This is why, after the Schiavo situation in Florida, Janet and I had a
long discussion about what we'd want in a similar situation. Now our
parents and her brother and my sister (our "next of kin") have copies of
our durable powers of attorney for health care decisions.
The criteria we have chosen is very specific and the chance that we
would not recover would have to be very high for the decision to
terminate life support to be implemented. We have also set it so that a
physician not connected with our care would have to concur with our
treating physician. If they disagree, it's a no-go.
That way, no one is forced to make these decisions for us. My granddad
had heart surgery some 20 years ago that didn't turn out well, and my
grandmother, dad and aunts were faced with making the decision whether
to "pull the plug." He was 82, and had been quite active until the
summer before the surgery, and had lived a great life, so the decision
was relatively clear (but definitely not easy!). He would have never
come off a respirator, and, from what the doctors said, wouldn't have
regained consciousness. He'd been comatose for about three weeks, and
the coma was deepening.
Kendall
An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Walker [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 2:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [C-PALSY] FW: Melanie Phillips's Articles has been updated
Completely agreed. That is why I don't want anyone making the
decision for anyone else, especially not doctors. I just want the
right to make it for myself. I think everyone has the right to make
that decision according to their own conscience.
I agree it's a slippery slope. Doctors also sterilized people when
they should not have done so.
On the other hand if I am vegetative I do not want to take resources
from others like Case. Medical care is finite and although I am not
ready to die, I do feel I've lived a full life and if completely
paralyzed so I could not even communicate, I would be ok with dying.
That's just me and I would NEVER want to impose that on anyone else
because everyone has their own belief about death which needs to be
respected. I also don't want religious people mandating I be kept
alive in that state though.
At 11:06 AM 9/11/2006, you wrote:
>Then there's the slippery slope of, "who determines if a person's
quality of
>life is mediocre?" A doctor could look at Case, for example, and say
his
>quality of life isn't good, and have him "euthanized." It has
happened
>before, in the little Holocaust. Nazi Germany euthanized (murdered)
more
>than 600,000 people just like us, in the T4 program. Please don't go
down
>that slide.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of
>Linda Walker
>Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 4:16 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: FW: Melanie Phillips's Articles has been updated
>
>This is just me but I think, but obviously cannot know, that I would
>rather be given a lethal injection or something like that rather than
>stay in a permanent vegetative state. I think euthanasia is a
>rational approach to quality of life issues. Unlike Meir, I am not a
>religious person so those factors do not affect my decisions.
>When my father was dying of multiple autonomic failure it was a long
>process and they took extraordinary means to keep him alive long
>after he was ready to die. Twice they saved him when he would have
>rather they let him go because his quality of life was so diminished.
>We had talked about this while he was sick but before he lost his
>ability to communicate by talking. You could see in his eyes though
>that he was ready to die and disappointed to wake up again.
>These are difficult questions but I want to be able to make my
>decision based on what I think. I do not however want to make the
>decision for anyone else who thinks differently about it. It is true
>that the brain recovers very slowly.
>
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