Knew someone who had ALS. Dreadful disease.
I only allow euthanasia if your condition is terminal and you are infirmed in bed with no chance of recovering. I can be lenient on somebody who is that far into their suffering and the end is inevitable.
However, as long as you can get up and do stuff and live a life, you should try and live that life.
I learned John Tesh almost choose euthanasia in 2015, because he had some kind of cancer that brought him close to death with no way out.
He, fortunately, fought back from his absolute pit of despair and recovered.
It’s still murder, even if a doctor does it. If you think this isn’t one big nose in the tent then you are being very foolish.
Canada is murdering the mentally ill now using this Makthusian ideal.
Soon, this will be mandatory.
My mother fought ALS for 5 years. She was a practicing Catholic and never thought of the idea of ending her life. Four of her last years were spent in the hospital and on “machines”.
Our family was with her every one of her days along her journey. We made sure that she had the best care by staying with her.
Medical Assistance in dying is suicide.
It is not often necessary. My mom had a very painful form of cancer, and the hospital medicated her into unconsciousness once they realized what she had. We got her into a wonderful hospice, where the head physician immediately saw that she was over-medicated. He was able to modify her meds so that she was conscious but not in pain. She was in good spirits and receiving visitors until almost the very end - which was peaceful. Certainly there are hard cases - but as the lawyers say, hard cases make bad law.
Because euthanasia winds up being abused for the convenience of the doctors (or, God forbid, the family). In the Netherlands, euthanasia is imposed without the consent of the patient *or* their family . . . and for hideous reasons such as freeing up a hospital bed. And it always goes there.
This is a line that shouldn't be crossed.
I had a neighbor who died of ALS, it was excruciating to watch. Young, handsome man newly married. It was years of steady decline with no way out. Horrible disease.
I will not judge her. I pray for her sake she made the right decision.
One of the guys with whom I used to play b’ball, a 50-something police chief, got ALS, and it’s a miserable way to go. In the end stages, nothing works. I really can’t blame her.
If you are a saved Christian, I think God will forgive her.
I have cared for terminally ill patients during my entire career (since 1974).
I am very familiar with this issue. I do not believe “physician assisted suicide” should be legalized. When I teach, I teach that no doctor has ever been convicted of a crime for using pain and or respiratory distress relieving drugs correctly (although there have been a few indictments with not guilty verdicts).
It’s important for society to visibly value life and to be able to convict people like Kervorkian for the murders they do.
But are there edge cases? Sure there are. With regard to them, I would observe only that “those who say don’t know, and those who know don’t say”.
My dad died of ALS Thanksgiving Day 2023. He spent the last 6 months of life in hospice. The last few weeks they kept him morphined up.
May God have mercy on her soul....or her suffering will be far far worse now with no hope of even death.
^^^^ Right there is where my sympathy ends. She wanted doctors to be allowed to help other people commit suicide all over the country.
REPORTER: "To people who think it's not a great idea for a variety of reasons, what would you say?"
WOMAN: "If it's not a good idea for you, don't consider it. But, there has to be a way for those who want it."
^^^^ I will be kind and simply say she must not have understood how it all works.
No one wants to suffer at the end, but many terminally ill patients want to live as long as possible. Unfortunately, many doctors and nurses treat them as a waste of time, money, effort, and bed space. I witnessed it myself. I was even treated that way once when a hospital listed me incorrectly as terminal. Many patients are pushed into hospice. With 'assisted suicide,' more and more of them will be pushed into suicide.
Kudos to the young man interviewed who made a solid argument against legal assisted suicide. He understands the issue.