Hope For The Dying

[Loren Pechtel]

I hate to admit it, really it isn't something that should be funny but I giggle anyway when I think about it. I think about all the parents and grandparents who abused their kids and grandkids being scared of this assisted suicide stuff being "abused" and forced on them.

I wonder if there is actually a relationship--those that are afraid of it are that way because of what they did to their kids.

 

[BH]

I would not be surprised if that were the case Loren.

 

[TomC]

I would not be surprised if that were the case Loren.

I don't doubt that exists.
I'm much more concerned about the possibility of abuse. A person who is elderly and terminally ill might be surrounded by caring people.
But they might have people who have a vested interest in their death being sooner rather than later. Impatient heirs, insurance companies, there could well be plenty of folks who want Grandma to kick the bucket as soon as possible.
Tom

 

[DBT]

Love abounds.

 

[southernhybrid]

I would not be surprised if that were the case Loren.

I don't doubt that exists.
I'm much more concerned about the possibility of abuse. A person who is elderly and terminally ill might be surrounded by caring people.
But they might have people who have a vested interest in their death being sooner rather than later. Impatient heirs, insurance companies, there could well be plenty of folks who want Grandma to kick the bucket as soon as possible.
Tom

In the states in the US that have made assisted suicide legal, Grandma would have to be in her right mind and have at least one or in some cases more than one physician certify that she has no more than 6 months to live. I think it would be difficult to abuse these regulations, and I've had so many frail elderly patients in the past who told me they were ready to go and life no longer held any purpose for them. There are countries where euthanasia is far less regulated, but I'm not aware of whether or not these laws have caused any abuse.

Sometimes I think my sister hoped that our mom would die, but she was 97, had late stage dementia and was living in a nursing home, so she didn't have much quality of life, despite, imo, the nursing home was a good one. My sister would never have done anything to purposely help our mother die, despite knowing that our mom used to tell me that she never wanted to live so long. I would never have done anything to hurt her either. I still enjoyed doing FaceTime with her, despite knowing she wouldn't remember our conversations for more than a minute or two, if that, but she knew who I was right up to the end, when she got Covid and died shortly after recovering from it. Children aren't the ones who. have the power to choose euthanasia for a parent, so I don't see that happening, at least not under the current laws.

Based on my many years as a home health nurse, especially in the late 70s and 80s, I found giving aggressive end of life care to frail older adults who were often confused, including feeding tubes and in some cases respirators, to be far more abusive than allowing an older adult with a terminal medical condition to be eased out gently if that is their choice. We do it for our pets, who most of us think of as family members, why do we deny it to our human family members when they are endlessly suffering? That's just my opinion. I don't want to fight about it. It's just that I saw so much end of life suffering when I worked as a professional nurse.

 

[bilby]

The idea that legalised suicide will lead to significant numbers of murders is Roman Catholic Church propaganda.

People who want to murder elderly relatives already do so.

Those who don't, won't start doing so because the law changes to make it happen, as long as you can persuade two doctors that the lucid patient (who is telling them otherwise) that it is what their patient really wants.

It's a standard RCC slippery slope fallacy, and it's obviously irrational - but like all good propaganda, contains an emotional hook.