I am a nurse...I watch people die of terminal illness on an almost daily basis. And its never been the dying that bothers me....its watching the agonizing pain that most of these patients endure before they die. Yes, we give them morphine and everything else we can to ease their pain...but why are they allowed to linger in a semi-comatose, drugged to the gills and yet still in pain state until their body eventually gives out?
We will put animals out of their misery...yet we let people go on for days, weeks, even months in agony I can't even imagine, when their death is inevitable anyway. I am all for mercifully helping these people end their lives. I know if I were terminal...I would want someone to give me the option of an early out. Anyone who thinks that assisted suicide is cruel....volunteer to work with hospice patients. I guarantee you will change your mind.
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Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there ~ Rumi
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