Dutch Euthanasia Rates Steady After Legalization.

Article wrote:WEDNESDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Since euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide were legalized by the Dutch in 2002, use of the practices has dropped slightly and now has stabilized, a new report finds.
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That marks an abrupt turnaround from trends during the last 10 years, say the authors of a study in the May 10
New England Journal of Medicine.

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is legal only in the state of Oregon, while euthanasia is not legal in any state.

"One lesson is there's not a big slippery slope in this area, that the practice will be used relatively infrequently and that it's generally a good thing to have an open conversation,"

There is no slippery slope after all. IMO, if a person is going to die - no question about it - and they're only going to have a long, painful road to that inevitable death, then euthanasia is the best option - given their consent that is. Now here is the part where some of you get to tell me how it is "playing God" and all that crap. Go ahead.



I've never heard of this "part throttle" before. Does it just bolt on?

Euthanasia, like Abortion, has always been practiced. Legal or not, no doctor can watch someone slowly and agonizingly die while begging for it to end and just stand there doing nothing. If any of you have ever had close relatives die and were there you'll know that towards the end they're given morphine in huge doses. Morphine slows down your breathing and your heart, eventually both stop. It's the worst kept secret within the medical community that this is more or less a form of euthanasia.

As for playing God, ANY kind of interference is against God's will. From wearing glasses, to getting a blood transfusion, to abortion. You're not letting god's will occur if you meddle in things that concern life. This is one of those rare times I'll commend the Vatican on the fact that their views on being Pro Life are consistent across the board, and thus significantly differ from what is commonly accepted in America. Vatican says that Abortion, Murder and Euthanasia are sins. Which most people agree with. They also say that War, Capital Punishment and in-vitro fertilisation are sins. Which are not as popular kinds of views..

Can't have kids? It's God's way of telling you to adopt. Someone kill your parents? Forgive him and let go. 9/11? Don't fight back.

However, I always remember that death and cruelty go hand in hand and that it is unreasonable not to expect humans to take lives. Sometimes it's to protect ourselves. Sometimes it's out of kindness. But always will remain the neccesity of death.

Whatever you do, don't take mine. If God wants me dead then so be it, if I must suffer as a part of that death, again, it is my fate and will accept that. Also do not expect me to kill anyone, for "kindness" or whatever reason apart from defence. We all face death alone, asking someone else to part of that process is many things, but mostly it's greedy. Yes, greedy. They want someone else to be a part of that death and live on with the grief and memory of that event just to make their end time easier.

Ever thought that it's not supposed to be easy? It should not be easy to die, you spend your whole life living, letting go of life is counter-intuitive and scarey, as it should be. Taking life should not be easy either. We treat these things far to lightly in my opinion. Are there cases were Euthanasia is the right thing to do? Maybe, likely even, but it should never be easy.

PAX




PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
- Mitch Hedberg (RIP)

if someone wants to die, then that should be their choice. if they are in horrible pain and will die after a long, terrible struggle, then their wishes should be granted. life is hard enough without having to struggle at the end of it. that should be the easy part. what is greedy is not wanting the best for someone else--and yes, sometimes death is whats best. sure, asking someone to help you die might put someone in an awkward position, but if it were legal then there would be professionals to be there solely for that task. try to think of the other person, and from their point of view, instead of just your own. if you dont want help at the end, then thats your choice.

im not going to get too far into details, but my stepdad died a few years ago. he was a bigger guy, was diabetic, and had had a heart attack about 8 years before he passed. since the heart attack, his health really went down hill, but it was the last one year that really was hell. he became bed ridden at home and all of his internal organs slowly shut down on him. because of his past medical history he was not eligible for any transplants and a new heart would have run a couple hundred grand--if we could have even found one--but again, he was so low on the list that a few hundred donors would have had to died at once. he slowly died in front of the family, with his organs slowly atrophying and drying up. his kidneys stopped filtering his blood and fluid swelled up his legs and arms. one of his lungs shut down and he had to be put on an oxygen machine. he lost 150 pounds in 9 months before his heart finally shut down.

i am a Christian, but had i been able to let him go peacefully, you sure as @!#$ better believe i would have. it was hard enough for myself or any of us kids, especially my 13 year old brother, to have to watch that. but i feel the worst for my mom who was married to him for 20 years. since she was an RN she is the one who took care of him day and night. she spent their 20th anniversary in their bedroom taking care of him as he died in her arms. so seriously, fuck you and your selfish and holier-than-thou notion of "death isnt supposed to be easy". i dont wish a protracted death like this on anyone, but i really wish you could experience 1/10th of what it feels like to go through this. maybe then itll change your mind and youll realize what its like.

i say all of this because, hey, if you dont want to be a part of it thats fine. no one is asking you to be. if you want to "suffer as a part of that death, again, it is my fate and will accept that" then thats great. but dont @!#$ it up for the rest of the population just because you think we are taking all of this "too lightly"

I had a friend that took 14 years to die from coranary perforation, so screw you too.

Sorry you had to go through that, but it helped make you who you are. Think about it. I didn't give you your pain, so don't make it personal.

PAX




PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
- Mitch Hedberg (RIP)

im not taking it personal....but im saying that you should think of the other person who is suffering. no matter what we go through, they go through more. assisted suicide/euthanasia whatever.....it should be a person's choice just like anything else.

Euthanasia?

I'm not sure on that, but I don't like the idea of people given license to take their own lives without consultation. I realize the Dutch system requires a doctor to assist and officiate suicide, but Euthanasia is a different story.

Tabasco, it's nothing against you, but my thought is that if it became legal, it would become a lot harder to discern a euthanasia from a murder. I've seen times where an Alzheimer's patient that couldn't see, speak or barely eat.. and was worth about 2 million dollars. You can bet there was someone that just wanted it over (money or not) and someone that wanted the money.

My thoughts on the matter are pretty simple in that case: No Heroic Measures clauses in your living will. I have it in mine for that reason, it's different than euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide, but it spells out where I draw the line when I'm not able to consciously decide.




Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

Do you know why confessions recieved through torture are no good? Because people will say anything when they are in extreme pain. They will do whatever it takes to stop the pain, and that may be a big mistake. They will confess to crimes they did not commit in order to stop the pain.

I once had a very bad lung infection. I thought I had yet another bought of Bronchitis and figured it would clear up without treatment as it usually does. It turns out I had pnuemonia, a bad case. It was left untreated a day or so too long. It took over during the night and I had pain like you wouldn't believe. It felt like every nerve in my body was on fire, my head was in a vice and I had great difficulty breathing. My ears were ringing and I couldn't see. I could barely walk as I was so weak I had trouble holding my own weight up. I lay in agony for some hours waiting for it to pass, but it didn't. I didn't have anyone to help me and I began to wish for death as the pain was intolerable. I can totally understand why people want the pain to end. If I had asked to die and someone had fulfilled that wish, I would not be here. Now, I know I was not terminal, and that others (like say bone cancer patients) have pain that surpasses what I had so it is not a great comparison but the point is that sometimes wanting to die is a mistake brought on by irrational though caused by pain. When you are in extremem pain you do not think clearly, the pain dominates and it may lead to errors. Errors involving death. That is not a risk I'm willing to take.

In case you are curious, I was able to walk/crawl (I regained some vision) to and hospital as I lived about 5 blocks from one and when I got there they said I had about 4 hours before the lung infection would have killed me. They gave me oxygen, a shot of something and some anti-bodies. I made a full recovery in about 2 days with about 2 weeks of follow up.

When I said (if you read it again) there may be cases where it is appropriate, but it should never be easy. That's my point, if you make it too easy, there'll be mistakes, or as GAM pointed out, murder. People are opportunistic and cannot be trusted with the ability to kill without consequence. If you truely believe in something, the law will not stop you. If you "help" someone die, and you truely believe it is the right thing to do, then you should be willing to face the public scrutiny and possible jail time too. People will give their lives in defence of an abstract like "nationhood" then they should be willing to make sacrifices in order to do what is right. That should keep away those who are not doing it for just and nobel reasons.

Without courage of conviction, people will not take that chance. IF it truely is the right thing to do, then may the courst have mercy.

PAX




PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
- Mitch Hedberg (RIP)

^^^why everyone should have a living will descibing what they want done in those circumstances...

At least with me, if i'm ever in that position, my freinds know to drop me into downtown baghdad with a sign in arabic saying something to the effect of "Al Queda lick camel @!#$s" and a sword of mine do i can go out in a blaze of glory...


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

OK, fair enough...

PAX




PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated
- Mitch Hedberg (RIP)