Every once in a while I have to get up on my soap box to vent and this blog is the perfect place to do that. The minimal number of visitors to this site probably don't want to
hear me vent. Much less vent on a serious topic such as euthanasia, but I am going to do it
anyways! That's why I have this blog!What started this is an article published at news.yahoo.com about people going to Mexico to purchase pentobarbital. They purchasing the pentobarbital in Mexico then taking the drug home for safe keeping in the event that they ever become terminally ill. That article deals with one of the few topics that has always gotten me fired up. That is euthanasia. Overall the article was a fact based typical news report on the topic of the availability of the "the Mexico option" but there was a quote at the end of the article that really irritated me. The quote was made by Lori Kehoe, a representative for the New York based Right to Life Movement. She said "We shouldn't treat people as animals are treated. Every day of life is to be valued as a gift".
How can someone possibly think that allowing a person the choice to end their suffering can be treating them like an animal or taking a gift away from them. Not being able to care for myself and having to have someone else do everything for me is more like being an animal than a human. For example, a person that is terminally ill, suffering constant pain, can not breathe on their own, can not get up to go to the bathroom, and has to be fed by a tube or by an assitant. How is that a dignified life? How is that life any better than that of an animal? That person should have the right to choose whether or not they go on suffering.
I watched my mother deteriorate for several years. Towards the end she was suffering constant excruciating pain and could not breathe on her own. She had to be assisted with everything she did. She had absolutely no quality of life, she was suffering. At this stage near the end I unfortunately did not discuss with her her personal feelings, but I can fairly accurately say what they were because we always agreed on the topic of euthanasia. She would have wanted the right to end her misery. She was suffering. I am sure she felt that she was making her family suffer. She knew that there was no hope for a recovery and she would not have wanted to have family remember in this way. She would have wanted family to remember her as the loving and caring person that she was before being bed ridden and miserable.
I have always wondered why people are not given the same rights as animals. The only reasons I can fathom are: That the family members are being selfish trying to hold on to something rather than letting it go and religious beliefs. Neither one of those reasons is one that should prevent someone from having the personal choice to end their life. We will allow a pet to end it's misery and suffering by allowing it a painless end. Yet, a person who is suffering is sentenced to an extended period of indignity and torture. I for one would not want force my family to suffer with the task of taking care of me for months or years while I have no quality of life. Those that would make me suffer in this state are being selfish.
Here's the link to the article that got me started... Euthanasia tourists snap up pet shop drug in Mexico - Yahoo! News
Brian: I'm with you. My Mom died last year. It was a terrible way to go, and she asked me on several occasions to help her. If I could have figured out exactly how much liquid morphine to give her so that she could just go to sleep, I would have. No one deserves to have to suffer like she did.
Sometimes the best gift you can give your loved ones is the gift of peace. Thats what I would want.
So, Next time your in Mexico, please pick some up. When I get to that point, I will know your behind me. Nothing like that kind of help from you own brother!!!!!!!