Euthanasia

[Timmy]

Euthanasia is a topic of discussion that is emerging in the Australian media at present.

I want to know how people feel about this issue?

My opinion:

I’m currently working as a hospital based student nurse on a 3 month rotation in a high care/geriatric/palliative care facility. We have patients ranging from 23 year old with server brain damage to 90 year olds with advanced dementia.

I’m pro euthanasia. If you had asked me this question 3 months ago I may have given you a different answer.

I recently nursed a lady to death, this lady had been in our care for about 3 years. She was admitted after a server CVA, she could only move her eyes, she had a PEG line in situ and this is how we administered nutrients, she was a mess of pressure ulcers, break down areas and thrush to the point of bleeding. Despite our best efforts nothing would work. I used to go sit with her and hold her hand, if you sat there long enough tears would begin to roll down her cheek. I have no doubt in my mind she had some cognitive function and the amount of pain she was in would have been unbearable. There was something about her eyes, you could tell she was trying her very best to let you know she wanted to die. When she finally past, I wasn’t saddened but relieved that her suffering was over.

We also have a 23 year old who was born with cerebral palsy, blindness and epilepsy. He was a still birth and was down for 45 mins, this left him with sever brain damage. He has very minimal cognitive function and sits on his bed all day waving his arms around, this is what his down for the past 23 years.

When it comes to the point of losing cognitive function to the point of having no sensation to use your bowls, not knowing how to eat, where you are, who you are, who your loved ones are, incontinence, what comes from your mouth, how you act, how you lived your life, hallucinations ect then it’s time to go.

I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to be first diagnosed with a condition like Huntington’s, dementia or Parkinson’s and know that slowly your life will fade away before your very eyes.

I also couldn’t bare the thought of being admitted to a place knowing that this is the end, I will never leave here.

I think the most confronting thing for me working in this area is knowing that this is how my life may end up… A world of my own, a world of nothing.

This may sound extremely harsh but a majority of people who are residents at my work are existing not living.

When is enough, enough?

[Just Plain Ruff]

Timmy, my heart goes out to you, I am impressed you are doing what you are doing.

I agree with you, I don't understand why in this country we allow us to euthanize our dogs and cats for terminal illnesses yet we don't allow it for humans.

When I go I hope that I go like a good doctor friend of mine did. A group of his colleagues went to his hospital room one night, turned off the safeguard of the morphine drip and slowly increased the dosage until this friend was gone.

He died peacefully and did not have to go thru the anguish of dying a slow death in a nursing home.

[s.papabathini]

First let me say that I do not deny the fact that there is a group of

people in this world that are being kept alive by technology (not just

machines, but procedures and care that was not available 80 years ago).

This is a very sad and unfortunate group. Their quality of life is

zilch. However, when speaking of euthanasia, it is opening up a whole

area that will quickly spiral out of control. Hitler used euthanasia in

Germany. It started with the mentally challenged and people who weren't

able to contribute to society. It ended up with the murder of 6 million

Jews and countless others who were in the way or didn't fit into the

agenda. What looks to be a way to allow people to die with dignity,

will quickly become something that none of us would like to see. You

have to deal with who makes that decision and a host of other questions

and ethics. Places I hope to never have to go.

I do believe that in this country, we do not allow people to die with

dignity. We feel that if someone dies, we have lost. Was it a wise

decision on the MD's part to spend 45 minutes resuscitating the now 23

y/o with cerebral palsy? Just because I have the ability to "bring

someone back", does that mean that it is in their best interest.

I say all this to say that I don't believe that euthanasia can ever be

allowed. It can, and will, spiral too quickly into a monster that we won't

be able to handle. The best we can do is make people comfortable, take

good care of them, handle and treat them with dignity. Make their lives

or last days as pleasant as we can.

[JPINFV]

Wow, I really should have seen a reductio ad Hitlerum post coming, but I didn't.

[rock_shoes]

Euthanasia can, and has been shown to, work if the correct restrictions are put in place. In some countries it is in fact a physicians written prescription that allows for euthanasia. Bringing Hitler's version of euthanasia to the discussion is going overboard IMO.

[Eydawn]

And yet there are still ethical concerns about its appropriate use all across Europe, in which it has been legalized in many countries.

BBC Article Profiling Different Countries and Euthanasia

Not to mention different reports published in The Lancet, a British medical journal, regarding the euthanisation of infants. Euthanasia is a touchy issue, and is not as cut and dry as many would like to believe. While I empathize with the agony of watching someone die, or watching someone live in a state where they have very little control over their actions and communication, I would argue that life itself has a dignity. Having worked with profoundly retarded individuals and watched several people degenerate through Alzheimer's, I would argue that life itself is sacred and that even those living in such conditions can have some quality of life.

While it may be painful for us as medical providers, and while we may disagree with prolonging the lives of certain profoundly affected individuals, let us not forget that our mission is to preserve and protect life. There is a difference between allowing a patient capable of decision to make the choice to have life-saving intervention withdrawn or forbidden and allowing a doctor to administer a lethal dose of sedatives or barbituates.

Quis custodiet ispos custodies? Who will watch the watchmen? You can put as many "safeguards" and rules and regulations around euthanasia as you like... but there will always be those with agendas to push the boundaries in ways that benefit no-one.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Mateo_1387]

The famous paper by James Rachels, a philosopher of ethics. I think it is worth the read for everyone.

[web:b6631ffcfd]http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/pecorip/scccweb/etexts/deathanddying_text/Active%20and%20Passive%20Euthanasia.pdf[/web:b6631ffcfd]

[Michael]

Nat Hentoff has written thoughtfully about this topic.

[tniuqs]

Timmy, my heart goes out to you, I am impressed you are doing what you are doing.

I agree with you, I don't understand why in this country we allow us to euthanize our dogs and cats for terminal illnesses yet we don't allow it for humans.

rock_shoes

Euthanasia can, and has been shown to, work if the correct restrictions are put in place. In some countries it is in fact a physicians written prescription that allows for euthanasia. Bringing Hitler's version of euthanasia to the discussion is going overboard IMO.

Absolutely, agreed rockshoes Hitler did not practice euthinasia he practiced MURDER, may his tortured soul never rest in HELL for eternity.

Timmy: I too am very impressed with you, you are mature beyond your physical age and thing is I also have been in way too many similar situations, and I understand exactly what you are saying, as I too believe in passive Euthanasia and a living will, I was personally tested with my Mothers death in January last, no heroics SHe did not want that.

I will say when an initial resus takes place, one never ever knows what the outcome may become:

Sometimes great ?

Sometimes worse than death itself ?

Maybe think of this way, that old lady had tears of joy that you took your time for her, as compassion is a true human atribute that I very much respect.

Timmy A world of my own, a world of nothing.

Who really knows that, hey I live in a world of my own too .... just saying who really knows what is going on in another persons head, really, just look to Professor Stephen Hawking.

A fact is when those CP kids can be evaluated by "modern means" many demonstrate higher than average IQ .... I did work in NICU and asked the same questions myself, still don't have an answer either.

These are never easy questions to answer I think that is exactly is the point, I can say if it were myself in a vegetative state ... go slow with that MS my friend so I get a damn good buzz going out .

cheers

[Dustdevil]