should patients be able to choose to end their life if they are in pain and dying

Junebugfairy · Mar 24, 2009

should patients be able to choose to end their life if they are in pain and dying?

death is a natural and normal part of life, and i accept that. i do not accept that death has to painful, drawn out, or an awful experience.

i would actually have no problem administering a lethal drug if it was legal to do so, and if the patient had requested such care.

i cannot fathom why a patient dying slowly and in pain should have to suffer like that if they do not want to.

i am a patient advocate, and if they choose to die more quickly with less pain, i will be their advocate.

lovehospital · Mar 24, 2009

No because it is a sin...committing suicide even under the worse condition is never right in my opinion.

lovehospital · Mar 24, 2009

We are decades away from pt's being able to decide they want to be euthanized. It's a mine field. How often do you really think that a patient and a patients family and the primary care physician are all going to agree that a pt should be euthanized? Who's going to do it?
There is no real reason in this day and age that a pt should have to be in agonizing pain. The real focus needs to be on pain control. As caregivers we are not in a position to assist in anyones life ending unnaturally. The reasons why, are too numerous to mention. Even if you put completely aside the moral issues involved in this and any religious ideations, which you can't, who would decide what patients qualify to be euthanized. If a seven year old with cancer wants to be euthanized will that be honored? Can a father for a 21 year old, mentally handicapped person decide their child needs to be euthanized? If not, why not? Do you see where this is leading?
You just can't compare pets to people.
Here's why....
Euthanasia in pets is an option that occurs outside of what the animal feels about it. If a dog were to be able to say. I want to be euthanized it would be diffrent. If a dog were able to say, "my pain is a 10/10" that could be addressed as well. It's unlikely that we'll soon see a hospice for pets, where pain control is monitored.
We can offer pain control. We can offer support, loving kindness. We can not become the ministers of death. My opinion.

Yeah it is funny how people justify the reason to put the dog to sleep.My friends mother just did that cause the dog had a paralysis....and then she claims she is such an animal lover,she didnt even give the dog a chance to recover and she was a young happy dog,my dog got paralized not long ago (bad jump) and my family paid for the spine surgery,the dog is gradually improving,his sensation return and he may walk again..but I gave it a chance as I didnt want to end a relative young enthusiastic dog's life.

Atheos · Mar 24, 2009

Yeah it is funny how people justify the reason to put the dog to sleep.My friends mother just did that cause the dog had a paralysis....and then she claims she is such an animal lover,she didnt even give the dog a chance to recover and she was a young happy dog,my dog got paralized not long ago (bad jump) and my family paid for the spine surgery,the dog is gradually improving,his sensation return and he may walk again..but I gave it a chance as I didnt want to end a relative young enthusiastic dog's life.

My dog had severe hip dysplasia, pooped all over himself, whimpered all day long and was on 2 seperate pain killers.

My mother put him out of his misery

If I'm ever that bad , if the nurse won't help me I'll do it my ****ed self.

rn/writer, RN · Mar 24, 2009

Before we talk about euthanizing people, maybe we should look at the intermediate step of allowing nature to take its course and letting people die of things that we now routinely battle in the name of prolonging life.

Pneumonia used to be called the old person's friend because, untreated, it took folks painlessly in their sleep. Now, we launch an antibiotic onslaught and "save" just about everyone because we can.

In between "force 'em to live" and "help 'em to die" is the choice to withhold aggressive treatment while providing comfort and support measures. IMO, there are many older patients who would opt for this if they thought their families and the medical community would respect their wishes and not try to engage them in a power struggle.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 24, 2009

a terminal patient ought to have the right to choose to end their life if they are able. but they should not have the right to involve me in ending it. there are ways to end your own life if you want to, and if you can convince your family to help you. but i don't need that stain on my soul.

leslie :-D · Mar 24, 2009

Before we talk about euthanizing people, maybe we should look at the intermediate step of allowing nature to take its course and letting people die of things that we now routinely battle in the name of prolonging life.
Pneumonia used to be called the old person's friend because, untreated, it took folks painlessly in their sleep. Now, we launch an antibiotic onslaught and "save" just about everyone because we can.
In between "force 'em to live" and "help 'em to die" is the choice to withhold aggressive treatment while providing comfort and support measures. IMO, there are many older patients who would opt for this if they thought their families and the medical community would respect their wishes and not try to engage them in a power struggle.

see, this is where it gets a bit slippery.

are we talking about terminal disease or treatable conditions that we'd choose not to treat...

by virtue of just being old, or whatever imposed criteria develops?

miranda, i'm thinking i am misunderstanding you?

leslie

mom35 · Mar 24, 2009

I do think that a patient should be able to end life experience if the disease is terminal and they are in pain. I believe that it is the last right we have in the life experience and to have it taken away is unjust.

Chewie_123 · Mar 24, 2009

We can't stop death.

We can stop it from being full of pain and fear.

That's a darn powerful gift we've been given.

That being said, there are alot of grey areas and slippery slopes involved, and the answer to the question needs to be tailored to each individual patient and family.

HippyGreenPeaceChick · Mar 24, 2009

When it comes to other people or patients I really do not know how to answer. But for myself, when life is all about suffering then I choose to do what is right for me. Meantime I am young, extremely healthy, so I am not going to dwell on this. But after having served in the military supposedly to uphold our freedoms and freedom to choose for ourselves. We all have the right of self determination as it affects us.

Junebugfairy · Mar 25, 2009

we can't stop death.
we can stop it from being full of pain and fear.
that's a darn powerful gift we've been given.
that being said, there are alot of grey areas and slippery slopes involved, and the answer to the question needs to be tailored to each individual patient and family.

absolutely!! wonderfully staed :yeah:

one size certainly does not fit all, so we must tailor any treatment to fit the needs of the individual patient.

ShayRN · Mar 25, 2009

This will never happen consistanly in our country. Doctors don't even want to get HOSPICE involved. It is the old "treat at any cost" mentality. Had a social worker stop in last night to drop off a patient's teeth (lol, just realized how that sounded.) She told me she had to fight the pulmonary doc to send the patient, he said the patient was still breathing "OK" so why hospice? She got the order from the PCP. Doctors are so freaking afraid of being sued if they don't do EVERYTHING, regardless if there is a living will in place or not. How many of us have seen family screaming "Save my mom!" You know, mom, the CVA, MI, Ca with Mets everywhere, go ahead, do CPR or I am going to sue. Grrrr, I get so darn mad.

The other thing is this, the NURSE'S who will not treat people because, ofcourse, morphine kills. Lets think about this, if Morphine kills how do we have so many heroin, meth and coke addicts. Following that reasoning, even a small amount of any one of those would kill people left and right. THINK this through, it isn't the morphine that kills the patient, it is the extensive cancer in their brain, lung, kidney, colon, etc. It isn't the morphine it is the massive MI that made it so the patient has a 10% EF. IT ISN"T THE MORPHINE IT IS THE DISEASE PROCESS!!!! Teaching, Teaching, TEACHING needs to happen...We need to change the thinking to this: My patient is in pain. Lets start low and go slow. Low dose of morphine doesn't work, next time we give a bit more. Maybe then we won't have so many patients begging us to kill them because they can't stand the pain another second. We all should be ASHAMED that in this day of extreme technological advancements, that our dying should suffer in pain. It should NOT happen.