...no tricks here folks. I just want to know what yall think. I have to write an essay for or against this movement and I need some ideas...got to be a 4 page essay, so feel free to make your answers long and detailed please!
2007-01-08 06:35:59 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Yes, I do. If you are in pain and suffering, you should be allowed to end it as to not suffer and have your loved ones have to deal with a long drawn out period watching you deteriorate. It's death with dignity.
Oregon allows this:
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/faqs.shtml
Please read the articles as this will help you with the paper.
2007-01-08 06:44:30 · answer #1 · answered by Joe S 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hi! Well, your parents are the ones who gave you life (controlled), so you should have the right to take away that life (controlled). I think if you want to go to Heaven, then you have the right to. Do you really think that our Maker would want you to remain Earthbound if you were suffering and had no quality of life? No, He wouldn't do this to us. He loves us all. Why should we let another mortal choose when we should die? He didn't make us! For what reason would a mortal act as if he were GOD? He/she may feel SOMEWHAT sympathetic, but he can't make any rules. I don't believe the hypocratic oath says to keep people alive at all costs. That would be cruel. I'll give you an example about a doctor who had a patient at a Nursing facility I worked at as a CNA, and also her relatives. This woman was living with a brain tumor that would kill her within months. She - either asked or wrote in a will - that in a case such as this, that she NOT be kept alive. Her family, overriding her wishes, told the doctor to KEEP HER ALIVE at all costs. So she got sent for radiation therapy a couple of times a week. The poor lady would come back looking like the life was taken out of her. It was terrible! I don't think ANYONE has the right to overrule the patients' wishes. What is the sense in writing a will then? That makes no sense to me. Why aren't there laws regarding these things? It sounds vidictive to me that this should happen. She wasn't on life support because HER FAMILY WANTED HER TO KEEP GETTING TREATMENTS! I believe that if she was on life support and could reach the plug that she would pull it! I felt so bad for this poor woman. I'd see her coming back from her treatment each time, and she looked so beaten up. Her face was all swollen up because of the radiation, her hair was all falling out. It's a sad, sad story. I think the moral of this TRUE story is that YES! They SHOULD have the right to pull their own plug.
P.S. Maybe Jack Kevorkian wasn't the demon he was made out to be!
2007-01-08 07:07:57 · answer #2 · answered by Bud's Girl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's dependent on quality of life. What you might think is no quality of life, I might be content with. It's really up to the individual and his/her doctors and family.
I know people who think there's no quality of life if one is blind, but I'm here to tell you there is. Yet if someone couldn't see to drive or walk down the street they might consider that not a good quality of life.
As to terminal patients, again it's what an individual wants or can't handle. Some people cannot tolerate pain at all or the loss of speech or hearing or sight or even the loss of their memory as in dimentia or alzheimers, for them pulling the plug might be their option.
If someone is in considerable pain, is intubated, fed by a tube they might want to pull the plug because they have no quality of life.
Look at the debate over Terri Schiavo , did she have any quality of life over those last fifteen years, two sides didn't agree.
So it is mostly up to the individual and his/her circumstances as well as the docs and family's opinions. But if you want to go and are terminal I think you should have that right. I cite the Sue Rodriguez case in Canada as an example of how not to do it.
2007-01-08 06:49:03 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
WHY would you write an essay against this??? I personally think it is absolutely ridiculous that a patient and/or his family can't say, yes, pull the plug". The Terry Shivo case was such a waste of time. Did you see how that poor woman lived her last years of life? I'm sure that if she could have voiced her opinion (which she did to her husband prior to her condition), she would have said, "Let me go. I want to find peace". It is cruel to let people live in such a state.
mb
2007-01-08 06:47:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If a human has the right to kill another human in defense of there lazy boy chair and the cable tv set, yes I believe an American has the right to choose if and how their life will end.
If the human is in a coma, no
if the human is of an unbalanced mind, no
After those two hurdles have been crossed, then yes, a sane person should have the right to choose if they wish to end prolonged suffering when all Doctors say patient is gonna die no matter what we try to do.
2007-01-08 06:48:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suffer severe pain and MD's won't even get u pain meds anymore (afraid of addiction).. I can't imagine what it's like to have cancer and the pain NEVER go away..If u are dieing and in severe pain, u should be able to decide when and how u wish to die..I don't want to be lieing on my death bed in such pain I can't even talk to my loved ones because it hurts too bad.. As long as u are comfortable with death, it should be legal and docs should help.. they take an oath to prevent pain and help patients but then they won't give pain meds in cases of severe pain.. It's not up to the family or friends.. there is always going to be somebody that says "what about the family u leave behind.. don't u care that we will miss u".. Doesn't my friends and family care about the pain I am in.. So obviously my opinion is yes.. I should be able to determine when, where and how I die.
2007-01-08 07:24:19 · answer #6 · answered by chilover 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'pull their own plug."
If you are truly living on life support, and could not survive without it, then YES I believe you have to right to decide to have it removed.
However, I don't particularily support 'assisted suicide' unless you are truly terminal and pain management is impossible.
I feel strongly enough about this that I had the phrase "NO TUBES" tatooed on my chest prior to my last surgery. I want my opinions clear in case I can't speak for myself.... A living will can do the same thing, but this gets their attention a bit faster!
2007-01-08 06:56:06 · answer #7 · answered by Caffiend 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, if they are in pain and there is no relief.
Yes, if that have made a statement after consulting with a doctor 3 months previously.
Yes, if they have previously stated the conditions under which they would wish the plug pulled.
Yes, if they have not been falsely influenced by others.
I witnessed my uncle, emaciated and dying from cancer on a hostital bed, beg his mother to kill him. I feel guilty that I didn't do it for him.
2007-01-08 06:52:21 · answer #8 · answered by Russell W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Euthanasia is permitted in the Netherlands, there's a website with lots of infomation on it:
http://www.euthanasia.cc/dutch.html
Personally I think its a good idea. Its not possible to say in advance what would my decision be if I found myself in a sitiation like that but at least I would want to have the choice. Maybe I would decide to ride it out - and maybe not. In any case I know that Spirit will welcome me home no matter what I decide.
2007-01-08 07:11:47 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yup - absolutely, what right do we as a society have to tell a person what they can or cannot do, especially when they are dying and in a great amount of pain.
Medical marijuana would change all this. But society apparently isn't ready to have patients be able to actually reduce their suffering.
FP
2007-01-08 06:43:45 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋