Inspired by
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_15844.aspxDo we have the right to end our lives if the quality has be severely compromised?
Should someone else be held legally responsible if we've asked them to end or help end our life?
This is a subject that I tend to sit on the fence about really but I want to know how others feel about it.
Watching my father suffer with Lung Cancer for months and knowing that the treatments that they were giving him were not really helping, I had thought about this....especially after my cousins son, upon learning that is Great Uncle Bill was really sick and going to die relatively soon, asked her, "Mom, are they going to put Uncle Bill down?"
Such a heavy statement from an 8 year old. When she told him that we don't do that to other humans, just to animals, he was apalled. I can't remember the exact words he used but he said something along the lines of 'we won't let our animals suffer but we let each other suffer?'...and it made perfect sense to me!
Why is ok for us to not let our animals suffer any terminal illness or compromised quality of life due to old age, but not our loved ones??
Why is it so horrible to want them to rest in peace rather than suffer in life? Especially when they've expressed that they would rather not be alive anymore because they are in pain...why is it so surprising that they would feel this way?
I really feel that our own selfishness of not wanting to let a loved one go is the reason we can't imagine doing this to our loved ones.
What do you think? Should terminally ill and geratric patients with no quality of life left be able to make a decision like this? And if they are mentally incapacitated, should their immediate loved ones and sole caregivers be able to make this decision for them?
And if so, where do we draw the line?
