51–60 of 255 posts
This is a really good article, not least for the list of ways that you will be kept medically alive. As for the premise of the article, it is definitely getting easier to die. We had the plumbers and the rubbish collecting workers clear up our communicable chronic diseases, we de-industrialised and cleared up the air, we quit smoking, put on our seat belts and reigned in the alcohol. So far so good. But, if you look…
a Christian fundamentalist doing a 180 on Terri Schiavo because she rediscovered Luddism is certainly an interesting take
The fundamentalist stance on Schiavo's case (to continue care at all costs) was always interesting/puzzling to me. On some level I would assume that people with a strong belief in the afterlife would be more open to letting people pass from this mortal earth than those of us who don't have strong beliefs about an afterlife... but clearly that wasn't the case :P
This is a really good article, not least for the list of ways that you will be kept medically alive. As for the premise of the article, it is definitely getting easier to die. We had the plumbers and the rubbish collecting workers clear up our communicable chronic diseases, we de-industrialised and cleared up the air, we quit smoking, put on our seat belts and reigned in the alcohol. So far so good. But, if you look…
If I can continue in my career at 80, let alone run one of the biggest countries in the world, I’ll be pretty happy. Car dependence, the SAD and obesity are going to bring back heart attacks in ones 60’s - not a generation of hard working octogenarians.
I have CRPS, one of the contenders for worst chronic pain you can have. It's a "suicide disease", because if it advances to stage 3/4, there's a suicide rate of about 70%. It sucks a lot. I've had well over 200 spinal procedures over the last 30 years to try to mitigate the pain, with dozens of other surgical procedures in less tricky spots.
I also have Brugada Syndrome, a "drop dead suddenly without warning" disease. When diagnosed, I wanted to take my time before consenting to having an implanted defib. The doctors announced that "Mr Foster, we believe you are not rational at the moment", fortunately I had a friend with me who assured them I was probably the most rational man in Brisbane.
I was threatened with an ITO (Involuntary Treatment Order) if I didn't go ahead with having an internal defibrilator put in me. I went ahead with the procedure.
So I can't even die by refusing treatment, as "sane" people resist dying at all odds. If I don't want invasive, painful procedures that take over a year to recover from, then the courts will claim I'm suicidal and issue an order to the hospitals to proceed with more bloody cutting.
No, sane people say "I've had enough". Fortunately my current GP understands, as he says "Sometimes people feel they've had enough medicine".
if you opt to stay home to die but youre in terrible pain, who's going to administer the pain meds? whos going to be there 24/7 to clean up or get you whatever you need? what this article is talking about is either very very very expensive home care or a family that basically become full time carers. with our society no longer advocating communal living and a sort of "every man for themselves" attitude throughout lif…
At-home hospice care exists for exactly this reason :)
I'd like to see a survey about opinions on keeping people alive using modern medicine. The survey would have a filter for people who believe in evolution and survival of the fittest. How is the cognitive dissonance around it resolved?
If you are saying that modern medicine keeps some people alive through to parenthood who would otherwise have perished: yes, that’s true. We have made our environment less challenging.
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…
I’m quite convinced that I live in a country where we never let people die like this. Also, I guess prolonging treatment is in the interest of for-profit hospitals as found in other countries, thus as long as your suffering is profitable, you wil…
France does the same but has nationalized healthcare, so it does not seem motivated by profits. It puts pressure on the healthcare system and only brings additional suffering. We could change that, but implementing assisted death needs careful consideration and defeating politically the small subset of people that think life with extreme suffering is precious.
I'd like to see a survey about opinions on keeping people alive using modern medicine. The survey would have a filter for people who believe in evolution and survival of the fittest. How is the cognitive dissonance around it resolved?
Assuming that people being kept alive by modern medicine are better at procreation, they are indeed the fittest.
Of course most of the people being kept alive by modern medicine are old as hell, though, so they are hardly the childbearing or rearing type.
So now I'm confused as to why you brought it up?
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…
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…
Watched my grandfather pass in the same way. Didn’t seem right to let him pass of basically lack of food and hydration after 95 years even though also terminal. I just wanted to see him comfortable and he was far from it.