Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill Patients
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This is one subject that most of us probably have very strong feelings about, pro or con. Separation of church and state may very well be exemplified by the passing of a law such as this.
I recently read an article about the state of Washington having passed an ‘Assisted Suicide’ law, and a 66 year-old lady being the first patient in that state to use this law in order to free herself from the excruciating pain of end stage pancreatic cancer.
This law attempts to allow mentally competent people who have been diagnosed with a terminal disease to die with dignity.
Now, of course, there are guidelines that need to be met such as the patient must be seen by two separate physicians who come to the same conclusion that this person only has, at best, six months to live. The patient must be deemed mentally competent and must request help for assisted suicide twice with at least a two-week span between the first request and the second one.
Physicians and hospitals are not required by law to provide this type of assistance, and the physician who agrees to prescribe the ’suicide medications’ cannot administer them: this must be done by the patient. Also, pharmacists must fill out forms stating that these medications were prescribed and that the prescription was filled as ordered.
A patient who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease such as cancer is all too aware of what’s up ahead for him…deep sorrow at leaving loved ones behind, excruciating pain requiring high doses of pain medication to the point of not knowing what is going on around him, and finally death.
However…healthcare professionals who have strong feelings of opposition concerning assisting a patient in conducting an escape out of the dying body must be recognized and respected, also. Because there are so many varying religious teachings, people should not be forced to go against their own beliefs just because of the upcoming sad and painful demise of someone else.
We must keep in mind that no law is perfect, and that some people and organizations will always find weak spots or loopholes to point to in order to try and shore up their own arguements of ‘pro’ or ‘con’.
However, the state of Washington seems to have come to a fairly realistic compromise in trying to please everyone while attempting to uphold the rights of all…including the terminally ill patient who is mentally competent and does not wish to suffer disease-torturing pain for weeks on end before his life is finally over.
That is sore topic in this country where several people have had to go to Switzerland for help with suicides. I can’t ever see it becoming legal here. An interesting and well written article on such a controvertial subjec.
Christine
Hi Christine! Thank you. I don’t think this is something that all countries or even all states here in the U.S.A. will adopt but this is certainly a subject that will be fervently debated by politicians and the public, alike.
I, for one, hope to always stay in good health and on the ‘writing’ side of this topic. Since I am allergic to all narcotics and can barely stand an abcessed tooth or severe headache, I pray I will never be in a position of needing to use a law such as this!
Excellent article, I only hope that if I find myself in such a situation that I am allowed this option, after all we would not allow our beloved terminally ill pets to suffer when we can give them peace.
I also read this article and actually thought of writing about it. So glad that you did and this poor woman was already in pain and was told that it was only going to get worse. We all pray that we will never be in that position.. not only for us but our families. This law has given us a choice and for anyone who is faced with this choice.. people need to know that it is not taken lightly. Great article!!
Hi Brianberu! I agree with you wholeheartedly. There is no way on God’s green earth that I would allow this kind of suffering for a beloved pet…never mind my husband, or any other family member! Excellent point!
Hi Karelee! You are so right! People DO need to know that this subject was not taken lightly by the lawmakers of Washington state!! I think the lawmakers did a pretty good job at trying to please everyone…while knowing, of course, that that’s an impossibility!
This is an issue that needs to be addressed properly. I think, this issue is debatable and very subjective. Indeed, this is thought-provoking, thanks!
This is truly a complex issue. Both the pro and against groups have compassionate reasons for their beliefs.
I was with my mom when she died a horrible death from lung cancer. She was so brave and courageous right up to the end! We were treated very well by the hospital staff. She was given pain medication whenever she asked. Those last 4 days in the hospital are both my worst and my most precious memories. I am so grateful for the chance to say “I love you” and “goodbye.”
I am personally living with young adult onset Parkinson’s. With medication, I am told that I can expect to live out a normal life span. I am 43 now. If I were sure that I would live another 40 years with the pain and disability I currently have, and the likelihood is that it will get worse, I might seriously consider assisted suicide.
The fact is, though, that I don’t know the future. There could be a cure or at least a better treatment before then. Or I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Or I might die a horrible death from respiratory failure (common for PD patients).
The main reason that I think Canada (or your country) should NOT allow assisted suicide is the slippery slope factor. When abortion was legalized, conditions were put into place that would ensure that only medically necessary abortions were done. In only a few years, abortion on demand was available, funded by our taxes.
In Holland, assisted suicide has been legal for some years now. They also put legislation in place at first, but now elderly or gravely ill persons are afraid to seek medical attention. A physician no longer requires patient consent to euthanize a patient. The family doesn’t even have to be notified. This provides a huge savings for the medical sector, leaving more money available for treating people who will benefit more. That does sound compassionate in its own way, but the cost to society may be exchanging lower health costs at the expense of ethics and morality.
This is (and probably always will be) a difficult topic. M.J., thanks for a clear, well-written explanation of how the rules will work. This is one of those areas where I don’t think one person can presume to decide for another.
I am glad to see laws moving in this direction. We let animals die with love and dignity.. yet we force humans to suffer. I don’t get it.
Thank you for the article.. and yes it will stir up some strong emotions.
Love light joy,
Donna
Well MJ you certainly did pick a debateable topic. Personally I think each person should have their own choice under the right circumstances. I for one am a coward I don’t think I could do this but then I am fairly healthy so who’s to say what a person would do given the right situation. I feel government should stay out of it and let the person decide after the proper consultation with their doctor and other medical personnel. If government passes a law there is always fallout from the law that was passed ( such as abortion) and this could lead to a much bigger problem for everyone. Excellent article, awesome write and read. Very thought provoking.
Terminal suffering should not be permitted to continue. I have signed a Living Will. Isn’t this a left-handed form of assisted suicide–the withholding of herioc resuscitation?
This is such a debatable issue. While I believe that life is sacred, I have never been in a position where I felt I needed to choose. Slipperly slope is right. I definitely do not think a doctor has the right to make that choice, however.
You stated good detail in your composition that is nicely handled. I am on the fence on this topic. I feel we do have a right to end our lives if we don’t want to live it. One cannot instill in someone the purpose for anyone to live if they truly don’t want to themselves. I have seen that acted upon, in my nursing profession and private life many times. Now on the opposite statement, God gives and should take away.
Hi Chan Lee Peng! I agree! This issue is VERY debateable and extremely subjective! I think it is almost impossible to keep emotions out of the decision-making of laws pertaining to situations such as this one!
Hi Karen Gross! Yes, that slippery slope scares me, too! Holland has gone to an extreme that I would not like to see here. Why is it that so many things can start off with the best of intentions and then become ugly and mean?! For people to be scared to seek treatment because they might get ‘put down’ relegates them to the ‘pet’ catagory with physicians or the government being their ‘owners’! You make some very valid points in your arguement!
Hi Daisy! I agree! I would not want someone else making this decision for me if I were in the last stages of a terminal disease! A decision to leave the body feels very personal and private to me!
Hi Donna DeVane! What you are saying is something that I have said for years! I think the problem may be what Karen Gross describes in her remarks here. There must be a way to allow people the right to die with dignity without going overboard and euthanizing people based on saving money!
Hi Betty Carew! Yes, I have this ‘talent’ for finding debateable topics at times…
I agree with you that if the government gets involved, there’s usually negative ‘fallout’. I, too, am a coward but like you said…if given the right situation, who knows what we would decide to do!
Hi Ken Bultman! Yes, to withhold resusitation, in my opinion, is just another form of assisted suicide. Also…when a terminally ill patient is in so much end-state pain that the physician is allowed by law to increase the morphine doseage to levels that can realistically stop that patient’s breathing (decreased respirations is a side effect of morphine), this is also a form of assisted suicide in my opinion!
Hi Judy! I, too, do not think that a physician has the right to take my life from me if I want to live. Life to me is extremely sacred and highly desireable! What Karen Gross said about Holland is very disturbing to me!
Hi goodselfme! I think, in actuality, that we’re all sitting on that fence with you until we hear the details of a given situation!
After all, what holds for one situation may not hold for another!
Deciding to stay here on earth or to leave our bodies is a very hard decision to make because, as Karen and others have said, we don’t know what the future holds for us.
While I feel that suicide from terminal pain is acceptably private, I have a very hard time agreeing with a person’s desire to commit suicide just because life is hard.
I think we have all contemplated suicide at one time or another when dealing with very rough situations. And I have always been glad a year later…or even five years later…that I never followed through on that particular ‘option’.
“suicide is such a permanent solution for what is usually a temporary problem!” I heard those words many years ago and they’re still just as true and thoughtprovoking today as they were then!
But this is still a private decision and, in my opinion, the government should not be involved in it.
This is a very complicated and tough subject. I do not agree with assisted suicide. However, I do feel that any adult that is of sound mind has the right to refuse medical treatment. They also have the right to expect comfort, even if the medications that make them comfortable end their life. As long as the person is aware of the risk and benefits of said medications, then let them have it. There is a big difference in helping someone kill themselves, and helping someone stay comfortable even at the risk of ending their life.
Very well written article.
I think it’s a very personal decision and we should honor whatever decision the suffering person makes.In any case they should be medicated for pain.
Hi Jo Oliver! I agree that this is a very tough and complicated issue! Because this topic’s emotional factor is so high, a lot of politicians do not want to even try to tackle it! I think that Washington state did a pretty good job at trying to ‘please’ everyone! I certainly know that I would not have wanted the task of trying to write a law like this!
Hi Ruby Hawk! Yes, in my opnion this should be the bottom line! The people who are faced with suffering the effects of a terminal disease should have the final say as to how to cope with it! Medicating a patient even to the point of ‘too much’ is a sad but necessary side effect in so many cases where the disease has progressed to such an extreme that comfort is almost impossible to attain.
The Washington law makes sense to me. I also believe life is sacred- which is why I don’t believe it should be made miserable by a terrible disease. If there is no recourse available, a competent patient should have the final option.
The slippery slope seems like a leap, to me. There is no rule that says we *have* to take things to extremes.
Nice article, MJ.
Hi S D Moore! Yes, come to think of it, that slippery slope looks more and more like a leap the closer you get to it!
Although I, too, think that the Washington state’s law makes sense, I am concerned about extremes coming into play as they did in Holland.
I’ll tell you…Holland’s extremes have me worried. Is it human nature to always ‘go to the extreme’? I hope not! I feel that each individual should have the freedom to decide for him/herself whether or not to suffer from a terminal illness. Is there a way to do this without going to extremes….ever!? Or are we genetically ‘doomed’ to suffer from ‘extremitis’?
Woo, I just had this discussion with my family about this very subject. I agree with the people who compare how we let our pets have a decent way out, but as for human, we have to watch them suffer in horrid pain.
Last year, I witnessed two dear person who went through horrid pain, even after pain killer had been injected into their body, so I see their suffering..and in my opinion, it’s humane to let them go.