If it weren't so serious, it would be funny
I was reading through comments left at my church blog written over 3 years ago. I was describing dehydration and starvation as a medical treatment--and it wasn't about Terri, but about an elderly man I knew, whose daughters were trying to go around the stepmother's wishes. My list for his end of life included:· Dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose throat and genital organs)
· Constipation
· Impaction (buildup of stool in the body), severe abdominal cramping and bloating, nausea and vomiting
· Electrolyte imbalances (salt and water problems in the blood and tissues)
· Arrhythmias (heart problems); myalgias and malaise (muscle pain and marked fatigue)
· Cough and shortness of breath
· Severe depression and confusion, severe agitation and fear, delusions
· Dry, cracked skin
· Urinary, vaginal and bowel infection
· Bronchitis and pneumonia
· Blood in the bowel, stomach, kidney and lungs, kidney failure
· General systemic collapse and death
Three comments were left, either by spam bots or real people with bad English who surf the internet with key words. 1) If you suffer these symptoms . . ., 2) I have the pleasure of visiting your site. . .contact______for medical services, 3) You may want to read about obesity. . .
The irony of a spammer or bot trying to help when the wife and staff were colluding to kill him.
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2 comments:
Doesn't some or all of that happen anyway when a very sick person dies?
In other words, wouldn't it be more effect to argue that assisted suicide is wrong rather than "wrong because it's dehumanizing and painful"?
Death, after all, is dehumanizing and painful too.
John Donne counsels us against assuming that dying is a quiet, peaceful affair.
Not at all, Chuck. Some people die very peacefully, and the systems just quietly shut down. Dehydration and starvation are an entirely different set of symptoms. In this man's case, his only crime was that parts of his body weren't working--but those that signaled thirst and hunger were working fine. It was an evil, assisted death.
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