Posted on 09/27/2014 1:46:14 PM PDT by NYer
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An elderly husband and wife have announced their plans to die in the world’s first ‘couple’ euthanasia – despite neither of them being terminally ill.
Instead the pair fear loneliness if the other one dies first from natural causes.
Identified only by their first names, Francis, 89, and Anne, 86, they have the support of their three adult children who say they would be unable to care for either parent if they became widowed.
The children have even gone so far as to find a practitioner willing to carry out the double killings on the grounds that the couple’s mental anguish constituted the unbearable suffering needed to legally justify euthanasia.
The couple, from Brussels, are receiving regular medical treatment for age-related ailments.
Francis has received treatment for prostate cancer for 20 years and is unable to spend a day without morphine and Anne is partially blind and almost totally deaf.
They always go out shopping together because they are both scared that one day the other will not return home.
They decided that life in a care home was not an option because of their fear they would end up bedridden without the strength to insist on euthanasia.
They are also afraid that a good retirement home would cost more than their combined pensions and that they would have to dig into their savings to afford it.
They planned to commit suicide on February 3 next year, their 64th wedding anniversary, by placing plastic bags over their heads after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
We want to go together because we both fear of the future,’ said Francis. ‘It’s as simple as this: we are afraid of what lies ahead.
‘Fear of being alone and above all, fear of the consequences of loneliness.’
He told Moustique, a Belgian online news service, that they eventually opted for euthanasia because they were too scared to attempt to commit suicide.
I was being sarcastic and making a sad joke, and as long as these people are alive they are of today’s people, I never said anything about a “generation”.
By the way, what years is the span that the “greatest generation” was born in?
” not the hurry hurry generation you seem to want to lump them in with.”
What on earth is the “hurry,hurry generation” ?
.
I don’t know. I didn’t see it that way, but I guess maybe. There does seem to be a lot of support (spoken and unspoken) in the media and entertainment industries for suicide, euthanasia, abortion…
Supporter also.
“we both fear of the future”
One of the consequences of the secularism that reigns in Belgium and so many other places is that without faith we can be overwhelmed by fear, thinking we’re all alone. The couple also are probably afraid of how cold their Post-Christian, utilitarian society is. Euthanasia is the logical outgrowth of abortion. The intelligentsia talk about how they evolve into higher beings without faith, but when they defend abortion and the like, all you notice is a bunch of FEARFUL what ifs.
wonder how much that knowledge had to do with their decision?
How wonderful to raise three kids - only to be told - shove off as soon as you need help...
"Well, our kids won't be there to help whichever one of us is left behind. They're not willing to help us live but willing to see us die. What's to live for?" -
"Notebook" went south for me when he shoves her off to a nursing home at her first stage of Alzheimer's. Seems he could have easily hired a live in aide - or a 'daytime aide' - allowing her much more time at home. He didn't even wait until the going got tough -
He checked himself into the same nursing home.
Never Mind
or "90 is the new 75"
Good point. Never thought of that. I think, though, that is counterbalanced by his choice to live there with her.
I like the whole movie until the very end, first, when they’re dancing he uncharacteristically panics when she loses it, and second, his inferred voluntary death thing.
Seems to me he went into her room to be near her as he had everyday of her illness. I didn’t have the feeling he went specifically to die with her.
Maybe not, but I didn’t like the strong inference and sympathy of doing so - consistent with our popular culture.
My husband hasn’t been the same since his stroke. Once in a while, he’ll start watching a documentary or something else that he used to enjoy before the stroke. For a little while, everything seems so normal. We have conversation. His speech is still messed up, but when he’s clear-headed, I can understand him. He understands things. It’s a real treat. And then he’ll turn on something like My Little Pony, and I’ve lost him again. I don’t always react the same way. I won’t bore you with the details, but I don’t think there is a characteristic reaction. We’ve been riding this roller coaster for six years, and every twist and turn still feels like the first time. When “Noah” panicked, I could relate. I don’t think you ever get used to it.
That’s the way it seemed to me too.
If you cannot run a marathon in less than 6 hours, run a mile in less than 7 minutes, bench press your body weight and touch your toes with your knees locked, you are wasting oxygen. Thanks for asking and I cannot do any of the above. Once upon a time, they were all easy. Now they’re not and only social norms and conventions force me to be a waster of oxygen !
Well, I guess I’m not politically correct then.
Ah, that Culture of Death again, where people become objects.
The best response to that question, is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
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