I think a husband should be able to be a stand iin for medical decisions which are legal and that usually means withholding treatment which would prolong life of a suffering terminal person.
I do not believe in starving people and do not believe it is as common as people assert. I am referring to unnecessary breathing machines, artificial prolonging of life or withholding of pain medication.
I do believe that in terminal cancer, pain medication is given not only for comfort but for shortening life. I have seen it done regularly. And I believe a spouse should be able to make the decision to do so.
Starving and withholding fluids are inhumane.
I agree that your position is respectable, though I would try and keep myself and my relatives alive as long as possible.
But you are right, slow starvation over a period of weeks is not humane - it is an outrageous affront to any fomr of civilization.
Can anyone name any other barbaric civilization that did this to an innocent person; starving them to death when they had relatives willing and able to feed them?
Not even Stalin or Hitler did that!
I had to sit a while after reading this. This statement angered, then saddened me. After coming out of my stunned stare, I wanted to blast away. Then I realized that this kind of attitude shouldn't surprise any of us.
It actually comes as no surprise that this kind of attitude exists. In our elitist society, convenience is king. Only the pretty, young and easy should exist.
What has really broken my heart tonight is the realization that we (pro-life Christian type peoples) have actually encouraged this. Yes, we have! How? Initially by allowing the "justice" system to inflict the wound of abortion-on-demand on our great country. Years of allowing this wound to fester have taken their toll and this is what we've come to. A society that regards life as a disposable commodity.
Several years ago I read a Christian-Fiction book called "A Perfect Persecution". In that book, euthanasia is common. Right to die becomes "duty to die". Abortions are state ordered after state-ordered testing reveals an imperfect "fetus", and innocent babies in the womb are referred to as "meat". And I thought, after I read this book..."That stuff will never happen, but it was an interesting read."
I re-read that book 2 days ago. Stayed up 'til 4:30 a.m. to finish it because I was so stunned. Many of the laws cited in the first part of the book have already become reality. We're headed toward bringing much more of that book into the non-fiction world. And I don't know when I will sleep again. I'm not kidding. My heart is broken. I hate the world my beautiful child will inherit. It's not that life has no value, only that "certain" life has no value.
God help us. God help us all. Non-Christians and liberals are so upset about having morals "pushed" onto them. Quite frankly, I'm abso-freakin-lutely sick and tired of these people systematically trying to tie me to the sled on which they're sliding to hell. I've made mistakes, gigantic ones, sins even -- things I'm ashamed of. But I never expected anyone else to enable or accompany me down the awful path I took.
I'm sorry this is so long and disjointed. I'm emotionally exhausted, like many of us.