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#1 (permalink) | |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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I'm going to die on Monday at 6.15pm
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Earlier this year, I spoke to my aunt who was passing away from cancer. Towards the end it was hard to keep up the phone calls to her because she was just incoherent and sometimes beligerent. I just had to bear with it, and sometimes I just didn't have the fortitude to do so. She never admitted that she was in pain to any family members. After she passed away, I found out that she only told her first husband how much pain she was really in. I'm very partial to Les Invasions Barbares and how that transpired. I won't give away the story, maybe after you watch it you may change your mind as to how to choose your own death.
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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. |
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#2 (permalink) |
Kick Ass Kunoichi
Location: Oregon
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My cousin in the Netherlands chose euthanasia after his stomach cancer came back and became terminal. He had a large family and he wanted to give them time to say goodbye. Here in Oregon it's also legal; the Oregonian newspaper did a special feature in 2007 on one of their researchers who chose assisted suicide: Lovelle Svart - Living to the End - The Oregonian
I believe it's a personal choice, and it's not my place to say whether or not another person should keep living. I couldn't say for myself whether I would choose it or not, as I think it's a bridge you have to cross when you come to it, but it's nice to know it's a choice.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
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#3 (permalink) |
sufferable
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I knew Lovelle for many years, through the end.
She had hardships, but left us in the manner she chose and was most comfortable with. And she left us better. She made sure she did.
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As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons...be cheerful; strive for happiness - Desiderata |
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#5 (permalink) | |
Tone.
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Why is it that western society thinks we have to wait until we are a drooling mass of flesh, unable to do anything for ourselves, before we are finally allowed to die? At the end, my father couldn't do anything except type, slowly, with one finger. He couldn't bathe himself, couldn't get on the toilet by himself, couldn't wipe when he was done, someone had to feed him and clothe him. He couldn't even sleep in a bed because if he had to use the toilet during the night lifting him from the bed to his wheelchair and then from the wheelchair to the toilet would take too long and he wouldn't make it. Instead he slept in his wheelchair. And even then, he didn't always make it. He'd sleep in an 80 degree room under 4 blankets, wearing mittens and a wool hat because all of his voluntary muscles were virtually gone, so he couldn't generate enough heat to keep him warm. He coughed and choked constantly because his pharyngeal sphincter wasn't strong enough to keep his saliva from being aspirated into his lungs (in fact, that's what gave him the pneumonia that led to his death). All his food had to be cut or mashed up into tiny little pieces or he'd choke on it. The fork was almost too heavy for him to lift to his mouth, and he had to have a special fork like little kids use, with a very thick handle, because his fingers couldn't grip a normal fork. He couldn't go far from home because even handicapped public bathrooms couldn't accommodate what he needed - they don't have lifts in places like that. So there he was, trapped in his own body, never leaving his wheelchair, choking and unable to move, this former college track star and Vietnam veteran who once had thigh muscles like tree trunks and was known as "Fast Eddie." Unable to even hug his wife because he couldn't lift his arms, unable to sleep in the same bed with her, unable to even pet his dogs. A broken shadow of what he had been, utterly miserable and wishing it would end. Where is the justice or compassion in forcing people to live like that? |
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#6 (permalink) |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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what is the definition of "too alive"? at what point does one consider the definition of "quality of life"?
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. |
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#8 (permalink) | |
Kick Ass Kunoichi
Location: Oregon
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Quote:
And shakran, thank you for sharing.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
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#9 (permalink) |
Crazy
Location: Juneau, Alaska
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I think this is a very personal choice that only the affected person could possibly decide on. What one person says now while in full health and peak physical condition could be completely different as they feel their body shutting down from a terminal illness. I, personally, believe I would choose euthanasia if I was dying and could not care for myself, but I cannot say that for certain until I was faced with the decision.
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#10 (permalink) |
Unencapsulated
Location: Kittyville
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I have seen this happen to my own family, thankfully not quite as prolonged as it seems to have been in Shakran's family... and I see no reason why anyone should have to "live" like this. I would rather knowingly choose the manner of my death than to have that kind of incapacitation, with my family's last memories tainted by what I had become, and not who I had been.
While it would have been nice for this guy's family had his mom not gone a bit OCD in the end, at least they got to say goodbye properly, and didn't have to watch her completely deteriorate.
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My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'. |
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Tags |
die, euthanasia, monday, right to die |
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