Is physician assisted mercy-killing acceptable in your opinion?
For me, I would have to say yes. I would knowingly take the life of a friend or relative if it would ease them of immense suffering.
Euthanasia
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Post #51
About a year ago, my dog succumbed to lung cancer. We could have let him linger painfully, but fortunately, we didn't have to. We are allowed to help animals, and not required to make them suffer.
My mom, my dad, and my inlaws all signed do-not-resuscitate orders. They really wanted to avoid the feeding tubes, considering that to be cruel and unusual punishment. Had they been hooked up to such tubes, they explicitly asked to be removed. Fortunately, no tubes were involved for the three of them who are no longer with us. For my mom, who went first, it was a many-year decline that was horrible to watch and even more horrible to endure. We were not allowed to help her. Her physician, a kind and caring man, suggested we move her to a "less clean" hospital, so that she might catch pneumonia.
My dad had another caring physician--one of his own graduate students who honored him as he would his own father. After my dad broke his hip, and was confined to recuperative care, he wasn't too concerned about things. He was convinced he was in Patagonia, and that we'd joined the Navy (how else could we have gotten there to visit?). But he didn't linger long. No lethal doses of morphine were recorded, and the cause of death is stated as emphysema. The vancomycin-resistant flesh-eating infection, which he got when he fell in the hospital and broke his hip, didn't spread much.
I'm sure there are many stories that could be told, on both sides of the issue. The problem is, those who favor treating our loved ones as humanely as we are allowed to treat animals get the short end of the stick. They are trumped by those who believe there is such a thing as sin, the avoidance of which outweighs compassion. Couldn't we let the individuals involved decide? Or, if they are incapacitated, couldn't their loved ones do so? Why must only one side of the debate trump the other?
My mom, my dad, and my inlaws all signed do-not-resuscitate orders. They really wanted to avoid the feeding tubes, considering that to be cruel and unusual punishment. Had they been hooked up to such tubes, they explicitly asked to be removed. Fortunately, no tubes were involved for the three of them who are no longer with us. For my mom, who went first, it was a many-year decline that was horrible to watch and even more horrible to endure. We were not allowed to help her. Her physician, a kind and caring man, suggested we move her to a "less clean" hospital, so that she might catch pneumonia.
My dad had another caring physician--one of his own graduate students who honored him as he would his own father. After my dad broke his hip, and was confined to recuperative care, he wasn't too concerned about things. He was convinced he was in Patagonia, and that we'd joined the Navy (how else could we have gotten there to visit?). But he didn't linger long. No lethal doses of morphine were recorded, and the cause of death is stated as emphysema. The vancomycin-resistant flesh-eating infection, which he got when he fell in the hospital and broke his hip, didn't spread much.
I'm sure there are many stories that could be told, on both sides of the issue. The problem is, those who favor treating our loved ones as humanely as we are allowed to treat animals get the short end of the stick. They are trumped by those who believe there is such a thing as sin, the avoidance of which outweighs compassion. Couldn't we let the individuals involved decide? Or, if they are incapacitated, couldn't their loved ones do so? Why must only one side of the debate trump the other?
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Post #53
So let me get this straight.
If you can't control any of your bodily functions and people constantly have to move you around, clean you and make sure you get the right food through the tubes, yo are living in dignity?I see a wonderful correlation there.
If one dies with dignity it simply means that they die whilst still having some dignity and not degrading themselves to a point where they are dependent completely on other people.I think most people prefer to live with true dignity as opposed to the "dignity" that you are proposing.
I know life is valuable if if you don't want to live, you have your god given choice.
If you can't control any of your bodily functions and people constantly have to move you around, clean you and make sure you get the right food through the tubes, yo are living in dignity?I see a wonderful correlation there.
If one dies with dignity it simply means that they die whilst still having some dignity and not degrading themselves to a point where they are dependent completely on other people.I think most people prefer to live with true dignity as opposed to the "dignity" that you are proposing.
I know life is valuable if if you don't want to live, you have your god given choice.
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seen da light
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Post #55
maybe you should stop watching so much tv
I have the choice right now to kill myself.I won't do it because I serve Jesus and well, he has a plan for me to do great things.However If i didn't I could go and kill myself.Is god going to put down has hand and take away the blade(no) or put a safety net if i jump from a building(no)?
so we have the choice to live and whether we want to kill ourselves.
God tells us not to but if you don't listen, he doesn't stop you.he doesn't stop you from believing in hinduism or islam.He gave us choice and if you choose to go against what god said,thats called sin.If he did stop us, we would simply be puppets and have no need to even have a brain.God created us to love him, not be puppets who always declare our love for him because he said so.
this isn't the appropriate post site to discuss this further however,here is a brief answer
God bless
I have the choice right now to kill myself.I won't do it because I serve Jesus and well, he has a plan for me to do great things.However If i didn't I could go and kill myself.Is god going to put down has hand and take away the blade(no) or put a safety net if i jump from a building(no)?
so we have the choice to live and whether we want to kill ourselves.
God tells us not to but if you don't listen, he doesn't stop you.he doesn't stop you from believing in hinduism or islam.He gave us choice and if you choose to go against what god said,thats called sin.If he did stop us, we would simply be puppets and have no need to even have a brain.God created us to love him, not be puppets who always declare our love for him because he said so.
this isn't the appropriate post site to discuss this further however,here is a brief answer
God bless
Re: Euthanasia
Post #56Yes. Our culture's unhealthy view of death (death = bad) often makes it hard to recognize that death can be an incredibly freeing, beautiful thing. We fear that if we let someone die (or worse, actively participate in making them die, even with merciful intentions), we will be punished, either by the law or by divine wrath. This fear turns the whole issue into a very selfish one.fonso wrote:Is physician assisted mercy-killing acceptable in your opinion?
Re: Euthanasia
Post #57For me it is as well. If I were disabled I would certainly not want to live here. It's all or nothing for me. If one of my friends wanted to die I'd be the first to help. After all, it's their choice.fonso wrote:Is physician assisted mercy-killing acceptable in your opinion?
For me, I would have to say yes. I would knowingly take the life of a friend or relative if it would ease them of immense suffering.
Only by facing the direction of the rising sun can one find a new day.
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seen da light
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Post #58
regardless of the suffering, God still has a purpose for them. I know of a man who lived in extreme pain for a couple of years before the lord brought him home. now, had he taken this way out, he would have been disregarding God's will for his life.
While he was ill, he did immense things and we saw many people saved from the eternal damnation that awaits all not covered by the blood of Jesus.
So, for me, a "mercy killing" is nothing more then murder and since God still has a purpose for you(you're alive) you shouldn't be willing or wanting to kill yourself.remember, where there is true faith, healing comes.
God bless
While he was ill, he did immense things and we saw many people saved from the eternal damnation that awaits all not covered by the blood of Jesus.
So, for me, a "mercy killing" is nothing more then murder and since God still has a purpose for you(you're alive) you shouldn't be willing or wanting to kill yourself.remember, where there is true faith, healing comes.
God bless
