You mean would we prefer to cling tooth and nail to life even if it was a misery of physical pain and mental anguish? Your question presupposes that people who have opted for suicide or physician assisted death do so out of a belief that they will be reborn; while that may comfort some I'm pretty sure that many others just want the misery to end and recognize the reality that death is an inevitable fact and will come for them sooner or later no matter what they do. (And contrary to what you may choose to believe there is no such thing as involuntary euthanasia in our society, that would be murder)
maybe the comfort meds stop breathing and hearts in some cases but i think in most , the meds merely render a person unconscious as the dying process plays out . we would do the same for an animal without much hesitation .
Euthanasia means killing someone on purpose to end their misery. Involuntary means without permission. Therefore, "involuntary euthanasia" means someone is killed without their permission, aka murder.
Hopefully you are not talking about a loved one who passed away under hospice care....... because there are tons of threads debating hospice going on here all the time.
If I were suffering, I would want to die regardless of whether I believe in eternal life or not. Endless suffering is a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. As far as sedation goes, bring it on! Again, if I were in pain at the end of my life, I wouldn't argue with being sedated to calm my anxiety. Not one bit
I watched a friend die screaming in pain and I would never wish anyone to experience what she had to go through. The only time she wasn't in complete mind blowing pain is when she was completely sedated.
I heard her cries for months in my dreams, it still breaks my heart what she went through.
What difference does it make, I am ready to leave this life, as it is to remove myself from ongoing pain and suffering. We are all born to die, I accept that.
I am a devout believer in Jesus as my Saviour and Lord and I believe that we were given medicine for our benefit.
If I am dying and palliative care will help ease my death for my loved ones, because watching someone suffer and scream in agony is traumatizing to see, then by all means keep me sedated.
I can't imagine that it matters much when you are dying if you think that is it if you are in agony, what would you be holding on to? It's not like you are going to get young if you live in agony long enough, you are going to die.
I guess we will all know what is at the end of life at one point or another. I personally choose to believe that God is alive and HIS promises are real.
Of coarse ! Always relieve my pain if possible. And if in doing so, the high dosage required might hasten my inevitable death, then thank you very much for that compassion. We are often kinder to pets at the end of their lives than we are to the people we love.
We euthanize cats and dogs so they won’t be in pain. Why not people? If they are dying and in pain why not euthanize or morphine to end the pain. We do it with animals. It doesn’t matter if there is an after life or not. It doesn’t have anything to do with euthanasia or palliative sedation.
I do believe in an afterlife and I would still believe in ending/easing the transition of life/pain (NOT murder!) if the time of death was near. I wouldn’t want to lie in bed, in agony or suffering, even if there WASN’T a heaven! I’m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of suffering to reach that point. I want no feeding tubes, ventilator, etc keeping here me on this earth.
I'm very puzzled by this argument. Partly because I'm not sure why end of life meaning end of everything would make anything any worse (or better) than this distressing time is anyway; and partly because I generally associate people who are in favour of euthanasia (voluntary, mainly, though there has been the odd prosecution of overenthusiastic practitioners in Holland) with those who are also pretty confident there is no afterlife.
Their aim, overwhelmingly, is to minimise suffering. I personally feel that killing someone to that end is wrong, but all the same I don't suppose that people's primary motives are dishonourable just because I don't agree with them.
Involuntary euthanasia is murder. There is no jurisdiction anywhere which sanctions killing a person without that person's explicit consent (not counting capital punishment, self defence or legitimate warfare, obviously). I challenge you to name a single person who claims to "believe in" INvoluntary euthanasia as a legitimate approach to end of life care.
As for palliative sedation - I heard a Scottish doctor explain this point very well, I thought. He said: if we had methods of pain relief and sedation which were effective and did not shorten life, we would use them. As it is, we can only use what we have to relieve people's pain and distress; and we have to balance the risks of the drugs against the person's need for them.
I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe in afterlife 100%. I believe in easing pain and suffering through medicines, but do not believe in assisted suicide. I do not believe in the death penalty. I believe there is a time to be born and a time to die. I had a few spiritual experiences I will share with you. I was on the road one very slippery winter day and my car went out of control, I was heading for another car head-on car was spinning around and almost hit the guard rail when I called out to Jesus , my steering wheel at that moment was taken over and guided the car to the side of the road and stopped. I was very upset but knew it was Jesus that helped me out of a very dangerous situation. A woman was hurt in another car and I got out to help her until an ambulance came along. I will never forget this experience as long as I live. My mother was in the ER not speaking, not responding on an Easter morning, told family to go to church and pray. Doctor wanted me to make a decision. Doctor left room and I prayed The Our Father, moments later my mother started talking, and was responding as usual , doctor came in the room and could not believe his eyes, I explained to him. No treatment necessary. The power of God.
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Your question presupposes that people who have opted for suicide or physician assisted death do so out of a belief that they will be reborn; while that may comfort some I'm pretty sure that many others just want the misery to end and recognize the reality that death is an inevitable fact and will come for them sooner or later no matter what they do.
(And contrary to what you may choose to believe there is no such thing as involuntary euthanasia in our society, that would be murder)
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Hopefully you are not talking about a loved one who passed away under hospice care....... because there are tons of threads debating hospice going on here all the time.
If I were suffering, I would want to die regardless of whether I believe in eternal life or not. Endless suffering is a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. As far as sedation goes, bring it on! Again, if I were in pain at the end of my life, I wouldn't argue with being sedated to calm my anxiety. Not one bit
I heard her cries for months in my dreams, it still breaks my heart what she went through.
So I am in complete agreement lealonnie.
If I am dying and palliative care will help ease my death for my loved ones, because watching someone suffer and scream in agony is traumatizing to see, then by all means keep me sedated.
I can't imagine that it matters much when you are dying if you think that is it if you are in agony, what would you be holding on to? It's not like you are going to get young if you live in agony long enough, you are going to die.
I guess we will all know what is at the end of life at one point or another. I personally choose to believe that God is alive and HIS promises are real.
We are often kinder to pets at the end of their lives than we are to the people we love.
Their aim, overwhelmingly, is to minimise suffering. I personally feel that killing someone to that end is wrong, but all the same I don't suppose that people's primary motives are dishonourable just because I don't agree with them.
Involuntary euthanasia is murder. There is no jurisdiction anywhere which sanctions killing a person without that person's explicit consent (not counting capital punishment, self defence or legitimate warfare, obviously). I challenge you to name a single person who claims to "believe in" INvoluntary euthanasia as a legitimate approach to end of life care.
As for palliative sedation - I heard a Scottish doctor explain this point very well, I thought. He said: if we had methods of pain relief and sedation which were effective and did not shorten life, we would use them. As it is, we can only use what we have to relieve people's pain and distress; and we have to balance the risks of the drugs against the person's need for them.