Took a few weeks off, had to adjust to the disappointment of the Phillies losing the NLCS to the Giants, which will be discussed in a upcoming blog post, but onto the matter at hand.....
Watched, "You Don't Know Jack", yesterday, I highly recommend it, it's a good film. That's not surprising because it stars Al Pacino, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Danny Huston; it's a glimpse at the life & work of Jack Kevorkian. Personally, I've never seen what he does or advocates as a crime, wrong, unnecessary action or power trip. And this became world news in the 90's when I was only 9-17 years of age, and all I thought was he's a man trying to help not destroy. If anything, he was trying to destroy days of living not being able to live.
He was helping those who were suffering end their suffering, whom are others to determine they're not to decide their own fate. Doctors and families decide the same exact thing, when removing someone from a feeding tube or oxygen machine and technically with the death penalty (which I'm so for and we need to use more). And those people are usually not privy to what's going on, well except the bastard in the chair or gas chamber...at least his patients had the wherewithal to acknowledge they wanted to release their families from the burden of various duties and finances. Now obviously, not ever Dick, Tom & Jane should be allowed to decide to end their life by medical assistance, but if they're suffering from an incurable diease that ravages the body and brain; and they're able to without a doubt declare this is what they want to be done then it should be done. Should be done without prejudice or threat of imprisonment to the individual(s) who are willing to assist them. No nothing like a noose or blunt object should be used, it should be carried out painless way, if there truly is such a thing. Your body may not feel anything, but your mind will and isn't that the real justice he's providing, mental relief as well. We witness paralyzed individuals live life to the fullest all the time but they may have the mental strength to carry on even though they can't walk away, but they feel no pain but most likely mental angst. As where someone who has ALS, Parkinson's or even advanced stages of HIV/AIDS or a form of cancer, they feel the life force slip away each and everyday. Now some things may happen due to certain life decisions like unprotected sex, but in the end, it's still their decision.
Yet, people want to put a moral stamp or religious stance against it when it has nothing to do with either! No one wants to die, but who wants to live years of agony and suffering of not only their self but to witness it basically kill their families from the outside in. And I'm not making this a soapbox situation to argue against moral strict or religious people, I totally understand where they're coming from. But they should try to see where those who's decision it is in the first place, try to see where they're coming from. And wouldn't the only opinions that really matter be those, of those who he assisted and their families who were among those deciding too, and many of the people who contacted him were the wife, husband, brother, sister or child of the person in pain - they wanted their relative to have the release just as much as the pained one. Really, in the end, once again it comes down to money. Health providers, health carriers, hospitals and doctors are in it for the money. Relieving you of your pain doesn't pay like keeping you around. Now obviously not the whole industry feels this way or works this way, but there's no money in death only for the funeral director and he only gets paid once. And from what's been made public, I don't believe he ever charged a dime to assist anyone.
Now this is simplistic, but it could help and is a start:
Individual must be diagnosed and receive 2nd/3rd opinions on their "incurable" disease. There should be a disease scale of determination, so no one who's having joint problems, possibility of blindness or deafness be allowed to jump in the grave - not saying those people wouldn't be in some forms of pain but it should be something that will not only change your life and mental stability, the lives of others as well but also be something that would cripple your finances, demand you almost never be alone, and probably prevent you from leading some sort of life of enjoyment. They must also go through a minimal psychological review to determine if they're just a manic depressive or sane and comprehensive of their actions/decision. And if their spouse or life partner aren't available, then their children, sibling or medical facility should be apart of the decision or interviewed on their psychological frame of mind and the everyday life of the person being assisted. And of course, a legal document should be in place.
. . . . . . this world has far too many other issues at hand, to bicker over someone trying to leave it without agonizing pain and in some last form of peace.
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