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Euthanasia, Death and General Anesthetics.
- Thread starter Bill Walker
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ZenHalfTimeCrock
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in his book, Life’s Dominion, the late Ronald Dworkin (an American philosopher of Law who supported assisted dying) discusses the case of ‘Margo’, a 54 year-old Alzheimer’s victim that was first described by a doctor called Andrew Firlik who met her when she was a medical student.
According to Firlik, with each arrival, Margo behaves as if she knows him, though without ever using his name. She says she reads mysteries, but Firlik notices that “her place in the book jumps randomly from day to day . . . . he feels good just sitting and humming to herself . . . nodding off liberally, occasionally turning to a fresh page.” She takes abundant pleasure in simple acts, such as eating peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Firlik writes that“ despite her illness, or maybe somehow because of it, Margo is undeniably one of the happiest people I have ever known.”
Dworkin raises the issue of whether, if Margo had signed an advanced directive stating that she should not receive treatment for any serious, life-threatening disease that she might contract after Alzheimer’s had rendered her demented, whether that directive should be honoured, given that she is not actually suffering?
Dworkin himself argues that the decision made when Margo was mentally competent should still be honoured by those who are responsible for caring for her, even though in her presently demented state, she seems to be capable of enjoying life, and might continue to do so if she was treated for any serious illness she might develop.
However, Dworkin’s conclusion might be different from that of a utilitarian (who believe that a person's capacity to enjoy life is of moral significance), especially if Margo’s relatives and carers are of the view that she seems happy in her present state.
Unfortunately, I have no first hand experience of dementia, and so am in no position to comment with any authority on this personally.
Ditto with palliative care. I simply don't know how effective it can be, though the impression I have formed from reading about it is that it does not always get administered effectively or produces the desired effect. And I doubt that it would help someone with Locked-in Syndrome.
In the latest edition of his influential book Practical Ethics, Peter Singer had this to say:
‘…some will reply that improved care for the terminally ill has eliminated pain and made voluntary euthanasia unnecessary. But it is not only physical pain that makes people wish to die : they may suffer from bones so fragile they fracture at sudden movements, uncontrollable nausea and vomiting, slow starvation due to a cancerous growth, inability to control one’s bowels or bladder, difficulty in breathing, and so on. These symptoms often cannot be eliminated, at least not without keeping the patient unconscious all the time.’
I think somewhere in the same book, Singer notes that In the Netherlands, a nationwide government commissioned study found that ‘many patients want an assurance that their doctor will assist them to die should their suffering become unbearable.’
Often, having received this assurance, no request for euthanasia was then made. The mere availability of euthanasia brought sufficient comfort in itself without it then having to be provided.
In fact, having observed the effects of the legalisation of assisted dying in Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg followed suit. Had there been any widespread abuses of the law, it is doubtful that these neighbours of the Dutch would have introduced similar laws.
Given the legal examples available from other countries, my view is that it should be possible to devise similar legislation of our own.
Bill Walker
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Exactly mate.
My family are under instructions, if I go loopy or I get some terminal illness get me to South Australia and put me to sleep (its legal there).
denislawsbackheel
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In the end there isn’t.
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Anyone watched Midsommar?
stonerblue
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Although she didn't use a pill or ga or anything else, my Ma went out on her own terms recently. She knew she was very ill but never told us. She went to A and E on a monday night and died peacefully in a chair the next morning.
In the days leading up to this she had got all of us to go round on the pretence of needing something doing in the house. She also had long conversations over the phone with her grandkids.
Her husband is in a care home and will never come out, he doesn't recognise anyone and is a shell of a person waiting to die.
Personally i think we should all get a pill when we're 30 and be able to use it whenever we've had enough of life
In the days leading up to this she had got all of us to go round on the pretence of needing something doing in the house. She also had long conversations over the phone with her grandkids.
Her husband is in a care home and will never come out, he doesn't recognise anyone and is a shell of a person waiting to die.
Personally i think we should all get a pill when we're 30 and be able to use it whenever we've had enough of life
It always used to be the case in England that, on a charge of conspiracy, the planned action did not need to be illegal. Conspiracy widely used historically as instrument of oppression. For example, hiring out a room to people organising trade union action was widely subjected to a conspiracy charge to discourage landlords from accommodating a legal activity. That is why the TUC was founded at an open air meeting in Mcr.
Current law? Ask a current lawyer.
OnlyOneUweRosler
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I oppose euthanasia, because countries that have adopted it always end up escalating. In Belgium it went from you can only have it with an untreatable terminal illness, to you can have it just because you feel depressed.