I’m not exaggerating by saying there have been times in the past week when I wished I could blow my brains out.
“Take that, cold virus!”
It’s probably a good thing I don’t have any firearms in my home, because I could see how physical suffering could combine with momentary depression/madness to drive one to do something very stupid.
But while suffering from what surely is the cold virus from hell, I got to thinking about people who are terminally ill and are in physical pain 24/7. Surely, there must be moments when they wish they could just end their lives.
No doubt, if a terminal, debilitating (read: painful) illness is diagnosed in my body, I won’t be hanging around long. I’ll be checking out just as quickly as I can — and we will be able to that in Canada, and in Quebec, my native province, with the legalization of euthanasia.
Some argue that euthanasia can be abused: that the medical system may encourage people to take the euthanasia route rather than spend all sorts of public money on prolonged end-of-life care. Then there is the fear that some people with, say, non-terminal illnesses like migraine headaches might choose to end their lives.
In my case, with the cold from hell, I have had the hope of making a fully recovery — even though I inadvertently overdosed on some medications that could have … (I’ll tell you about it sometime.)
But I have no doubt that if there is no hope for recovery and one is in so much pain that they just want life to end asap, euthanasia is the solution.
No doubt, many of my g-g-g-g-generation will be taking that route, perhaps after smoking a good joint and drifting away with Stairway to Heaven playing in the background.
Death, where is they sting?
Unbowed . . .
— Jillian
Whenever people get on this subject I always think of Dr. Donald Low, former head of Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. The man who brought Canada through the SARS epidemic of 2003. He died of a tumor at 68 just 2 years ago in 2013. His impassioned plea to have it as his option while he was dying, made with his wife by his side, has forever convinced me that it should be a right with the appropriate “foresight” in place. The sticky part is the foresight. Because it appears we have not been doing so well with this one in all aspects of professional practice in the Public domain. The other sticky is coming to terms with the word “suicide”. For all our advanced technology we still have not defined it properly. And neither has the medical professional or the Law. Granted, Dr. Low was terminal. And no mention was given of his thoughts on euthanasia if he had not been. All though I think I know what it would have been
LikeLike
Like everything else the right wingnuts rail against, there has been no evidence of anyone abusing assisted suicide where it’s legal. none.
LikeLike