N4mddissent
Active Member
- Sep 30, 2008
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I appreciate your post Immanuel and admit I did not look up defintions prior to posting. That said, my mother suffered with Alzheimers for years before dying in June, 2008. She was bedridden for the final eight years of life, and had assisted suicide been available, she would surely have taken that option.
Given the definition of euthanasia you posted, my sister, father and I would have given the authority to her doctor for euthanasia years before her actual death. I am 100% my mother would have supported such a decision.
I support a patients right to choose, and believe it is not the business of lawmakers to deny such a right. If I (or my mother) had a written document that included a DNR - which she did and I do - why are we denied to take that decision one step farther?
I had a similar experience with my great grandfather who was bedridden for 5 years. In general I would support a person having the option, under certain conditions, to have assistance ending their life. But the situation you describe and I have experienced brings into question a situation where someone is mentally incapacitated.
I'm not sure what the answer is. It requires debate and discussion with both legal and medical experts. I'm uncomfortable with an earlier post that mentions "good" health care. If conditions were strictly defined where a minor or incapacitated person could be euthanized, then perhaps it is supportable. It would depend upon the defining conditions, and their specificity and force in law before I could approve.