SUSPENDED BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH

Kansas City Star ^ | Oct. 05, 2005 | DAVID BROOKS

[Prime Choice]

The Leftist's answer to this will be socialized medicine which will ultimately legitimize euthanasia and triage socialist medicine. This will, by its nature, force the elderly to hurry up with their dying so more socialist medical funds can be blown on AIDS patients.

That much is obvious.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Gee , thanks for sharing...I was in a pretty good mood tonite. Now I've really got something nice to think about as I drift off to sleep.

[jocon307]

How creepy, let's all kill ourselves now! Let's get a doctor to dose us!

At least all of us who know we won't go out like my grandmother did, at the age of 95, without a day in the hospital after age 70, with all her faculties intact, she just sat down on the couch one day, closed her eyes and died.

I've known several people who have passed on in just this way.

Not lost, but gone before.

May the dearly departed rest in peace, and may David Brooks get a real job someday.

[Texas Songwriter]

Damn, isn't everyone on the glidepath to death?

[Mr. Lucky]

I think dementia patients should be put to sleep, in a dignified way of course,

God can't possibly love them as much as he does movie stars or rock and roll singers.

[jocon307]

How creepy, let's all kill ourselves now! Let's get a doctor to dose us to death!

At least all of us who know for sure we won't go like my grandmother did. At age 95, without a day in the hospital after age 75, in full possession of her faculties, she just sat down one day, closed her eyes and died.

I've know several people who have died this way. May they and all the departed rest in peace. And may David Brooks get a real job someday.

[billorites]

Snuff 'em before they're born.

For their own good.

[Quick1]

Twenty percent of us, according to a Rand Corp. study, are going to get cancer or another rapidly debilitating condition, and we’ll be dead within a year of getting the disease.

So why can't I choose to die right now? Why must I be forced to live through the pain if I feel ready to meet my Maker?

[Chieftain]

Rand Corporation = liberal think tank. Go figure.

[Grizzled Bear]

Oh well. We will all die. How many of us know how to live?

Think about the Koranimals. They are eager to die for their demon-god.

Many Christians dream of a heroic death for the true God.

How many of you are willing to live for God? Think about what that statement really means.

Sorry for wandering so far off topic. I'm heading to the corner for my time-out.

[fizziwig]

This is interesting considering the near fanatical anti smoking crusade we have been subjected to for the last 50 years.....the goal being to prolong life so we can then die of some horrific old age disease.

What a trap we are in....woe is me human lifespans are so short, lets lenghthen them....oops, woe is me human lifepans are too long now....what do we do?

I truly believe there is a large segment of human beings that simply do not know how to be happy and content, and they never will. You could send them to heaven and they would find something to worry about or bring them misery in some way.

[neverdem]

May the dearly departed rest in peace, and may David Brooks get a real job someday.

LOL!

"The report argues strongly against living wills and advanced directives, against individuals’ attempts to control their own treatments and deaths. It is more ethical and more effective, the council believes, to give a loved one the power of attorney to make medical decisions for you, and so acknowledge your own dependence."

I know it's a depressing topic, but that take home point is on the money. Unless living wills and advanced directives have every 'i' dotted and 't' crossed and have anticipated every possibility, give someone a medical power of attorney. The medical staff and family won't be faced with dilemmas.

[neodad]

could send them to heaven and they would find something to worry about or bring them misery in some way.

Only if by some miracle my ex-wife is there.

[wizardoz]

I think dementia patients should be put to sleep, in a dignified way of course, God can't possibly love them as much as he does movie stars or rock and roll singers.

I'm surprised God can tell them apart. I can't. Wait... the stars and singers are the ones with the eyeliner, right?

[Txshep]

Why does Bill Clinton look so sickly? Especially lately. Do the Bushes know he is a dead man walking? Is that why they allow his vocal spewing of late against their family and this country?

He has little epidermal elasticity left, especially evident in the furrows of the forehead.

The ever present "crows feet" around Clinton's eyes, despite the facial use of creams indicates a major shrinkage of the supporting muscle tissue. Another sign of a malignant disease that infects and destroys the supportive tissue.

It looks like this Clinton hasn't long to live, therefore he is making as much press as he can at this juncture, good and bad just to have his sorry ass mentioned in the history books that may be written by the Socialist N.E.A. approved authors.

Another reason for the quick and efficient demise of at the least the N.E.A.

[LaineyDee]

Only if by some miracle my ex-wife is there.

Ohhhhh....Now THAT's NOT RIIIIGHT!

[LadyDoc]

The first person who used this argument to insist euthanasia should be given to the disabled/crippled/chronically ill was ....Plato in the Republic.

The dirty little secret is that primitive countries have younger disabled people...typhoid might have meant six months in bed. A broken leg, six months in bed and then dependent on your family the rest of your life...

It's just that the NYTimes has no experts on how people actually lived in those days...

[mabelkitty]

Don't look at me - I'm on the cancer or emphazema list.
I'm doing my part.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I think it was Jim Morrison who said that none of us are going to get out of here alive.