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March 16, 2012
He Walked the Walk
In my usual perusing various news sources for anything interesting, I fell upon this article about a doctor in Oregon. He was someone who campaigned for and helped to get a Death with Dignity law passed in his state. Then last week, he used that law for his own benefit, at the age of 83 after suffering through a disease similar to Parkinson's.
I've never really understood why we treat our pets with more compassion than we do our family and ourselves. Any time we have a pet that is near death, or in pain or suffering due to an incurable illness, we do what we feel is right and euthanize the animal. However, many don't feel like we deserve that right for ourselves. The opposition will argue that
the proposal would promote suicide among the mentally ill or even wrongdoing by doctors and unscrupulous relatives.That just seems shortsighted to me. It takes more than a family member or a wayward doctor to make these decisions. There's only one thing that any of us truly owns in this world that that is our own lives. However, do we really own it when the only options for taking one's own life are either gruesome or painful? If someone has an untreatable disease that simply leads to suffering and a painful end, why not let the person bypass that part?
Lastly, does something being illegal mean that something isn't going to happen? Of course not.
Goodwin pointed out that the acts he sought to legalize were going on quietly between doctors and terminally ill patients anyway. The proposed law, he said, restricted the right to rational people who were at the ends of their lives and repeatedly requested their physicians' help to end their suffering.Legalizing this will remove some burden and fear from physicians. Just like anything else, a physician who does not believe in this action will not be forced to perform it. Instead it merely allows those who do agree with it to help. If anybody deserves help, it should be those who are suffering.
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Unless the person is suffering from some kind of treatable mental illness, it is illegitimate to keep somebody alive against their will. By what right do we tell a person what they can do with their own body and their own life? I've yet to find a doctor who opposes euthanasia in total, or supports incarceration for drug addicts for that matter.
There are many instances in which human beings treat animals with more compassion than their own. I suppose there really are some animals that are "better" than some people, but when it comes to your own kids, I'll never understand how parents will feed them things like McDonald's fries that would be considered cruel to feed to a dog or cat.
Posted by: Dan at March 16, 2012 9:00 AMCompassionate consideration might be OK between individual doctor and patient, but pretty dangerous if the obamacare death panels are provided any incentive to cut back on end of life health services sooner than they might otherwise have already. How long would it take for treatments being reduced/denied under federal government health insurance program to result in sufficient suffering that would justify the relief option to be covered and implemented? "Don't worry, we're cutting off your medication but it won't be long now before we give you something that will make ALL your pain go away - and you along with it".
Posted by: Jon at March 16, 2012 12:48 PMLooks like Patrick doesn't know this is a pro life blog. Next thing he will be saying birth control is ok.
Posted by: JimJebow at March 16, 2012 6:16 PMJustin needs to put this guy in check.