I think everyone has a story of a friend or a family member who has experienced a very high level of pain in his/her life at a point that even pain killers can’t help. When you have a pain stretched over months or years, you will be tempted to find a way to stop that suffering: take an overdose of sleeping pills, shoot yourself, or ask for assisted suicide. People would say they want to die peacefully and certainly.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Against Euthanasia
I think everyone has a story of a friend or a family member who has experienced a very high level of pain in his/her life at a point that even pain killers can’t help. When you have a pain stretched over months or years, you will be tempted to find a way to stop that suffering: take an overdose of sleeping pills, shoot yourself, or ask for assisted suicide. People would say they want to die peacefully and certainly.
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Rock on, Agathe; totally agree. I can't fathom the difficulty and agony that accompany decisions like this; there is doubtless a great amount of pain and suffering in this world, from birth to death, and the prospect of continuing suffering is not a pleasant one, but it is the right one.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that more has to be done to better educate and support patients and families in such situations and help them choose life in a culture that is increasingly favouring death.
I've never been in a situation where I had to make such a decision like this. I have close friends who have though and it such a hard decision. For one, you don't want to see the person suffering anymore, but why should someone have the power to take away another life. It's always good to stick to your beliefs like you have.
ReplyDeleteI know it is very hard to see somebody suffering and not to be tempted to go for "a short cut". We don't know what the ill person thinks about his/her condition, especially when they can't talk. I believe their brain is not affected by the physical condition, even when they are in coma, they have an opinion... We can't decide at their place.
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that it's illegal, what if it's what the person wants?
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on each person and their unique situations. If I was in a terrible accident or developed a life threatening disease, I don't think I would want to suffer and have my family watch me deteriorate. Not sure if I would think the same if I actually had to deal with that though.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right Amanda but I think the very natural instinct that a person can have is to survive. That's why for example people jump from a 6th, 7th or 10th floor building to escape from fire.
ReplyDeleteE, when something is illegal, people don't want your opinion on that.
Interesting post Agathe. Sorry to hear about the loss of your sister. I agree with Amanda, and that it does depend on the situation.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post Agathe. I hope I'm never in the situation where that would be an option, because I don't think I could do it.
ReplyDeleteAgathe I agree with you. I think its up to the individual who is suffering to determine his/her own outcome.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the choice should always be left to the individual, but by the same token I feel that that dying person should have that right to choose when it's time for them to go.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, assisted suicide is tricky moral territory. The existentialist in me feels that humans have an ontological impetus to endure until they do in fact expire but the liberal thinker in me feels that people should have agency over theirs lives and deaths.
Andrew made mention of a burgeoning culture of death, but I think that culture is really responding to the culture of life at any cost——i.e. artifically living way past one's prime on life support.