Euthanasia?

Originally Posted by Jerrek

I've seen plenty of people suffer very horribly, some I know that will never lead the same life again. But, never once in my time as a paramedic have I ever had the though to kill one of the people I'm taking care of.

That's because you would lose your job. Your task is to preserve life and prevent a condition from worsening. In the case of someone whose condition deteriorates because of being terminally ill, their condition will worsen, and their life cannot be preserved.

Originally Posted by Jerrek

Assisted suicides are a little more iffy. If someone is helpless and wants you to kill him, would you? I don't think I can.

You would never know until you have reached the levels of despair seen in the couple who ended the suffering of their son.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Jerrek

The thread is titled euthanasia, not assisted suicides. Euthanasia is when you, on your own, decide someone's life is not worth it and you kill him, without his request.

That is murder.

What if the person in question is unable to request to be taken out of his misery?

You would condem him to a life of pain and misery?

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Pierre

What if the person in question is unable to request to be taken out of his misery?

You would condem him to a life of pain and misery?

i wouldnt

I grew up together with our family dog, Lassie, she was like a sister to me, but the time came when, she could not walk, if she could she would be yelping in pain. She was losing weight rapidly, I knew she was in discomfort, because never in the 15 years of her life did she ever snarl at me, as if 'don't touch me please.'

I was losing the dog, I loved and grew up with and towards the end she was not the same dog. A friend had to take her to be put down, I didn't want to her go but I also did not want to see her carry on, suffering. The friend returned with her lead and I cleaned out her food bowl for the last time and said my goodbyes, Suffer no more, my girl.

The moral of the story, why should it be any different to a human being suffering in the same consequencies especially when you know time is limited?

Sometimes anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Jerrek

The thread is titled euthanasia, not assisted suicides. Euthanasia is when you, on your own, decide someone's life is not worth it and you kill him, without his request.

That is murder.

Actually, euthanasia is

Originally Posted by dictionary.com

The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.

So, while I do agree that killing someone is actually murder (can't really disagree, that is a legal definition), I will say that Euthanasia is quite a different subject from assisting somebody who is depressed to commit suicide.

I also can understand the father's reasons for doing it (assuming the boy's life was bad).

Jerrek, can I ask, have you ever watched a member of your family suffer with a terminal Cancer (or any terminal condition)? If you had watched somebody die slowly, and extremely painfully, you may not have such a black and white view of Euthanasia.

I specify a member of your family because if you are like any of our Paramedics, you don't really get that close to your patients. Thats not a criticism of Paramedics, just that if Paramedics get emotionally involved with all their patients, they may start grieving if the patient dies (and being Paramedics, they are likely to see more death than the average person).

Before you say I am wrong, I don't know any Paramedics, but I do know somebody who used to be a Nurse and had to leave her job as she got too emotionally involved and very upset every time a patient died.

[Russ]

Of course, I've never had a family member slowly die so I don't know what it is like but should it ever happen, I certainly do not want a part in ending someone's life. I stop short of calling it murder but it's not for me to decide that I'm the one to do it.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Russ D

Of course, I've never had a family member slowly die so I don't know what it is like but should it ever happen, I certainly do not want a part in ending someone's life. I stop short of calling it murder but it's not for me to decide that I'm the one to do it.

I have to admit, I don't know what I would do if I were actually called upon to choose whether a loved one lived or died.

On the one hand, I would like them to go on to a place where there is less suffering (yes, even though I don't believe in God, I do believe in an afterlife, although that is a subect for another thread).

On the other hand I personally do not want to be responsible for ending somebody's life. No religious reason for this, I just don't believe in killing people.

It's a bit hard isn't it. Many of us have watched a family slowly die, until you kind of wish that they would, for there sake and yours. And many people say that they would end a persons life if it was completley necessary. But would you actually be able to go ahead with it. I don't think i can. I'm not going to be as strong as saying it's murder, i just don't think i would have the strength. Its been said here about pets, and that a lot of times we choose when they die. But we take them to the vet to do it, would you be able to personally do it instead.

The Father of the man was extremley brave in what he did, as it would be hard to kill anyone, let alone your own son(if he infact did kill him) and he obviously knew the consequences would be the police.

I was reading about the story in the paper, and the thing that has stuck in my head, is that people were saying that it put a huge strain on the family. So is that killing for the boys sake or the family's?

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Colin

It's a bit hard isn't it. Many of us have watched a family slowly die, until you kind of wish that they would, for there sake and yours. And many people say that they would end a persons life if it was completley necessary. But would you actually be able to go ahead with it. I don't think i can. I'm not going to be as strong as saying it's murder, i just don't think i would have the strength. Its been said here about pets, and that a lot of times we choose when they die. But we take them to the vet to do it, would you be able to personally do it instead.

The Father of the man was extremley brave in what he did, as it would be hard to kill anyone, let alone your own son(if he infact did kill him) and he obviously knew the consequences would be the police.

I was reading about the story in the paper, and the thing that has stuck in my head, is that people were saying that it put a huge strain on the family. So is that killing for the boys sake or the family's?

if he did do it then i would have thought it was for both the boys sake and the familys sake , i must admit i am not sure if i could do it , but you never know i might find out soon , what with my mother suffering from cancer and my father suffering with chronic chest complaints , time will tell i suppose

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

if he did do it then i would have thought it was for both the boys sake and the familys sake , i must admit i am not sure if i could do it , but you never know i might find out soon , what with my mother suffering from cancer and my father suffering with chronic chest complaints , time will tell i suppose

I hope it never comes to that Paul.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Colin

I hope it never comes to that Paul.

me too

[Jerrek]

Originally Posted by scastle

So, while I do agree that killing someone is actually murder (can't really disagree, that is a legal definition), I will say that Euthanasia is quite a different subject from assisting somebody who is depressed to commit suicide.

Well yes, duh, we did say that assisted suicide and euthanasia are different...

I also can understand the father's reasons for doing it (assuming the boy's life was bad).

Of course, just like I can see the reason a thief would have to murder the witness. It doesn't change the outcome: someone is dead, someone who may NOT have wanted to be dead.

I find it extremely ironic that all the people that are willing to commit murder, not knowing for sure that the person wants to die, yet the same folks argue against the death penalty because an innocent person may be executed.

Jerrek, can I ask, have you ever watched a member of your family suffer with a terminal Cancer (or any terminal condition)? If you had watched somebody die slowly, and extremely painfully, you may not have such a black and white view of Euthanasia.

Actually, yes I have seen "somebody." It still didn't bring murderous thoughts up in my mind. NAh. I'm just not a murderer.

Originally Posted by Mick

I grew up together with our family dog, Lassie, she was like a sister to me, but the time came when, she could not walk, if she could she would be yelping in pain. She was losing weight rapidly, I knew she was in discomfort, because never in the 15 years of her life did she ever snarl at me, as if 'don't touch me please.'

I was losing the dog, I loved and grew up with and towards the end she was not the same dog. A friend had to take her to be put down, I didn't want to her go but I also did not want to see her carry on, suffering. The friend returned with her lead and I cleaned out her food bowl for the last time and said my goodbyes, Suffer no more, my girl.

The moral of the story, why should it be any different to a human being suffering in the same consequencies especially when you know time is limited?

Sometimes anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

Somehow equating a human being with a soul to a dog, an animal, seems ... unjustified. You can shoot a dog and not be charged with murder because animals do not have rights. Humans, however, do, and you have no right to make that decision for someone.

Originally Posted by Pierre

What if the person in question is unable to request to be taken out of his misery?

You would condem him to a life of pain and misery?

Would you take the risk to murder a person that there was a chance he didn't want to die? I find it disturbing you're willing to gamble with people's lives like that.

Think: What is the reason for you murdering that person? Because you feel sorry for yourself to SEE that person like that, or because you think that person would want to die? Or perhaps it is because YOU would want to die if you were in a situation like that? Can you be 100% confident when you take it upon yourself to sentence that person to death?

I remember doing this in R.E in high-school, didn't like it one bit. If I saw a friend or family member in pain, and couldn't be treated, and they wanted euthanasia I would do it for them. Watching some one suffer just basically "kills" your self, it's horrible.

[Jerrek]

If the person wanted to die, it wouldn't be called euthanasia, would it? It is assisted suicide. We're talking about people that volunteer to go and murder people they think, in their opinion, is suffering and should better be left dead than alive.

[kronas]

*dives in

if someone requests for someone else to kill them on their behalf they should not be allowed to.

if however the person kills themselves it is up to them.

in the event that a patient/person is unable to move or 'actively' participate in killing themselves but can speak, or any such activity then you cannot kill them, i know is harsh but too many factors sway my thought on this, what if the person has a mental condition, or has a mental illness just brought on by pain or trauma etc...

*dives out