Posted on 03/27/2016 10:09:09 AM PDT by artichokegrower
Doctor-assisted suicide will be legal in June. What does this mean for the average citizen? What does it mean for doctors?
The Hippocratic Oath, once a sacred oath taken by doctors and nurses, was a pledge not to participate in abortion or the unnatural taking of human life, or using means to hasten death. Only a few rare medical and nursing schools honor this oath today.
(Excerpt) Read more at santacruzsentinel.com ...
As Single Payer comes on board, there will be a need to cut costs ...
exactly. I fear the camel’s nose is in the tent, and things will escalate from here.
And this will be part of our future societal debates about healthcare costs, and Medicare costs in particular.
I’ve heard that the biggest Medicare spending happens in the last couple of years of the life of a senior citizen. This is when they tend to have operations and need more medical care. I can see Obama and his successors talk about this, about how we can go to a rationed care, in which we decide, for example, that 85 year old doesn’t need a hip replacement, that a cancer patient of a certain age will not have surgery, etc. And this will be based on some bureaucratic judgement that some lives are not worth as much as others.
I even heard some liberals complain about Dick Cheney getting a heart transplant when he was 71. Their enmity for Cheney aside, they claimed he was too old and was using too many healthcare resources for his treatment.
So these ideas are already out there. Get ready because this issue will be a bumpy ride.
The camels nose is already under the tent.
The progressives constantly push for more , and more, ..etc.
and it is a constant erosion of human values !
The “Hippocratic Oath” has become the “Hippocratic Suggestions”. Morals and ethics be cursed, this is about EQUALIZING things, all in the name of social justice.
Equality is not the unmitigated and universal good that it has been made out to be.
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asciepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
. . .
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
. . .
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
. . .
____________________________________________________________
No deadly drug. No abortion. No reporting gun owners to the government.
The Hippocratic Oath has followed the same path as the “Oath of Office” Obama pretended to take when he usurped his current office. Honor means nothing to today’s liberals.
When the doctors realize that ObamaCare isn’t going to pay for your care they will make a “quality of life” decision. And that’s just your tough luck. Meanwhile illegals will continue to get free top notch care.
A gift to all of you Obamacare recipients who are victims of rationed healthcare, eg registered Republicans.
If anyone has had a family member in Hospice can tell you, they alread are “putting people down” with dignity. Within the last 10 years I have had 7 family members die while under medical supervision. In every case, it involved the usage of meds to induce coma, then turned up higher to kill the patients.
I know others see it as a blessing. They believe Hospice is serving a wonderful purpose, but to me it is clear they are not.
When a loved one is mortally ill, people will take any comfort they can find and that includes letting medical personnel hasten death in the name of mercy. They will do with a needle, what someone armed with a pistol would be arrested for, end human life.
I am not a theologian, but it seems to me that someone is committing a sin. Maybe it is only those that maneuver to shorten life, or will it include those who stand by sadly and mourn?
Remember, Jesus did not take a painkiller while suffering, purposely turning down the offer on the cross. Maybe the seemingly endless suffering as one approaches the end stages of life need to happen, there is some lesson to impart.
I believe that lesson is the awful consequences of sin. The nearly incomprehensible fear and anguish of the punishment.
On the positive side, the overcoming of the physical. The transition to the spiritual in a fearless and hopeful way can teach a lot more than a steadily increasing frequency of drippage in an IV.
I believe death should be approached in a respectful manner. As a teaching moment for all generations. It is incumbent on the person passing on to remember, this lesson will never be forgotten, teach it well.
Let me decide for myself. I know what I want and what I do not want. I don’t need the govt or you telling me otherwise
I have my end of life paper work done even though I am not aware of any catastrophic illness. I do not want someone else making these decisions for me
If you do not have advanced directives made out you should do so sooner than later
Isaiah 3-5; And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Isiah 9-19; Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
If you think pain is holy, please put that in your directive.
My father went all the way down the horrible Alzheimers path, seven years of decline, and ended his journey a couple weeks ago. He was mostly mild and sweet and happy along the path. In the last few weeks he was wholly bedridden and shrinking down to nothing. He was still happy and smiling a lot. When he wasn’t eating and under a certain weight, hospice was there. The next to last day of his life, he for the first time groaned and grimaced in pain. The pain could have been anything but may have simply been the organs suffering dehydration. Of course we gave him the morphine. He was still hanging on, the next day, even though he was out of pain. Then two of us told him it was OK for him to go. He went within the hour.
If the loved one didn’t request to die in agony, it is merciful to allow him pain relief and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise.
That’s why everyone needs a living will to allow doctors know what your intentions are. It is I paragons today to have that or you could be hooked up to a machine for 20 years. That is not living. That is making doctors, hospitals and insurance companies filthy rich.
Relieving pain is one thing, turning up the drip to induce coma and death is another. There is a big difference. Your experience may be different than mine. You perspective may be totally opposite mine. What others saw as a caring release, I saw as unwanted interference.
Coma is often part of the dieing process irrespective of drugs.
It means that if and when I get to the point where I can no longer function without horrific pain, I can get and take a little pill rather than blow my head off with a firearm. THAT is the conservative position on the issue.
I don’t think they increased the dosage with Dad.
However, in Switzerland, they did this for my Swiss Omi (she was 96). She was so congested (long time serious congestion, not an acute illness) that she was gasping for breath. She had wanted to die for a long time. They did increase the dose and she did pass away and we wondered if that helped hasten her death and decided it may have, and we were ok. She was 96 and suffering so badly.
If ‘that’—— you choosing to take an Exit Pill -— is ‘the’ conservative position on the issue, then have the principles
and the good sense to leave the medical and legal professions out of it.
It sounds, really, like what you’d really need is effective pain meds to keep you comfortable, calm, and alert. I’d join a movement for more patient controlled opiates for terminal patients. I was on my own push-button-controlled liquid morphine during one of my hospitalizations, and it was GREAT.
Don’t have to resort to suicide when there’s effective analgesia.
However. If you’re really into dispatching yourself, let me insist that a person who sincerely values autonomy can find a couple jim-dandy ways to off themselves on a leisurely stroll through Google. You don’t need it legalized nor do you need a compassionate Big Nurse or physician assistance. Be a big boy, Jack, and do it on your own. I’m not condoning it, but if you’ve a mind to do it, it would be impossible for me to stop you.
But leave the rest of us out of it. You don’t have to further corrupt the rest of society to get your little job done.
But the medical and legal professional are already deeply involved. Just try to ask a doc to remove a loved one from life support and the entire medical and legal profession falls on you to prevent it. And they should, insofar as one person is trying to speak for another, but if an individual is lucid and expresses his/her wishes plainly, there’s no compelling reason to stop it.
Suicide (making decision for oneself) and making end-of-life choices as a proxy (for somebody else) are two different things.
That’s why everybody needs to both have written directives on file, AND make sure your designated proxy fully understands and agrees with your preferences well beforehand so they can advocate effectively for your choices.
It is not morally or legally required for a person to accept unwanted, burdensome, futile treatment.
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