Posted on 09/03/2007 12:31:29 PM PDT by wagglebee
There, fixed it for you. Also, I've noticed that most assisted suicide advocates pretend we live in a world where palliative care is non-existent, and where there is no moral distinction between letting death happen and making the doctor a killer.
Ex-hippie, you are ill-informed and may even have been lied to.
My wife, an RN who often works with dying patients, says the following to you:
"It is nearly impossible in the current medical environment for a terminal patient to be suffering because a doctor is unable to or afraid to prescribe the medication they need. The only time I see patients in unnecessary pain is when family members directing their care believe that we are using the pain meds to 'control' the patient and make their care easier on us. Otherwise, if I call the doctor and tell them the current med level isn't controlling the patient's pain, they will prescribe more or different meds, period. In the rare cases where we have a crappy doctor who won't do so I can refer the matter to my nursing supervisor, who refers it to the doctor's chief, and the problem will get solved. The patient in agony because of government controls or a lack of legalized assisted suicide is simply not a factor in real-world care."
See post 143. Sorry I forgot to include you.
Then by all means, let's remake our society. See post 139, it's for you too.
Sorry, but I would rather have my family see me peacefully brought to an end, then having them find my head blown off with a shotgun as you suggested.
Well, I would rather we didn't change the legal and medical system so that we're giving non compis mentis individuals the power to make momentous and irreversible decisions. I will not have people destroy my freedoms so they can have the delusion that they are guaranteed a dignified death. The only dignity in death is to face it bravely.
Can we agree upon the following?
- As long as Kevorkian is a free citizen not subject to legal sanctions, not imprisoned nor under probation supervision, he is free to speak as he wishes. Same as anyone else who enjoys the first-amendment protection of free speech. Same as you or I.
- Any organization is free to choose to pay him to speak, or to choose not to. Same 1A protection. If the speaker fees are paid with taxpayer funds, then there if a good argument hat any Florida taxpayer has grounds to argue against.
- The Schindler family has at least as many free-speech rights as Kevorkian has. Kevorkian has a right to voice his opinion, and the Schnindlers have a right to voice theirs. Any organization has a right to book him to speak, and anyone has a right to tell them they shouldn’t.
So this is not a debate about rights. It is a debate about choices. Some group of people chose to book Kevorkian, and some other folks oppose that. There is no travesty here. This is the system working as it’s supposed to.
Independent of the above, I will note that Kevorkian is famous for helping people die — or killing people, if you prefer — who stated, clearly, that they wanted to die.That is is a different matter from people who were not able to form or express an intent. People like, for example, Terri Schiavo.
My understanding is that Kevorkian acted on informed consent. If I am mistaken, please enlighten me.
thank you for that post. I will take it into consideration now.
Thank you for this excellant clarifying post. You are correct..this is about choices..and I do agree he should not be paid,and certainly not with tax funds.
Your entire post is very articulate.
Its collage with young adults not grade school I would hope the young adults can make up their own minds to attend or not attend Dr K.talks
He said he wasnt going to do any of this again, where is the statement by him he wants to continue with his machines?
Thanks. What the article doesn’t include is who’s paying the freight.
When I was in college, there was a $30 “activity fee” per semester per student, to be divvied up by the student government. With all the other costs, sixty bucks barely attracted any notice — but even with a modest 10,000 students, that’s 600 grand a year, every year.
UF is a much bigger school, and even if the fees are lower they’re playing with a much bigger budget. I don’t know that the university administration is paying for this appearance, other than having built the facility. My first guess would be that Kevorkian is getting paid by the SGA, which was elected by the few students who woke up early enough to vote, or frankly gave a good damn.
I'm waiting until Costco has Michael's book and OJ Simpson's "If I Did It" book in a special two-pack for 99 cents.
My understanding is that Kevorkian acted on informed consent.
Many of his victims were simply depressed, a person suffering from severe depression is demonstrably incapable of giving informed consent about their future. There have also been reports that at least one of his victims tried to back out once the procedure was started and that Dr. Death did not allow it.
I am pretty sure the EVERY murderer who has ever been released from prison without serving their full term made a "promise" not to commit any more murders.
wow...sad, but then Antioch College in the sixites donated their student fund to the black Panthers. ha. I beleive the college is now closed.
Taxpayers should not pay for Dr. Death’s speech.
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