We're all dying, without any chance of getting better. But we're not dead yet. Most people want to die more slowly.
I think you are being deliberately obtuse there.We're all dying, without any chance of getting better. But we're not dead yet. Most people want to die more slowly.
My Grandfather has a stroke when in his late 70's. The last few years of his life were a living hell for him, stripped of his mental and physical abilities and, more than anything, his dignity. He cried a lot. I remember him saying shortly before he died, as I wiped his excrement off his legs and backside, that he wished he's died when he had the stroke and his greatest hope for me was that nobody ever had to do that for me.
I agree; I'm a stroke survivor myself.This is not every stroke survivors experience.
I don't.I think that there is a real danger that the fear of the situation you outline can push people into premature death.
Let's find a middle ground then, where quality of life is also part of the discussion.Relatives, medical staff, carers, even the people concerned themselves can become overly fixated on the negative and begin to see a life as no longer worthwhile.
From what I've read an Advance Healthcare Directive (or a Living Will) deals with the type and extent of medical or surgical treatment you want in the future, assuming that you won't be able to make that decision yourself.You can make an Advanced Healthcare Directive.
I think that there is a real danger that the fear of the situation you outline can push people into premature death.
Relatives, medical staff, carers, even the people concerned themselves can become overly fixated on the negative and begin to see a life as no longer worthwhile.
Let's find a middle ground then, where quality of life is also part of the discussion.
Quality of life should be, and is, a major part of the discussion. But there is a creeping culture of death. We'll all be a long time dead. Anyone with an interest in the subject could do worse than read https://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Mind-Dying-Wisdom-Denial/dp/0008210888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532950091&sr=8-1&keywords=with+the+end+in+mind (With the End in Mind); I found it compelling and surprisingly easy going. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-Mortal-Illness-Medicine-Wellcome/dp/1846685826/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1846685826&pd_rd_r=a6bf914c-93eb-11e8-815a-311feeeff6b5&pd_rd_w=YGmvI&pd_rd_wg=tXzFG&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=3332058357179395958&pf_rd_r=B546K4T2T1MSRNMJWR9E&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=B546K4T2T1MSRNMJWR9E (Being Mortal) is also a good read. No doubt we'll all agree on the desire for dignity in death, but perhaps disagree on what that looks like.It could be said that individual cases prove nothing but I think that there is a tendency to think, "they are old, they have a poor quality of life, let them go"
Thanks . I have amended my post so as not to discriminate.We can't discriminate against people because they are Roman Catholic. We can insist that they operate within the ethical framework set down by the HSE or the State through legislation. I do have a problem with any religious group having an input into how those guidelines are set.
For example the Hibernal Forum is noted as a conservative or right wing group but the Nevin Research Institute is not noted as the propaganda office of the Trade Unions.
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