Re: Voluntary Euthanasia
I have long said that animals have the right to a more dignified death than most humans and I truely believe that.
As many of you know I live in the Netherlands where euthansia is possible. Now, contrary to popular belief this does not mean that we can pop granny off to the doctor when we are sick of her and ask him to give her a jab to send her on her way.
In fact it is a very well thought out and still controversial law.
I and my OH have documents written by a lawyer indicationg the stage or circumstances that we wish euthanisa to be administered,
It is not a guarantee that our wishes will be observed.. If a close family memeber object or if the doctors do not feel that all medical options have been explored it could be refused.
Even with a directive it is not infalliable.
One of the ladies I care for just lost her sister, she was reluctant to say anything at first but it turns out her sister killed herself.
She was an 83 yr old woman with a 10 yr history of parkinsons.
Recent operation to remove a tumour from overies has left her in some pain.
Then a fall resulted in two crushed vertabrae ,
Three weeks ago she developed a inflammation of the facial nerve resluting in hellish pain and some paralyisis of the face.
She then spoke to her doctor about euthanisa and he poo pood the idea saying she had a good few years to go,,,,,
For her that was the breaking point , she went home and after her husband went to bed she sat in her favourite chair and took an overdose of pain medication.
In doing this she was denied the right to say goodbye and couldnt even leave a note because the parkinsons had robbed her of the ability to hold a pen. But she saw no other way to stop her suffering.
Doctors argue that they cannot play God but to my mind everytime they intervene and prevent death they have done exactly that..
Therefore to me that argument holds no validity.
I feel that the denial of the inevitable is damaging society , we are beginning to have an expectation to be cured of everything and to live forever when this is just not possible. Talk of death is brushed under the carpet like a dirty word.
With careful lawmaking and only fully certified doctors being able to arrange the procedure I do not see the harm in allowing people to call time on their suffering and leaving this world in a dignified manner.
More information on the Dutch rules for euthansia can be found here. (English version)
https://www.government.nl/topics/eut...ion-on-request