8mm
Posted on 03/26/2008 5:09:13 PM PDT by wagglebee
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, longtime hosts of the chatty television program "The View," praised Jack Kevorkian in a recent episode. Following news that Kevorkian has planned a Congressional bid, they praised him for killing more than 130 people in assisted suicides and murdering a disabled patient.
Kevorkian, a convicted murderer and assisted suicide crusader, made his candidacy for a Detroit-area Congressional seat official on Monday.
Justin McCarthy, a news analyst at Media Research Center, noted the comments from "The View" hosts in a recent post on MRC's blog Newsbusters.
Goldberg said she’s a "big fan" of Kevorkian "because he believed that he could help people who were in, in a place where no one was helping them."
"Euthanasia, like race, is one of those things nobody wants to talk about. It makes people very uncomfortable. I think euthanasia is, is an important thing and it should be there for people to make that decision if they chose to," she said.
Goldberg did not mention her belief about involuntary euthanasia, where patients are frequently killed by family members or medical staff without their knowledge or consent.
Joy Behar wondered: "Why is he a bad guy? I don't understand it...it’s over my head somewhere."
She went further than Goldberg in defending Kevorkian's killing a disabled patient.
Kevorkian has admitted to killing more than 130 people, including the televised death of Thomas Youk, netting him a 25-year prison sentence.
"He helped a guy who had Lou Gehrig’s disease, take himself out of this world because the guy was in excruciating terror," Behar said in defending the murder that landed Kevorkian in jail for several years before his parole.
"The thing about Kevorkian is that I don't consider him a bad guy," she concluded.
During the show, Sherri Shepherd cracked a few crass jokes -- most notably about how Kevorkian could help presidential candidate John McCain with "an exit strategy."
As is typically the case, pro-life host Elisabeth Hasselbeck was the only one to speak up for the moral or ethical position on the bioethics question.
"The lines get blurry if you're dealing with someone who’s life is almost in control, in someone else’s hands," she said. "You know, there are a lot of things. There are a lot of gray areas in that whole conversation."
Hasslebeck said she was worried about people who have control of the finances of a patient wanting to end their lives in order to inherit their possessions.
ACTION: Send your complaints to The View by going to this web site.
Especially if you “fit the profile” of those whom they deem unsuitable for medical care.
Or simply hold religious and/or political beliefs that are not considered "progressive" enough.
Simple solution: control your own finances.
What happens when a person is in the early stages of dementia and their family has them declared incompetent to handle their own finances?
Good post. That’s what I’m afraid of, too.
I was the primary caregiver for my mom and she begged me to make the pain stop - she suffered in pain for so long and finally couldn’t do it anymore. I called hospice that morning, after she asked me to make the pain stop, and they came a few hours later and she had morphine that night. She hadn’t been on hospice prior to that day. She died less than 48 hours later. She was dying and the morphine just helped the pain. She was conscious throughout but wasn’t in pain anymore.
I worry about those who aren’t dying. I didn’t know all the details of the Terri Schiavo situation until last year when I read them here.
Everything I’ve read on Kevorkian (sp) just doesn’t seem right.
Humblegunner, the last time someone shot you all it did was make you angry. Then it REALLY got messy!
The next magazine had him blubbering like a baby!
He won’t put that on YouTube!
Dumb punks used an inferior caliber.
And didn't make good shots.
They weren't Rifle Team material.
;-)
I don’t listen to anyone who’s named after flatulence noises. And she’s as stupid as she is ugly.
My condolences about your mother. I’m sure that she really appreciated all the care you gave to her.
Thank you.
I’m just saying that those who are dying may need pain meds to make it easier, ease the pain. Dying can be really painful from what I’ve heard.
The whole Kevorkian thing makes me uneasy because it makes taking a life ok. Like you posted, it makes a right to die a duty to die, especially when the gov’t/national healthcare is involved.
I’m probably not making myself clear here but I’m trying. My mom was almost 86 and she was dying and just needed morphine to ease her pain. She thought she could do the pain without any help/meds, and did for close to a year, then that Friday morning asked me to make the pain stop so I called hospice, put her on hospice to get the morphine. She lived with us and died at home.
The thing is, it’s how it affects the person pulling the trigger or starting the drip or whatever. Suicide is the ultimate selfish act and asking someone else to participate makes it even more selfish. So the question is, does anything justify that degree of narcissistic selfishness?
The organ that failed on my mom was her skin. She had pain all over her body. She was in hospice and so was able to have morphine. We were told to keep it at a level where she didn’t have pain. We/actually I, did. I’m sure that had she not had the morphine she would have lived longer and certainly have had excruciating pain. The morphine let her relax and her last words were to Jesus, “open up this door and let me in.” I still wonder if I gave her too many of those little straws. But I’m at peace with it. God created the poppy for this reason. She was happy and at peace when she died.
I was on the phone the entire weekend with the hospice nurses making sure I wasn’t giving her too much morphine. That Sunday, a nurse came and I asked how long does she have and the nurse was hesitant to tell me (didn’t know I really wanted the truth) but told me she’d probably be back before the next day. She was back 2 hours later. But, before she left, she told me to pray the rosary with my mom like I planned (because she knew she wasn’t going to make it much longer).
We did. We said the rosary aloud and honest to God, when it was done, my mom looked at me and said Thank you, I love you. And died.
That Friday afternoon, my husband called the rectory and our favorite priest came to give her last rites and Communion. She said (when she saw him) that she had been waiting for him to come. That was also the day I called hospice and the social worker was here when the priest got here. She also participated in the last rites. My mom couldn’t swallow the host so when she spit it out I had to bury it in the backyard.
I doubt you gave her too much. The hospice nurses kept telling me I couldn’t give her too much. The dosage was too low.
Morphine works best ;) The drops. I’d want the liquid morphine.
I ain’t into pain.
The family or whoever is then in control of the finances then carries the power that comes with control over those finances.
Best for the person in question to have already made a will delineating who gets what, and when.
You’re making yourself quite clear — sorry if I made it seem otherwise. I agree completely with doing what it takes to manage pain.
Thanks for sharing that. I’ve been involved in the last few moments now of four people who have died good deaths. My father’s last conscious act was folding his hands during his last rites. I prayed the rosary daily with a dear friend who was in a coma in hospice. Her eyes were open and I placed a large rosary with carved beads in her hand and she wasn’t able to move from one bead to the next but her fingers constantly rubbed that one bead. Another friend was surrounded by friends and family who told him he would pull through. This was a man who had lived five years with leuchimia after his docs told him he had 3 years to live. Every one now was in denial. He said, “you know, the doctors tell me I’m going to die.” I told him, Bill - yes you are and God loves you and is going to take you home.” Then this man who was not religious, called his one friend who was (besides me) and started arranging his funeral. His wife was amazed because he had refused to do so before. He died about an hour later.
Best for the person in question to have already made a will delineating who gets what, and when.
Your original response was regarding concerns that relatives will kill a person off so that they can inherit their money, you said to keep control of your own finances.
When I brought up cases where this becomes impossible, you said to go ahead and trust the family.
What if family members who you have trusted then decided to kill you off? Or does that not concern you?
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