Euthanasia video
- This is a documentary of how Craig choose to die by euthanasia. this video shows us the whole process of how euthanasia is performed.
Questions about the video:
1. Shouldn't a person be able to say that his or her pain and suffering is too much to bear, and have the right to be free of that suffering?
Our duties toward others and ourselves certainly require reasonable efforts to alleviate suffering. At the same time, it is impossible to live without suffering, and therefore it makes no sense to talk about a "right" to be completely free of it. The pro-euthanasia movement maintains that our rights include determining the time and manner of our own death. First of all, given the fact that people die unexpectedly every day of both natural and accidental causes, this philosophy is patently absurd. If, however, one simply considers the so-called right to choose deathwhen suffering is too great, then we have to ask the question of what kind of suffering qualifies.
Who is to say, in other words, that the suffering of a teenager who has just flunked his most important class in school, lost his girlfriend, and been kicked off the football team, isn't a suffering too great for him to bear? What if he thinks it is? Do we allow him to commit suicide -- because he has the right to determine the end of his life -- or do we call a crisis hotline? The question is critical, because either people do not have the right to end their lives in any circumstance, or else they do have that right, and the circumstances don't matter.
[http://www.priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/euthanasiaqanda.htm]
2. Should people be forced to stay alive?
No. A lot of people think that euthanasia or assisted suicide is needed so patients won’t be forced to remain alive by being “hooked up” to machines. But the law already permits patients or their surrogates to withhold or withdraw unwanted medical treatment even if that increases the likelihood that the patient will die. Thus, no one needs to be hooked up to machines against their will.
Neither the law nor medical ethics requires that “everything be done” to keep a person alive. Insistence, against the patient’s wishes, that death be postponed by every means available is contrary to law and practice. It is also cruel and inhumane.
There comes a time when continued attempts to cure are not compassionate, wise, or medically sound. That’s when hospice, including in-home hospice care, can be of great help. That is the time when all efforts should be directed to making the patient’s remaining time comfortable. Then, all interventions should be directed to alleviating pain and other symptoms as well as to providing emotional and spiritual support for both the patient and the patient’s loved ones.
[http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/frequently-asked-questions/]
3. Wouldn’t euthanasia and assisted suicide only be at a patient’s request?
No. As one of their major goals, euthanasia proponents seek to have euthanasia and assisted suicide considered “medical treatment.” If one accepts the notion that euthanasia or assisted suicide is a good medical treatment, then it would not only be inappropriate, but discriminatory, to deny this good treatment to a person solely because that person is too young or mentally incapacitated to request it.
In the United States, a surrogate’s decision is often treated, for legal purposes, as if the patient had made it. That means that, if euthanasia is legal, a court challenge could result in a finding that a surrogate could make a request for death on behalf of a child or an adult who doesn’t have decision-making capacity.
In the Netherlands, a 1990 government sponsored survey found that .8% of all deaths in the Netherlands were euthanasia deaths that occurred without a request from the patient.(31) And in a 1995 study, Dutch doctors reported ending the lives of 948 patients without their request.(32)
Suppose, however that surrogates were not permitted to choose death for another and that doctors did not end patients’ lives without their request. The fact still remains that subtle, even unintended, pressure would still be unavoidable.
Such was the case with an elderly woman who died under Oregon’s assisted suicide law:
Kate Cheney, 85, reportedly had been suffering from early dementia. After she was diagnosed with cancer, her own physician declined to provide a lethal prescription for her. Counseling was sought to determine if she was capable of making health care decisions.
A psychiatrist found that Mrs. Cheney was not eligible for assisted suicide since she was not explicitly pushing for it, her daughter seemed to be coaching her to do so, and she couldn’t remember important names and details of even a recent hospital stay.
Mrs. Cheney was then taken to a psychologist who said she was competent but possibly under the influence of her daughter who was “somewhat coercive.” Finally, a managed care ethicist who was overseeing her case determined that she was qualified for assisted suicide, and the lethal drugs were prescribed.(33)
[http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/frequently-asked-questions/]