loved ones in committing suicide. Indeed, sometimes I think the new ethic is to put the very sick out of our misery.
Change isn’t a synonym for progress.
LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.
Bingo!
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
So Scrooge was right, Peter Singer? “reduce the surplus population?”
how about a notepad and and a pen...
I know this woman how is now living in a home that specializes in memory care. She doesn't know anyone anymore, but she loves to read. After she read everything thing they had on hand. The administrator held a book drive and they got more books then the lady will probably ever read. But she's happy. Her quality of life is good.
Word to the wise, be very careful about who you leave in charge if you become incapacitated.
For quite awhile, she could not stand, walk, go to the bathroom herself, etc. Then she could not eat without assistance or barely speak. She was not "living" - she was waiting to die.
She was a nurse & told me years ago she feared being in such condition & wanted no life-saving measures. She put it in writing. I have no doubt she would have chose assisted suicide if she had the opportunity.
Just because modern medicine can keep people alive long after they are ready to be called home does not mean we should.
Keeping people alive simply because we can is not mercy, it is cruelty.
I do not know the answers to this tough one.
What I AM sure about is the ANY decision should be made without the sanction, assistance or demand of ANY social structure, be it legal, political, governmental, medical/insurance or anything else I can think of.
I do NOT know what goes on in the mind or soul of a sufferer. Maybe they are in a world of their own and are happy, getting angry when we on the outside try to break into their worlds. Maybe they are miserable and cannot communicate any longer. Maybe their minds have stopped working and they are mentally vegetative.
I watch my wife’s mother delirious in her dementia, uncomprehending and incontinent: if she WAS aware she would be so embarrassed she might die.
I DO know that if I communicate my desire to my wife that I do not be that way, I expect her to carry out my wishes if I am no longer able to do so. I do not need her worried about the legal implications of such compassion,,,for it would surely grieve her as it would me for her.
But I am just as vehement that NO outside force is going to mandate my actions. No government is going to TELL me that I will be killed for the common good and my insurance carrier should be forced to cover my decision, not cut me off.
Its only going to become a larger problem as boomers age gracelessly....
Do you believe God is in ultimate control of His created Universe? How do you measure 'ready to be called home'? Who calls them home? Are humans so powerful now that they can counter the 'call'? ... Really?
Dementia patients are a challenge to care for. It is heartbreaking for family members to se their loved ones so afflicted.
They are still “people” but they are no longer the person their friends and family once knew. It is like someone entirely different hijacked their body, they look like the person you knew, but they are not that person any more. That person you knew is gone and will never come back.
Further, these patients need constant supervision, much like a 2 or 3 year old child. Their decision making skills are nill and they can easily get into situations where they are a danger to themselves and others.
If you did not know the patient before they deteriorated, you would have a difficult time telling that anything was wrong with them after a conversation or meal with them. While their memory and life skills are gone, their intelligence is likely still intact, and this is one big source of trouble. What they do not remember or understand, their mind fills in the blanks for them. These fill-ins are usually paranoid scenarios with people they se every day being villains. Gov’t, police, doctors, healthcare workers, family members, neighbors, even their priest all can be “out to get them”, and are denying them their freedom. It is really sad to see.
But should we put them down like a horse with a broken leg? They still enjoy the life they understand. And if we kill them for their diminished mental abilities, do we then start killing all “mental deficients”?
They aren’t the person we once knew, but they are still a person, however inconvenient that new person may be to family and society.
BTW, a positive diagnosis of “Alzheimer’s” can only be done postmortem, until then it is really dementia with symptoms characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Drs do not like to use the word “Alzheimer’s”.
A) There is zero chance the person will recover from the illness that will ultimately kill them.
B) Their physical & mental condition has deteriorated to the point they can no longer move, speak or eat on their own.
C) The sole reason they remain alive is because the law requires it & medical staff complies.
My mother is in Stage 7 Alzheimers. She is cared for by my brother who spends his day watching MSNBC.. ( big Detroit liberal)..My mother sits there holding his hand and saying 2 things over and over:
1. “I love you honey honey honey honey honey” (she’s up to 4 honeys now)
2. “Am I okay?”
She is quite happy doing that over and over-— all day.. and sits there with a smile on her face. She cannot write her name.. She doesn’t understand a thing about what is on TV.. She has no memory of her family, her history, her 5 children...
quite sad for us... but not for her.
she is happy and for that I am grateful. She has a quality of life, such as it is. She deserves life.. We are keeping her comfortable...at 85 she would not survive any invasive surgery... we are keeping her comfortable... happy...
love to all with this terrible disease and for those caring souls who care for the inflicted.
Chesterton on birth control/population control:
In 1925 Chesterton wrote an introduction to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in which he said that “The answer to anyone who talks about the surplus population is to ask him, whether he is part of the surplus population; or if not, how he knows he is not.”
Peter Singer is an evil, evil man.
God bless you. My husband’s great aunt had Alzheimer’s. She lived to her late 80s, and was not unhappy, although at times she behaved uncharacteristically. When she passed away, her older sister was very sad and lonely, as they had lived together for a number of years after their husbands had passed on.
God bless your mom and family. She may be doing more for you all than you are for her. The sad fact is that nobody wants to talk about the effects the Alzheimer, Dementia and other old age conditions people face, may be for the betterment of those around them. These folks are still people, created in God’s image. They deserve to be cared for until natural death.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.