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With names like Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Terri Schiavo making international headlines during the past few years, the complicated subject of euthanasia remains on everyone's mind. But when considering the plight of the terminally ill and their potential suffering, is "pulling the plug" a matter of dying with dignity or tragically playing God?
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Life is a Terminal Disease
Killing is Killing
I find it mind-boggling that in this day and age otherwise intelligent people are using one of the same tactics the Nazis used in their propaganda to facilitate the Holocaust and that is the use of semantics.
The direct killing of patients by doctors is now called "Physician Assisted Dying".
The term "physician assisted" gives it credibility to many people. If a doctor does it, then it must be okay.
The term "dying" is equally benign since we all have to die anyway. Dying is inevitable, right?
So what could possibly be "wrong" with "physician assited dying"? I will tell you what is wrong with it. It is direct killing.
Whenever I hear someone say "physician assisted suicide" is okay, I interpret this to mean "direct killing is sometimes okay" and I simply do not buy that argument. I have been diagnosed with both physical and mental disorders that cause me to have a great deal of both physical and mental suffering. Direct killing is not a solution to suffering. Too often, the so-called "right to die" is, in practice, seen as a "duty to die" by people who truly feel themselves to be a burden to others. When Grandma says she wants to die, we should not respond by saying, "Okay, Grandma, we'll help you die." Instead, we should respond by caring for her and loving her in the best way that we know how.
- gocatholic
January 12, 2009 7:23AM
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RE: Killing is Killing
Grandma wants to die. Yes, you should respond by "caring for her and lovinging her in the best way that you know," but what about what Grandma wants. This is not 'your' life, it's Grandma's. SHE should be the one entitled to her life. If Grandma is terminally ill and believes it is now her time to go it should not be considered "physician assisted suicide" if she has a request to die.
Furthermore, suicide technically can not be "assisted."
definitions of suicide:
[noun] 1. the intentional taking of one's own life.
2. a person who intentionally takes his or her own life.
(notice the "OWN LIFE" part)
- Keri
February 11, 2009 10:54PM
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RE: Killing is Killing
Elderly people often experience depression and feel themselves to be a burden. Often, when this happens, they will say to their loved ones that they feel they are a burden. When they do that, they WANT TO HEAR, "NO, Grandma! You are NOT a burden! We love you and will take care of you!" Love is a powerful thing. The "right to die" movement would have you turn to Grandma and say, "Okay, Grandma. We will help you die."
IT IS ANTI-LOVE.
- gocatholic
February 12, 2009 12:58AM
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You're just letting your bogus religion...
...and your non-existent "God" make decisions for you. I'm sorry you believed in the bogus that is organized religion.
If I want to die I should have the right to terminate my life at any time, for any reason. My life is mine to end how/when I want to. Your bogus religion has no right to tell me that. By the way, if you're going to lobby for anti-euthanasia laws, your religion should be subject to taxation (it's in the IRS tax-exempt code that you cannot lobby if you are religious institution).
- bagpiper2005
February 12, 2009 11:19AM
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RE: You're just letting your bogus religion..........
I am a Catholic yet I respect the fact that our American system of law is based on the protestant beliefs of the people who wrote our basic law -- the Constitution. Our basic law holds that there are certain "truths" that are "self-evident" and that we have "rights" that are "inalienable". These things all have meaning. Relativism -- the belief that all opinions are equally valid -- can only seek to destroy the Constitution, not uphold it, since relativism is in contradiction to the Constitution. A relativist cannot honor the Constitution because of its claims that some things are true and are "guaranteed". Relativism is the enemy of the Constitution and relativism is the root belief of most of those who support the "right to die" movement. They hold that nothing is sacred and nothing is true. Studies show that the elderly and disabled (I am disabled) struggle with depression frequently. Our understanding of science and culture should lead us to the conclusion that "supporting" a depressed person's wish to die is unConstitutional. We need far more discussion about the "right to die" because of the depth of the issues involved before we go around legalizing it.
- gocatholic
February 12, 2009 2:20PM
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Constitution not founded on protestantism...
The founding fathers of this nation were Deists, NOT Protestants. I am an atheist, proud to be one, because that makes me more intelligent than 90% of the American population. :-)
If I was disabled/depressed, you bet your life I would take my own life. Hey, I'm a gun-owner, so I don't even need a doctor's help to do it. Just a load and a pull of a trigger. Who are you to say someone must live when they don't want to? It's their life to do what they want with, and you have no right telling them they have to live in misery. It's their life, NOT yours.
Oh how religion has poisoned your mind.
- bagpiper2005
February 12, 2009 2:34PM
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Here is why, my friend
Bottom line? I have bipolar disorder. 20% of people with bipolar disorder commit suicide and it is a TRAGEDY. It is a result of an illness NOT A WILLFUL ACT. Many people go for years suffering with bipolar disorder undiagnosed. People with bipolar disorder experience "episodes". Think about that. And this is something that I suffer with. Thank God for giving me people in my life who, when I say I want to die, will encourage me, not "help me die".
- gocatholic
February 12, 2009 2:44PM
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re Dilling is Killing
If dying means going to heaven.....if that's what you believe.....is that so terrible? Suffering is not the answer and besides it's YOUR life,isn't it?
- march
February 1, 2010 12:23PM
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killing is killing
If YOU don't want to do it DON'T but don't tell others what to do. Love is not the answer for someone in that position who has expressed an Advanced Directive for Healthcare.
- march
February 1, 2010 12:16PM
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