101–110 of 255 posts
> Spend your remaining days at home if possible. This sounds appealing in the abstract but one thing to consider is the impact on other family members. My parents had a neighbor who chose to remain at home. However that meant his wife also had to stay at home to look after him (yes there were nurses who came in a couple of times a day, but a lot of the burden was still on the wife.) This meant her own life basically…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and unable to drink, so certainly terribly thirsty the whole time. I know people that work in hospice, and they say this is a big misconception (the article hints at it too). they patients don't die from lack of water, they don't want water because they are dying, and their body can't process it. In fact, as you kind of touched on at the start, giving them IV fluids can cause them to drown since their body can't pr…
Oregon pioneered death with dignity so this is a huge surprise.
I'm wondering if it only anticipated pacemakers being disabled for malice or out of negligence.
I'd like dying to be as easy as flicking a switch. Medically-assisted suicide ought to be available to anyone (not only of sound mind and not only with a terminal condition), and at any time. People ought to have the right to die, just like they have the right to water, food, and shelter. In most countries it is currently easier to take other people's lives than to take one's own. People ought to be able to step into…
Let's run a thought experiment - you make death super easy like in a suicide booth in Futurama. How many people are going to fight life obstacles, pushing society forward, or rather terminally quit at the first sign of troubles? Nihilism was quite popular in the 19th century and led us to two world wars already. All you'll get is a quick extinction of people like you in favor of those that persist and your opinion wi…
Nihilism is only just now having an impact in the academy as it is the intellectual foundation of post modernist and critical theory.
Recently watched someone close die over a couple days, after a long decline. The last 24 hours were monstrous to inflict on anyone. Torture. Evil. Hours and hours of faltering breathing, often restarting with what was plainly a panicked adrenaline-pumping response. It looked like they felt like they were about to drown every few minutes , hour, after hour, no relief. No IV fluids (terminal anyway, so no trying to kee…
He got pneumonia at the stage where he was having to use an oxygen machine at home. At the hospital he asked the doctors if he'd be able to go home, and they said it was highly unlikely.
So, he asked them to turn off the oxygen, which they did. He passed peacefully a few hours later.
Sure, we might have gotten a few extra months with him, but I'm so glad the doctors respected his wishes. My worst fear was him having to endure something like what you describe.
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you’re going to have a painful death with or without the tubes But I feel that was the main point at the start of the thread: if death is certain and going to be painful, why must we drag it out? Why is that additional lifespan (measured in days) so much more important than comfort?
The point is that it's not certain. With the medical assistance you might recover fine and live another five happy years. Is it really worth trading away that opportunity just to not accidentally die on a ventilator? I'm not sure.
[1] https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/03/how-doctors-die/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's run a thought experiment - you make death super easy like in a suicide booth in Futurama. How many people are going to fight life obstacles, pushing society forward, or rather terminally quit at the first sign of troubles? Nihilism was quite popular in the 19th century and led us to two world wars already. All you'll get is a quick extinction of people like you in favor of those that persist and your opinion wi…
In the West I think alcohol is a massive factor, when talking about the moods of large numbers of people in those days. It is no accident that alcoholic drinking was banned outright for some time, despite the deep cultural roots.
> Spend your remaining days at home if possible. This sounds appealing in the abstract but one thing to consider is the impact on other family members. My parents had a neighbor who chose to remain at home. However that meant his wife also had to stay at home to look after him (yes there were nurses who came in a couple of times a day, but a lot of the burden was still on the wife.) This meant her own life basically…
No place is rather be than with my spouse in a time like that!
* Spouse has dementia, does not recognize you, abuses you for being an intruder in the house, constantly shouts for help all times of day and night.
* Feeding, cleaning (double incontinence).
* Can't go out except for a few minutes when nurses are present.
The above goes on for months and even years with no end in sight. No chance to go out for exercise, hikes in nature, meeting friends. Isolation. At home carers have significantly reduced life expectancy for good reason.
Having hospice care where they can be well looked after is not a bad option, and is not a sign of weakness or failure for a partner.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is that it's not certain. With the medical assistance you might recover fine and live another five happy years. Is it really worth trading away that opportunity just to not accidentally die on a ventilator? I'm not sure.
There's a good article[1] on this topic that talks about how older doctors generally choose to forego lifesaving measures. I think about it a lot because it seems like when a professional who's in the best position to know the tradeoffs makes this kind of decision for themselves they probably understand the risk/reward better than you or me. [1] https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/03/how-doctors-die/
Kind of a tough read, I just turned 37 and this was the year when it really hit home that your body degrades and sometimes it never goes back to "normal". I was used to sports injuries being a pattern of injury -> recovery -> ramp back up to 100%, but have suffered some injuries recently and am coming to terms with realizing I will never return to 100%. They will be lingering things I deal with for the rest of my lif…
I'm a fair bit older than you... What you're saying is true but it's also worth mentioning your body has capabilities you're probably far from reaching. Most people your age can still exceed any physical accomplishment they've had in their lifetime if they really want to. E.g. they can play sports better than they ever had and they can achieve personal bests in any physical ability. If you were a top level profession…
I'd like dying to be as easy as flicking a switch. Medically-assisted suicide ought to be available to anyone (not only of sound mind and not only with a terminal condition), and at any time. People ought to have the right to die, just like they have the right to water, food, and shelter. In most countries it is currently easier to take other people's lives than to take one's own. People ought to be able to step into…
Let's run a thought experiment - you make death super easy like in a suicide booth in Futurama. How many people are going to fight life obstacles, pushing society forward, or rather terminally quit at the first sign of troubles? Nihilism was quite popular in the 19th century and led us to two world wars already. All you'll get is a quick extinction of people like you in favor of those that persist and your opinion wi…