Posted on 06/16/2005 6:53:51 AM PDT by rhema
. . .People of goodwill may disagree about Terri Schiavo's case. Yet as our society strays from its traditional belief in the essential dignity of every human life, we all must grapple with the implications of the notion that some lives are "not worth living."
Today, assisted suicide is lawful in Oregon. In the Netherlands, according to the New York Times, prosecutors no longer pursue cases against doctors who kill severely impaired babies after birth. The temptation to deal with the defective and incompetent by eliminating them is likely to grow as our society ages. Today, approximately 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. In coming decades, projections suggest that about 40 percent of us will spend roughly 10 years in an infirm, demented condition. The way we deal with this situation will say much about us as a society.
Currently, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is staging an exhibit . . . called "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race." It examines the idea of "lebensunwertes Leben" -- lives not worthy of life --which the Nazis used to justify their elimination of thousands deemed unfit to live: the retarded, the defective and the seriously ill.
Some German intellectuals championed this idea well before the Nazi era began. A 1920 book, for example, decried "the meticulous care shown to existences which are not just absolutely worthless" -- the disabled and deformed -- "but even of negative value." It called for applying the "healing remedy" of premature death, in order to "eliminat[e] those who were born unfit for life or who later became so."
Today, we must ensure that we ourselves are not tempted to start down this slippery slope --moved by free choice rather than totalitarian edict, and seduced by a shallow notion of "death with dignity."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
"That's the pattern here. Many of the "let her be free!" folks have so admitted pulling the plug on a spouse, a parent, etc. All in a most loving manner of course."
There was no plug to pull. Nice try with your below the belt punch, but I'm used to the scumbuckets that inhabit the Terri supporters' world. Just one scumbucket after another with scumbucket hate-filled comments of murder, Christian phoniness, and vile remarks. Only way to deal with you people is to match you in nastiness, as you will never stop being that way yourselves. So, take your potshots, because believe me I will dish it back. Until I get bored, that is. And, at the moment you bore me, so I will now switch my attention to a rational thread, rather than mingle with the sicko's here. Toodles.
Not below the belt was it of mine, but your own posts quite emptyed the storerooms of scumbuckets before we had our tete-a-tete.
I wouldn't surprised if all the claims of the Husband and his supporters did turn out to be true but it would make more sense to find all this out before the plug was pulled."
Yeah, they should have done an autopsy on her while she was still alive
Seems like the following was forgotten a long time ago!
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05061406.html
Scientists Create Brain Cells, Predict Possible Rapid Development of Treatments for Alzheimers and Parkinsons
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - American researchers have found a method of growing batches, or lines, of fully mature brain cells. This has often been predicted as the end of such neurological diseases as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and Huntingtons. The ethical new technique mimics the brains own natural process of changing stem cells into neurons. For the moment, the research has .............................................
Yeah, but won't you really be miserable while you are still here? Who wants to be fat? You could also end up with a heart attack or a stroke and wind up disabled.
before we had our tete-a-tete
You don't have a tete to have a tete-a-tete with.
What God joins together let no man separate. Thats fine and dandy except you forgot the part about sticking it through while in sickness and in health.
You are sure right about that!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the 9-11 victims are dead, too. Does this mean that we should stop fighting terrorists?
BULLS EYE!!!! Way ta go EV. You hit the nail on the head.....
Live a long life!
I agree with you 100 percent. Being kept alive like some kind of a vivasectioned monkey or lab experiment is not in the least bit dignified. Ever watch Grumpy Old Men? The two old geezers were discussing the various deaths of their friends and envying the ones that died quick and painless while feeling sorry for the ones who had no dignity in their deaths.
PS. So sorry about your husband.
What was the decision in the Scott Thomas case? I didn't hear.
Yes I wonder how all of the priests and nuns and widows and widowers live without sex!
Yea, that's a REAL moral dilemma alright...NOT!
Grow up!
Give up what???
Ischemia is heart damage (tissue dealth) due to lack of oxygenation to the heart.
You clearly don't know what you'r talking about.
Terri's heart was very healthy.
You really have a thing for sex don't you??
It really isn't the most important thing to many.
It was postponed and as it stands now, the hearing is set for July 18th.
You'd understand. Besides, if she still has love for you then you'd probably come out ahead because she and her new hubby would take care of you.
The care facility that I had put a down payment, was a Godsend. The owner is an Episcopalian Eucharistic minister, and his gf is a nurse practitioner. They found a loophole in the hospice regulations, and we busted my mom out of there at night. She spent her last year, taken care of wonderfully. Unfortunately, due to the lack of care, she never was able to walk again. However, she ate what the Filipino nurses cooked for themselves. She actually started gaining too much weight. I would bring by goodies for all the ladies, because Mom was the only one who had visitors.
Anyway, I have a different point of view. If all you need is a feeding tube, so what???? We mortals have no business trying to discern a person's wishes. Terri only had a feeding tube. Her "husband" decided, after he got the malpractice money, that she didn't want to live like that. Ahem....
Do you get it, yet??????
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.