Why isn't assisted suicide legal for the elderly...

[Under The Radar]

…if Governors can recommend animal dewormer to the general public of his state for a virus treatment?

[MLAA]

1. Excellent question!

[HAB911]

2. Religion

must be the basis, no rational argument exists.

[Auggie]

15. And health care, I'd imagine. There's a lot of cash in prolonging life.

[HAB911]

22. OH YEAH

big business in dragging it out at ALL COST

[RKP5637]

3. I've always understood it to be a god thing. God doesn't like what is considered

to be suicide or some damn nonsense. And this has tainted laws. Also, there has always been a concern about framing someone to die.

[multigraincracker]

6. I'll keep searching...

There is always a loop hole.

[RKP5637]

11. In Washington state it is legal under certain conditions - here's a link ...

https://www.doh.wa.gov/youandyourfamily/illnessanddisease/deathwithdignityact

[yonder]

19. Oregon is another. Maybe more too.

[multigraincracker]

20. I'm lucky.

All I have to do is place a magnet on my pacemaker when I go to bed. I think it works that way, but need to do more research.

[meadowlander]

32. It also potentially ripe for abuse when you're talking about people w/ diminished mental capacity.

I support doctor-assisted suicide but I can see how it's a really difficult call to make where, for example, someone has Alzheimers and is sometimes lucid and often not. When you throw in inheritances and relatives who may simply be exhausted and at the breaking point while the patient still wants to live but doesn't want to be a burden, it becomes a really difficult and potentially shady call to make.

You can also have people with severe depression who are suicidal in a moment but could potentially with treatment decide later that they wanted to live.

I don't think it should be a blanket allowance and the conditions need to be carefully defined. Even then it's really difficult to regulate because the key factor is the state of mind of the one person who potentially won't be around later to clarify.

[RKP5637]

41. Yes, these are all excellent points!!! n/t

[Buckeyeblue]

59. I don't understand life-proling care for someone with advanced alzheimers

That seems cruel to me.

[multigraincracker]

4. Great response

for those that broach the subject.
Thanks.

[multigraincracker]

7. Found it. It's call

Hospice.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. How is Hospice assisted suicide?

[multigraincracker]

14. Failure to provide medical treatment.

Could have kept them alive another 6 months. But, no just let em die.

[Under The Radar]

27. I am sure there are treatments to keep me alive for a couple of years...

…if I would sell all of the assets that I sent a lifetime obtaining so that I could afford those treatments…that leaves my family except the debt of my burial. Plus the two years are spent in sickness and pain.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. I've worked with Hospice patients and they get plenty of medical treatment.

It's just that the focus is on keeping them as comfortable as possible rather than aggressive and futile attempts to force their bodies to keep going, even with no possibility for meaningful survival.

I've seen Hospice patients get treated for UTIs and dental issues, and anything else that affects their comfort and quality of life. I've seen them get as much supplemental O2 as it's possible to give them without invasive procedures such as intubation.

And they are the ones calling the shots, as long as they have the ability, and always have the option to leave Hospice and go back to more aggressive treatment.

If you want to live in an alternative reality where that's the same thing as killing someone you're free to. It still doesn't change things for people who actually want to die before their disease runs its full course, which is what this thread is about.

[multigraincracker]

31. I only look for loop holes in the Scriptures.

I don’t judge them. I am an Atheist, but try to be a nice one. I put humans before Gods.

[multigraincracker]

33. My GF is a RN

and has worked many years for Hospice. When the doctor suggested Hospice for her mother, she took 5 years off work to give her a wonderful 5 years more.

[meadowlander]

34. Hospice isn't really the same thing.

Hospice is when you've reached the point of diminishing returns with treatment or where there are no longer any available treatments and the focus shifts to palliative care (keeping the person comfortable or at least out of physical pain) rather than trying to solve the problems or just sustain life without quality of life.

My dad was in hospice for nine days before he passed away. He said his goodbyes in the first three and the last six were just an excruciating waiting game for everyone involved. I'm sure if he had the option, he would have preferred to just get a shot while the family was there to hold his hand and then just have it over in an hour or two. That's doctor assisted suicide.

It's the slow waiting around after the decision has already been made which I think can be cruel and unnecessary for everyone involved.

[Mr.Bill]

44. I won't say where I got this information.

Hospice Nurses won't actively euthanize patients, but they will leave the family with the tools to do it themselves. And reverse instructions, such as don't give here more than two of these pills every three hours, or you may risk stopping the heart.

It happens, and it's been happening for years.

[onetexan]

48. I don't doubt it, and im glad they do given it's best to kick the door shut rather than needlessly

Prolonging a dying person's suffering. My views of euthanasia, or as i would rather call it - personal choice ending - is dying with dignity.

[nancy1942]

57. Yes it does. Thankfully.

[Mariana]

58. My dad died on home hospice care last April.

Afterward, when the nurse came, one of her duties was to see to his remaining drugs. She measured that morphine very carefully and wrote down how much was still in the bottle, before she disposed of it. My mother noticed her doing that too and asked me about it. I told her "I think she was trying to make sure we didn't euthanize him."

[Mr.Bill]

61. There are very strict rules about inventorying certain drugs.

At the shift change at the nursing station in a hospital, the drug cart rolls out and everything is counted and signed off by the charge nurse of each shift. Lots of documentation everywhere the druga are stored or used.

[PortTack]

5. Right or wrong ..it's very difficult for family, even when elderly

[Under The Radar]

18. It is all about quality of life. Stand in my shoes

[Revanchist]

21. Wife's dead, no kids

Once my parents pass there will be no one to care if I decide to commit suicide

[onetexan]

49. Thats why it's important to discuss these things well in advance with your family

And have legal instruments - will, living revocable trust, power of attorney -prepared so that when comes time everyone is clear what needs to be done.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. I believe that two states have legalized this for anyone with a terminal illness.

Oregon did it first and now California.

There were a lot of protests in both places. It's incomprehensible to me. People were saying that the person could be pushed into taking the medication against their will, and there are safeguards in the law to prevent that.

And there were other arguments against.

I just don't get it.

[onetexan]

50. In Japan &other countries its legal to die w dignity

The conservative right has & continues to impose their unfounded beliefs on the rest of us.

[drray23]

9. Probably because it could be abused

Coax Grandma to suicide so you can inherit..

[HAB911]

23. there is a bit of that for sure

[Under The Radar]

24. Healthcare expenses force me to go into debt to stay alive

[RobertDevereaux]

10. In a few states, Death with Dignity is indeed allowed.

Colorado became one of them about two years ago. Oregon is another, I believe. There may be more.

There are rules around it to safeguard against abuse, which makes sense.

Let's hope more states come on board.

[RobertDevereaux]

13. The rundown...

"Death with dignity laws allow qualified terminally-ill adults to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to hasten their death. As of April 2021, aid in dying statutes have been passed in: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington."

https://deathwithdignity.org/learn/access/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. Thanks for the list, my dear RobertDevereaux!

I hadn't realized that there were so many. That's great.

[Under The Radar]

25. How is terminally ill defined in that statute?

[RobertDevereaux]

30. Details for Colorado are here.

https://deathwithdignity.org/states/colorado/

I think we used some of what Oregon had already devised.

[meadowlander]

38. New Zealand legalised it by referendum last year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide

"to qualify for legal assistance, individuals who seek a physician-assisted suicide must meet certain criteria, including: having a terminal illness, proving they are of sound mind, voluntarily and repeatedly expressing their wish to die, and taking the specified, lethal dose by their own hand."

[hlthe2b]

29. Requirements are onerous and time consuming. It has been my experience with three terminally ill

Last edited Sat Aug 28, 2021, 04:46 PM - Edit history (1)

in Colorado that by the time they qualified and had all the paperwork/examinations in order, they were too ill to take the oral medication, unable to keep it down (a typically nausea-inducing combination), or died on their own hours before attempting.

To my knowledge, no state has adopted a "Dr. Kevorkian"-type act that would allow injectable forms/doses of medication to be administered. (Obviously high doses of morphine and other drugs that are administered for interminable pain in the hospice setting can and frequently does end life, but intentional overdosing would be subject to consequences-- a gray zone--with implications)

[Doc Sportello]

17. We have euthanasia for our beloved pets and it is considered humane

Which it is. But "God forbid" we do the same for humans who are suffering.

[multigraincracker]

35. I've always said

When I get old and sick, take me to the vet.

[LeftInTX]

37. And when I'm dead, throw me in a dumpster..Burials/cremation cost too much!

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. Bury me in a burlap sack and plant a tree on top.

[multigraincracker]

46. Same here.

[LeftInTX]

39. Because euthansia for animals isn't always, "putting them out of suffering"

It is perfectly legal to shoot feral hogs and kill rats


It is also legal to put dangerous dogs and cats to sleep.

[Doc Sportello]

56. Not to the point but thanks anyway n/t

[True Dough]

26. I'm planning to punch my own ticket when the time comes

Barring that I wind up fully incapacitated in short order, I would elect to go with carbon monoxide poisoning. Ain't waiting for permission from no "authority."

[multigraincracker]

36. Laughing gas would be my choice.

But, that’s just me.

[jimfields33]

43. I think with electric cars, that form of dying will go away.

[True Dough]

45. Eventually

But there are going to be old, used gasoline-based cars available for a long time to come.

[jimfields33]

52. True. I hope you die peacefully in your sleep at a very acceptable age that you decide.

[True Dough]

54. Thank you, Jim

Me too. And you too. But I'm prepared for whatever.

[meadowlander]

53. Also barbecues and gas stoves/ovens.

It's not like internal combustion engines are the only common household source of carbon monoxide.

[True Dough]

55. Valid point, meadowlander

Plenty of options, really.

[A HERETIC I AM]

40. Because this country is full of puritanical hypocrites

[David__77]

47. Crazy that legal euthanasia could come before free of charge health care.

…

[area51]

60. We need assisted suicide in all 50 states as it's unlikely we'll ever

get healthcare as a basic human right.

[blueinredohio]

51. My sils mother lived with her for a little while then told her she was tired

of taking medicine and not being able to do anything so she was going to stop taking her medicine. Sil called her doctor and discussed it, the doc said then let her stop taking her medicine. She didn't live much longer.