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Ok, so what do y'all think of this piece of news?
Supreme Court Upholds Assisted Suicide
- Thread starter flyingbridge
- Start date
M
Mike MacKinnon
as it should be.
No matter how much money driven propoganda there is out there, Medicine is a PARENTAL ROLE. Therefore, when a person wants to die due to an incureable illness which is torturing them physicians should be able to end the torture of that person based on their wishes.
The truth of the matter is that the only real thing you own in this life IS your life. If you want to die (under the right circumstances) why would anyone stand in the way of that? It is always the same group of right wing religious *****s who object to it based on their own religious beliefs that they inflict upon others.
No matter how much money driven propoganda there is out there, Medicine is a PARENTAL ROLE. Therefore, when a person wants to die due to an incureable illness which is torturing them physicians should be able to end the torture of that person based on their wishes.
The truth of the matter is that the only real thing you own in this life IS your life. If you want to die (under the right circumstances) why would anyone stand in the way of that? It is always the same group of right wing religious *****s who object to it based on their own religious beliefs that they inflict upon others.
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morphine pca with a basal rate of 3 or 4? Sounds good to me! Thanks to medicine, we have finally got to the point where death no longer has to be painful. Most patients will tell you it's not dying that scares them, it's the pain involved.
What needs to change is people's attitude towards the physician's role. Many patients are suffering because of what 'we the living' expect of our physicians, ie that they do whatever they can to save life. Sometimes physicians can't save a life. The living need to understand this. When a physician wants to help his patient by relieving pain, even if it hastens death, he should be allowed to do that. (I believe the supreme court case between oregon and the dea dealt not with assisted suicide, but with the prescribing of large amounts of narcotics to treat pain that also hasten death---not assisted suicide, at least that's how JAMA presented it).
As long as the public preception of physician's is that they do whatever to save a life, no matter what the outcome, pallitive and hospice care cannot move forward. If it takes tarnishing the profession's angelic image, then that's what needs to be done. A physician's responsibility is not towards the family or the public, but towards his individual patient (exept in cases of infection diseases and public health, and a family's piece of mind does not take priority over a patient's suffering.) Sorry, I've been in nursing too long
What needs to change is people's attitude towards the physician's role. Many patients are suffering because of what 'we the living' expect of our physicians, ie that they do whatever they can to save life. Sometimes physicians can't save a life. The living need to understand this. When a physician wants to help his patient by relieving pain, even if it hastens death, he should be allowed to do that. (I believe the supreme court case between oregon and the dea dealt not with assisted suicide, but with the prescribing of large amounts of narcotics to treat pain that also hasten death---not assisted suicide, at least that's how JAMA presented it).
As long as the public preception of physician's is that they do whatever to save a life, no matter what the outcome, pallitive and hospice care cannot move forward. If it takes tarnishing the profession's angelic image, then that's what needs to be done. A physician's responsibility is not towards the family or the public, but towards his individual patient (exept in cases of infection diseases and public health, and a family's piece of mind does not take priority over a patient's suffering.) Sorry, I've been in nursing too long
M
Mike MacKinnon
Rach
I agree with most of what youve said, except the painless death part. I can think of 10 patients off the top of my head who are not terminal and in chronic pain which isnt controlled by medications even though they goto pain clinics. It stands to reason that a much more aggressive and degenerative disease process, such as cancer, could easily produce similar (if not worse) symptoms. Even patients who are in a chemical coma may be in pain, we have absolutely no way to know and no research in this area to prove they are pain free. Its a gamble where the patients suffering is at stake.
The law in Oregon clearly is stated as physician assisted suicide,though it is facilitated by a lethal prescriptive dose of medication. I think its the right thing to do and should go nation wide.
I agree with most of what youve said, except the painless death part. I can think of 10 patients off the top of my head who are not terminal and in chronic pain which isnt controlled by medications even though they goto pain clinics. It stands to reason that a much more aggressive and degenerative disease process, such as cancer, could easily produce similar (if not worse) symptoms. Even patients who are in a chemical coma may be in pain, we have absolutely no way to know and no research in this area to prove they are pain free. Its a gamble where the patients suffering is at stake.
The law in Oregon clearly is stated as physician assisted suicide,though it is facilitated by a lethal prescriptive dose of medication. I think its the right thing to do and should go nation wide.
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