"DOCTORS are HELPING HASTEN the DEATHS of sick CHILDREN" Euthanasia!?!

[theearthisround]

http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=1001

CHICAGO - Researchers in the Netherlands, the first country to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill people, have found that doctors are helping hasten the deaths of sick children in a variety of ways, sometimes at the edges of what the law allows.

......
The new study looked at 64 deaths of ill children during a four-month period. Of those, 42 cases involved medical decisions that could hasten death.

Doctors were given immunity against prosecution and their responses were kept anonymous in the government-sponsored study.

The decisions ranged from withholding life support, a practice accepted in the United States, to administering drugs such as morphine with the intention of ending suffering and hurrying death.

Only one case involved euthanasia in its strictest definition: doctor-assisted death at the patient's request.

(more)
http://www.informationliberation.com/index.php?id=1001

[mzteris]

1. if they're terminally ill and suffering......

why not? It's the kindest thing to do. You don't let your pets suffer needlessly, why should you let people live in agony for no good reason?

[meow2u3]

4. We're not mere animals

If euthanasia were legalized, the Bushies would have us all put down just for opposing his criminal regime. Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

[mzteris]

5. Bush will just let us all die

in the next storm.

Or starve to death.

Or heck, just shoot us.

He doesn't need to hide behind euthanasia.

Euthanasia - for the right reasons at the right time - is a GOOD thing.

[Bridget Burke]

6. Many patients in the USA already get sufficient morphia ....

To relieve their suffering when there is absolutely no hope for extending their lives. When a cure or even meaningful survival are out of the question.

[MockSwede]

10. Mere animals

We ARE just animals. No more special than other animals, intrinsically.

I could do the same study in the US and show that we're doing the same thing here. It's not common and it's not unreasonable.

It's called compassion and each case is different and each minor patient and his/her parents is different in their dire situations.

Whereas, you'll have to shoot me before I shut up about that shit-for-brains, fascist *&^% regime.

[Maple]

2. Yes, legal for some time

and compassionate

[kath]

3. Giving a child who is dying of cancer a dose of morphine that will relieve

pain and anxiety, but which also might suppress respiratory drive, is not a bad thing to do - it is merciful.
<on edit - I'm referring to situations which are clearly end-stage - where death is imminent and is going to occur within the next day or two.>

[Vektor]

7. I am all for assisted suicide, euthanasia, etc.

Try working in an ICU. It gives you a whole new perspective.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. What if people want to live, even with pain?

Many of us don't want to be "put down" like animals.

Most people are scared of the pain they've been conditioned to believe comes with dying, but not all deaths are painful. And drugs can control pain for most patients, if the doctors aren't doing the "Now you don't want to get addicted" routine."

I've had ten or twelve surgeries myself so I can assure you that post-surgical pain can be extreme. But no one argues we should kill post-surgical patients to ease their pain. We give them drugs, although the drugs don't entirely stop the pain.

Find the right drug to ease the particular terminal patient's pain and keep them comfortable until death occurs naturally. The dying have things to resolve in their minds and the process shouldn't be cut short.

[mzteris]

9. No one is talking FORCED

euthanasia - but

- those of us who don't want to suffer needlessly

- nor have our loved ones suffer needlessly through prolonged death agony
- nor waste valuable resources (bed space, medical attention/ supplies, our families' $$)

should be allowed the OPTION of euthanasia if we want it.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. I don't think anyone is talking about doing it against people's will.

If they are, then I agree with you that it's completely wrong.

In this case, they are mostly talking about ending treatment when it has become hopeless, and giving sufficient morphine to relieve pain, even if the sufficient dose may also depress respiration and hasten death by a few hours. They generally don't do those things without the consent of the patient. If you don't want morphine, they won't give it to you.

The difference with the pain from your surgery is that you knew that it would eventually get better. If you were in the same degree of pain and knew that it would only get worse, and that your death was imminent, you might have a different attitude towards it. At any rate, I don't believe anyone would be in favor of taking away your choice.

[MockSwede]

11. ICU tour

I think everyone should be required to sit in an ICU or CCU or CSU for one solid week. And then decide how they or their relatives should be treated.

50% of our healthcare dollars are spent in the last 3 days of life. Heroics that cannot change the outcome. We just cannot get out of the mindset to 'just do something!" And forget the cost - the human toll in suffering exceeds the money, too.

I'm opting for the 'horse with a broken leg' route. Just shoot me when I think I'm pertty well gone with no good hope of fully functional living.

[China_cat]

12. If you think doctors aren't doing this here in the US

you're fooling yourself.

Neonatal ICU nurses are even given instructions not to respond to a code when it's a seriously disabled baby, to let them die.

It's just not out in the open here.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. One of my nursing instructers said that years ago

she witnessed a case where a Down's Syndrome baby was deliberately placed in a room with a baby that had some very serious and contagious illness. The obvious intention was for the baby to contract the illness and be taken off of society's hands. I believe this took place decades ago.

Let's not kid ourselves that we used to honor the sanctity of life back in "the good old days".