Jack Kevorkian

[jtdestin]

I'm all about, let people do whatever they want to do. Nowadays, you can't fart without having permission to do so. A women wants an abortion, it's her choice. An old man with late stage cancer wants to choose when/how to die, it's his choice. A gay man wants to marry his long time lover, it's his choice. I don't understand people and that's probably why I'm getting meaner as I get older, people just piss me off all the time trying to dictate someone's life.

Don't get me started me lazy nurses and asshole doctors in hospitals and nursing homes. Those people need a serious awakening. My mother in law has been between hospitals and nursing homes since July. She's pretty much gone but because she's a tough woman, she's hanging on. Nowadays, she just opens her eyes, staring at the ceiling, barely reacting to anything. She has gangrene on a foot which is now solidified, it looks like a tree. She has probably 20 different infections, and so on. Because of the nurses not doing their job, my ex had to quit his job in order to take care of her. I'm personally paying a nurse to be with her 12 hours every night. Which leaves me, on top of that, with having to take care of all the bills/mortgage on my own, not mentioning my personal loans. All that because nurses just don't care. Back in July, My mother in law stayed the whole day bathing in her own shit because the nurses didn't change her diapers. Yes we have to change her diaper every 2 hours, which resulted of her getting an infection down there which hasn't fully healed in 8 fucking months. Oh did I mention she has alzheimer too and clots in her blood up the wazoo that she's had 5 strokes in 10 months. I love her so much that it pains me to see her like that, but I'll do anything for anybody I love, so I'll do whatever I can for her, no regrets whatsoever.

Why Am I telling this story here, because I'm fucking pissed off. People just don't care anymore. We're living in a time where everybody just bitch and bitch and bitch. There is less and less caring. If nurses would do their jobs, a lot of problems could be avoided, and people could live the rest of their life with less suffering. So yeah, I'm grateful that there are doctors like Kevorkian that can help people to die in peace.

Now who can make the choice? The sick person himself or can someone else make the choice? Quite frankly, I don't know what the law says about assisted suicide. If a sick person makes the choice, to me it's assisted suicide, but if someone else makes the choice, then I feel like it's assisted murder. Where is the line? I'm not sure.

Personally, we could never make the choice for her. But we just wished the nurses/doctors would have more compassion which would result in less people wanting to use the service of a dr Kevorkian. Just my 2 cents.

scorpio
My Thoughts and Heart go out to you and your mother in law and the battle you have to wage to care for someone you love!
I was left to care for my Father and Mother before they passed. Both needed 24hr. care and it was a sad sad sight seeing people that were strong free spirets all there lives waisting away due to Alzheimers.

I went through many nurses and Doctors before finding ones i trusted and who cared. I sold and morgaged everything i had to pay for the care. It was worth every dime to know they were getting the care they needed.
So I understand a little of what your feeling.
Its ironic they were 6 months apart in age and died 6 months apart to the day..

 

[juanjo]

Scorpio - please accept my sympathies for the trials your mother-in-law is going through. Having taken care of two close friends and 3 relatives who died of chronic diseases including AIDS I know what an emotionally and physically taxing task that is. I cannot speak for your experience but I know that the nurses and doctors I worked with during that time period were very hard working and caring professionals. I know not all people are and I regret that you have found yourself in a situation where your experience has been made more difficult because of that fact.

In the course of my career I have represented clients in situations where people because of exposure to toxins in their work places died of cancer or other diseases. Each person approaches death in their own manner and it is a highly personal situation which cannot be generalized. Some wished to be kept alive as long as possible while others wanted to die quickly and painlessly as possible. Several I am certain chose to use some form of assisted suicide to end their lives earlier than they otherwise would have died. I cannot say I blame them and I certainly do not judge them.

Dr. Kervorkian was a deliberately provocative person and I think that was calculated but not altogether self serving. I have heard him speak in interviews in the past and I think he spoke out of compassion for his patients who were terminally ill. By being as provocative as he was he forced people to pay attention to a very difficult issue that most people would just as soon never discuss much less address.

I personally believe that all life is sacred. But I also recognize that people may have very specific reasons where because of terminal illness they wish to die in a quicker and less painful manner than they might otherwise if nature were allowed to take its course. So long as it is their choice and it is freely made, I will always respect that choice. I cannot say what I would do in their situation and I hope to never be in that situation.

I would take this opportunity to urge people here however to consider the issue somewhat on a personal level and make out a living will or other medical directive form as allowed in their various state or province. It is not a pleasant situation but if you wish to have your own desires in such a situation carried out, it is important that you do so. It is equally important that you ensure your medical professionals and close family and friends know of the existence of these directives and your thought s on the matter.

 

[juanjo]

Life starts with conception science as proved it.

Actually that is a bit of sophistry. Science does not prove that the protoplasm that might after 9 months gestation become an independent human being, is an independent, sentient being at conception. That is a religious opinion developed by a monk in North Africa in the 5th Century. It is not biblical nor is it supported by any real science.

This really is not that topic header for this discussion.

 

[tim114]

When it comes to the "end of life decision," there are a lot of Dr. Kovortian's out there. When it gets to this point, you are probably going to have a conversation with a doctor or doctors. When there is no hope of a cure, then often medical treatment is stopped and drugs are used to make the patient as comfortable as possible. These decisions are made every day. I am not sure what point Dr. Kovortian was trying to make.

Tim