Posted on 09/23/2008 3:16:55 PM PDT by markomalley
In the YouTube video, Angelique Flowers, propped up with pillows, speaks just above a whisper – but her words are strong.
"The law wouldn't let a dog suffer the agony I'm going through before an inevitable death. It would be put down. Yet under the law, my life is worth less than a dog's," says Flowers, 31, in her poignant plea to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to legalize euthanasia.
Flowers, a writer who has suffered with debilitating Crohn's disease for 16 years, died in August after she was diagnosed in May with advanced, aggressive colon cancer.
She spent much of those final, precious months on the Internet searching for ways to kill herself. All she wanted, she says in the video, is a pain-free, peaceful death.
Every so often, a profoundly sad story sparks public and political debate about the ethics of death. In Australia, following Flowers' video, the leader of the Greens introduced a bill this week that would allow the country's territories to legalize euthanasia.
In Canada, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not issues in the election campaign, but they contentiously loom on the political horizon.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
If she really wanted to off herself, she could.
No reason to write a law.
Agreed, there are a lot of ways to kill one self. I am sorry she was ill and in a lot of pain. However legalizing suicide is not the way to ease the pain of sick people.
“She could just move to the Netherlands.”
Yep, nothing to it for the terminally ill.
I had a colleague ask me if I would have it (euthanasia) performed on myself. I answered thusly: "I took an Oath, and so did you, to first do no harm and then to practice my art and science for the betterment of mankind. I take that oath seriously, as should you. I am, as you know, a religious man. When God takes me He knows that I can no longer help my patients, or He needs me in Heaven. Until that time I will practice medicine because God brought me to this profession in the first place". My esteemed colleague made no remarks. Some people don't like to be remained of their solemn oath. I take it seriously, and I have for some 30 years.
There is no pain more intense than losing a patient. If any doctor tells you different they are either lying or they have no fricking clue and they are in medicine for all the wrong reasons. I've seen these idiots and I wouldn't let them work on my dog.
Be careful now days, there is not much out there in what used to be medicine, but there is better medicine, if we let it work. Purging done!
Yup, that's what I said. Nothing to it.
(Ever hear of an air ambulance?)
Euthanasia is a sign of a dying society. See this Daily Mail article for just one example of why. Legalize euthanasia and societal mores will change (as they have EVERYPLACE where it has been legalized).
Why stop with the terminally ill? I mean, we’re all terminal anyway, aren’t we? If the woman suffered, really suffered so much with Chron’s Disease for 16 yrs., wouldn’t it have been more compasionate to euthanise her after no more than 10 yrs of suffering? Why not 5 yrs? So why is the terminality of disease the criterion here? If they’re going die soon anyway, wouldn’t it be more compasionate to focus on those suffering with a long-term incurable illness? Why let it go until she came down with colon cancer? Think of the money they could have saved on her care.
“(Ever hear of an air ambulance?) Nothing to it.”
Nothing but a $60,000-$70,000 price tag.
So? Mortgage your house. Mortgage your dog. Not like you'll have to worry about paying it back.
Or, if you are too cheap or unresourceful for that, get two tablets of phenergan and a bottle of Oxycontin 60mg (total cost: less than $100...cheaper if you have socialized medicine).
She could hold a remote control. She could swallow some pills.
The point is, if she really wanted to off herself, she could do so easily. No laws or state sanction needed. If she didn't have the guts to off herself, she wouldn't have the guts to actually sign the paperwork to authorize euthanasia. So does she want somebody else to make the decision?
In most places in the world, that's called murder.
“A psychogeriatric consultant, she sees elderly patients who are not getting sufficient pain medication and dying patients who choose to starve as the only way to end their suffering.”
This is the essence of the problem. The restrictive drug laws in America scare the heck out of doctors who want to provide for their pain patients.
I’ve seen doctors in hospitals refuse to give enough pain med to dying folks “because they might die”, and we all know what happens to doctors that provide “too much” narcotics.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
The solution is hospice.
I don’t know if Australia has it but this is the solution.
No reason even to do all that...I don’t know about Australia but I’d like to believe they have hospice.
The solution is hospice.
I don’t know if Australia has it but this is the solution.
“get two tablets of phenergan and a bottle of Oxycontin 60mg (total cost: less than $100...cheaper if you have socialized medicine)...”
Absolutely, if you can get your hands on the right pills. The medical ambulance idea is out of reach for most people, and it has nothing lack of resourcefulness or being too cheap. Many people have already mortgaged their house to pay for medical treatment for themselves or a family member long before the end stage arrives. Been there, done that.
Oxycontin is very common.
The bottom line is that if you want to off yourself, you can do so. Nobody can stop you. No drugs, use Carbon Monoxide. No car, use a gun. No gun, use a knife. No knife, use a rope. No rope, use a bedsheet.
But there is a world of difference between you killing yourself and having the State sanction somebody else killing you (as so-called "mercy.") If somebody wants to kill himself, that's his business. I would pray that the person would not want to do so and would pray that God would heal the person's heart so as to remove any egocentric desire (yes, I said egocentric desire) to do so. But if a person is that self-centered, so be it.
Been there, done that.
Yup. My dad was diagnosed as terminal with six months to live...about 14 years before he actually died. All of their life savings were gone when he finally died. I bought their house so that they couldn't get kicked out of it to pay for the medical bills.
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.