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California woman holds party before ending her life
Press Democrat ^ | 11 Aug 2016

Posted on 08/11/2016 1:56:20 PM PDT by rey

In early July, Betsy Davis emailed her closest friends and relatives to invite them to a two-day party, telling them: "These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness and openness."

And just one rule: No crying in front of her.

The 41-year-old artist with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, held the gathering to say farewell before becoming one of the first Californians to take a take a lethal dose of drugs under the state's new doctor-assisted suicide law for the terminally ill.

(Excerpt) Read more at pressdemocrat.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: als; assistedsuicide; california; righttodie; suicide
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To: BarbM

You are very proud of your strength. You condemn others who are in fear of lethal collapse. Speaking as a Christian, you belittle yourself - I’m not doing it. Compassion and love are far more important than your pride. If you don’t get off your high horse, God will take you off of it. You’re not the only one who’s suffered - if your pain has turned you into a spiritual bureaucrat, you’ve already failed.


81 posted on 08/11/2016 7:08:48 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: rey

There was a movie a while back with a similar set up called It’s My Party. It was about a homosexual who had gotten aids and decided to throw a party before killing himself. I found it a depressing movie and would not recommend it but Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up.


82 posted on 08/11/2016 7:19:09 PM PDT by xp38
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To: Talisker

And, I don’t care about your personal pathetic pity party.
I don’t pay attention to the libtards running California.
They have their laws, I have mine.

Try ‘Fund Me’. Maybe you can raise $$ to move. Maybe I
will pony up a few dollars to help fund you. Whatever,
don’t let the swingin’ door hit you.


83 posted on 08/11/2016 8:00:02 PM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf.)
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To: Sivad

Whatever, dude. California has mega liberal problems at every level, and is FAMOUS for them. Your non acknowledgement of them makes you seem like someone who doesn’t agree that they’re even problems. So what would that make you? Gee, I wonder.


84 posted on 08/11/2016 9:14:36 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Bryanw92
Morally no one is required to get extraordinary treatment.

and the complaint doctors keep alive cripples who would be better off dead goes back to Plato so don't blame modern medicine.

this suicide is based on a fantasy that makes he the heroine of her own heroic story.... and of course sympathetic stories in the media will inspire more suicides.

and it will inspire more people to pressure their relatives to die, and result in a lot of stealth killing by relatives and medical personnel.

this of course will save lots of money for Obamacare.

85 posted on 08/11/2016 9:43:58 PM PDT by LadyDoc
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To: Bryanw92

Good post. It’s easy to criticize someone when we aren’t in that position. I’m against suicide but I can’t honestly say that if I was suffering incredibly that I wouldn’t choose to refuse prolonging my life.

My friend’s Mother died from ALS. Before ALS, she was a funny, spunky woman, full of life. Before her death, she was just a suffering shell of what she used to be. Her real self died before her body died.

I wouldn’t wish that kind of death on my worst enemy.


86 posted on 08/11/2016 11:27:06 PM PDT by CrimsonTidegirl (Proud Islamophobe.)
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To: Fai Mao

Sorry DemocRATS but America doesn’t have 150 elections left; in fact if a DemocRAT gets elected this time; we’re going to in the most serious trouble we’ve ever been in.

I hope people really understand this.


87 posted on 08/12/2016 1:09:04 AM PDT by CyberAnt ("Peace Through Strength")
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To: LadyDoc

>>and the complaint doctors keep alive cripples who would be better off dead goes back to Plato so don’t blame modern medicine.

I didn’t blame modern medicine. I blamed the medical-industrial complex, which includes insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, and the drug companies that all work to treat rather than cure. And it’s not a 100% thing. Almost all the time, they do what is moral and legal and right for the patient.

You call this woman’s suicide a fantasy. It’s also a fantasy to believe that she would be cured of her disease. In one fantasy, she suffers so people can make money off her. In the other fantasy, she dies with a feeling of empowerment.


88 posted on 08/12/2016 3:10:02 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.)
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To: Bryanw92
Empowerment? She wasn't empowered. I suspect she was afraid of dying by choking to death, and when she said she'd commit suicide than face this, those around her (and the MSM and culture) reinforced the idea better dead than disabled.

So, instead of reassuring her that they would care for her and keep her comfortable and make sure her airway would be suctioned as needed, because she was valuable to them, she is encouraged to kill herself.

there is an alternative: The idea that everything, including suffering, happens for a reason. But that belief requires a belief in God or karma or fate.

Sad. I blame our culture of death more than this lady.

as for the medical industrial complex: Sorry, but much of my career was spent either overseas or with the poor in the USA. The idea that in the past people died quickly of disease is a myth written by people who never worked in very poor areas of the world...

89 posted on 08/12/2016 4:50:37 AM PDT by LadyDoc
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To: Talisker

Look, pal. The fact that you were born, raised, and live
in California gives you the right to criticize. I have no
problem with that. And, no, I don’t “seem” to disagree
that California has problems. It has major problems. Unlike
you and the ignorant out of state Cali haters I refuse to
acknowledge or imply that 100% of the populace marches
in liberal lockstep. That is a lie and you know it.

“Gee, I wonder.”

If you wonder then read my posting history and give The
libtard style innuendo a rest.....dude.


90 posted on 08/12/2016 6:16:37 AM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf.)
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To: Rusty0604

I do not see him often. Not sure how it happened.


91 posted on 08/12/2016 6:43:34 AM PDT by RatRipper (The biggest threat to US national security is our government and those in it.)
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To: Sivad

I don’t think you realize how bad things have gotten in any major population area. Thirty years ago I’d be as righteous as you are, but no more. Your island of sanity in California, wherever it is, is far smaller than you comprehend.


92 posted on 08/12/2016 11:20:22 AM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Talisker

You continue to miss my point. I am fully aware of how
bad things are in California. I don’t need to be preached
to about it. My point throughout this dialog has been that
not 100% of Californians are the libtards your original
post implied. You really know that but a whole bunch of
Cali haters think we are ALL screaming liberals. I just
try to set the record straight.


93 posted on 08/12/2016 11:50:12 AM PDT by Sivad (NorCal red turf.)
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To: rey

Wow. I am actually incredibly jealous of this woman. After years of bouncing from one junk job to another with no hope of a promotion or raise and health issues i can’t afford to take care of, something like this is exactly what I’ve suggested to a select few trusted friends.

No doom and gloom and everyone dressed in black. No tears - I’ve shed enough myself. Make it like a happy movie that has a sad ending. Throw a freaking party! Take a tour of the old stomping grounds! Watch all the movies and cartoons and shows we knew and loved. Put up a playlist on Itunes with all the old songs and leave them running. Talk about everything and anything that made a part of the great grand movie called my life - family in-jokes, the capers we had as kids, old memories of happier times.

Spend a day or three doing all that and more. And when it’s finally over, hug me goodbye and drive home from the party, knowing that I’ll be attended by a certified doctor with clean equipment at a private appointment. Forget the expensive funeral service that just makes everyone sad and poorer and don’t say how sorry you are. In fact, you should envy me because by the time you sit down to dinner I’ll be seeing my grandparents and my aunt and my kitty in a place where there’s no bills you can’t pay, no health problems you can’t get treated and no soul-crushing jobs. I’ll be in a MANSION instead of a tiny apartment, and I’ll never again shiver in the winter or wilt in the summer.

Instead I get the same old tired f*cking useless platitudes I’ve heard for years and don’t help solve anything. And to ‘make my own exit’ requires a huge amount of courage (’cause let’s face it - death is damn scary), a crapton of pain and will likely fail horribly.

The only thing worse than having to play a rigged game is being forced to play it. To sit at the table watching everyone else win big while what little you have just goes to the entry fee. And this is being done by well-meaning people who think that doing so puts them on some kind of moral pedestal. Which brings to mind a quote from a famous man who said that the worst kind of tyranny was when people participated in it and thought it was for their own good.


94 posted on 12/17/2016 1:05:43 PM PST by Laser_Ray
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To: Laser_Ray

I completely understand


95 posted on 12/17/2016 1:15:49 PM PST by Trump-a-licious
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