What A Bunch Of Crap!
Eight Belles euthanized on track
IN FRONT OF A BUNCH OF MINT-JULIP-DRUNK, FANCY-HAT WEARING, SPECTATORS!
"All that heart and her gallant fight, however, ended in the worst of all possible ways: a breakdown, an ambulance on the track. And, with no other choice, she was euthanized by injection."
I really need for someone to explain to me why it is considered merciful and just to put a racehorse or a beloved pet out of it's misery when it has a painful, debilitating, terminal illness or injury, while doing the same for a human being is considered a crime.
What. The. Fuck?
A goddamned racehorse, bred and trained to line the pockets of it's owner is entitled to a greater degree of mercy and compassion than a beloved and cherished elderly relative, riddled with cancer and no hope of survival?
We insist on pumping an already frail and diseased 75 year old patient with toxic chemicals and deadly radiation, whose side effects are worse than the disease we are trying to cure, in an effort to extend their life span by a couple of years when we will gladly and mercifully euthanize an animal because they broke a bone?
I need somebody to explain to me how this make any fucking sense.
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16 comments:
ditto
It doesn't make any sense... but it does make CENTS.
The pharmacutical companies pay lots of money through PACs and lobbyists to our goverment to keep euthanasia for humans illegal. Those toxic chemicals make them lots of money. Its all about cents.
This is a situation (euthanasia) that cuts close to home for me, so I may expand on it at my blog this coming week. Thanks for the topic XO.
it makes sense cause it is the truth...
So, XO, are you advocating that we deny a 75 year old cancer patient chemotherapy? Or just exterminating old people if they get sick beyond a certain age, and just what is that age? Nobody is forced to accept chemotherapy if they are terminal or simply if they don't want it.
And, regarding the horse, compound fractures cannot be repaired and healed while the horse is sitting in a wheelchair. Nature just doesn't work that way.
Ok XO, I'll euthanize you the next time I see you. I don't want you waiting around in misery ;-)
travel - "...are you advocating that we deny a 75 year old cancer patient chemotherapy? Or just exterminating old people if they get sick beyond a certain age, and just what is that age? Nobody is forced to accept chemotherapy if they are terminal or simply if they don't want it."
No, none of the above. What I'm saying is that if I am 75 years old, and they tell me I have a terminal illness and the only chance for survival is to endure something like chemo and radiation for a year, I want to have the right to say "Nah. Let's just end it now. I don't want to go through all that. Just put me to sleep." I think humans deserve that dignity.
oic - Well, I don't know where I'm at on that issue. A lot to think about there.
O/T but last night I heard a judge, a lawyer and an author who interviewed the DC madam say there was no way she killed herself. Their story sounded very believable. On Geraldo's show. Very sinister implications.
Well, you're not completely without rights on this issue.
You have the right to issue an advance directive that states what your wishes are regarding all kinds of aspects of your medical care, including resuscitation, nutrition, hydration, intubation, life support and so on.
As for actual euthanasia, I'm not actually saying this, but there's ways for the sneaky to get around this. I've been on the hard end of situations like this. http://roadtobraj.blogspot.com/2007/11/repost-march-03-2004.html
It's all a very tricky situation. On the other hand, you know, if you want to off yourself because you've got some sickness or something, save up your Percocet (or better yet, talk them into giving you Fentanyl patches) and do it yourself. Speaking as someone who's given a lethal dose of morphine knowing it was going to be lethal when I gave it, is it actually fair to ask someone else to do this for you? That's a hard burden to put on someone.
If you really want to give up, you can and you will. There's no need for legislation or insurance coverage for it, and there's absolutely no need to make someone take on the responsibility of giving you something that's going to kill you, with the INTENT to kill you.
I'm sorry if this sounds bitchy, but if you're that serious about it, man up and do it yourself. Don't ask someone else to take that on, if you haven't got the balls to do it yourself.
satyavati - you make some valid points (as always). I guess that would be quite a karmic burden to lay on someone else.
If I were in the situation I described, I wouldn't have any prolem "manning up" and doing the deed myself. But I would want a 100%, sure fire, cannot fail, painless way of making it happen. I would literally just want to drift off to sleep and never wake up. That is where the physician assisted part comes in. You don't have to give the injection, but based on my physical condition, size, weight, etc, give me something that is guaranteed to do the job and send me on my way.
I hear too many horror stories about botched suicides.
Fentanyl (aka Duragesic) patches.
These kill plenty of people by accident, so no need to worry about it botching up.
There's a million things you can do with a Fentanyl patch, and they'll all kill you: chew on it, make tea out of it, drain it with an insulin syringe and pop yourself with it, or just put as many on you as you can get the pharmacy to give you.
Fentanyl is the drug that made me believe in 'addiction at first use'. I had it during a surgery on my hand.
If I was ever seriously suicidal (and no, I'm not) that's how I'd do it.
So now you know.
Sat knows it. When I worked at KU Med they were giving hefty doses of morphine to end it all in the 70's and they still do all over the country..my aunt and my dad both left the world this way within the past few years. But, as you said, they were terminal and life was miserable to say the least. Different for people who have a chance of recovery or even a few more years.
satyavati - but Fentanyl, like Percocet, are prescription drugs. A doctor has to agree to prescribe them for you and a pharmacy has to be willing to fulfill what would be a lethal dose.
I'm saying, bring all of that shit into the open.
Make it legal.
This patient has a terminal illness and has requested an early end to their suffering. Here is the script. Fill it and send the patient home with adequate instructions.
Okeydokey. Here's a little pharmacy lesson.
Duragesic is a fentanyl patch, meaning the medication goes in through your skin. They come in varying dosages from like 25-150 micrograms.
The fun part comes through the delivery system: in order to get 25 mics into your system they have to load the patch with something like 250 mics, which is enough to kill you, me, and my favourite junkie.
If you're sick enough to be considering euthanasia, you're sick enough to talk a doctor into giving you a Fentanyl patch for your pain. They're changed out every three days, so a 30 day supply at the pharmacy is 10 patches, which, if my math is right, is something like 2500 mics of fentanyl.
So you take a few of those patches and drop them in a mug of hot water and let them sit long enough for the medication to seep out. I don't know how this tastes but surely you could add a little of whatever you like best and then just stick a straw in it.
Alternatively if you have a diabetic friend you could borrow an insulin syringe and then you wouldn't have to wait all that time for your tea to steep.
My junkie friend says you can smoke fentanyl too, but this is more a recreational than a suicidal thing.
The point is, it's not nearly as hard as you think to get enough of this stuff to kill you.
I saw two kids die from chewing on a USED fentanyl patch, which is gross, but makes the point that these things pack a bigger punch than they look.
satyavati - Wow. You know way more than is good for you. LOL!
But knowing just a teensy, tiny little bit about where you've been and where you are now, I understand.
I'm seriously filing this information away in my Folder Of Last Resort.
Thanks!
"exterminating old people if they get sick beyond a certain age"
I'm all for it I just told my dad that he was not allowed to "linger". When it is his time to die...he goes quietly into that good night.
And if he doesn't..well I will be making sure that the rest of the family abides by his wishes....
And yes I will be unplugging him if needed.
Extermination? Sure.
You know what they say about a little knowledge being dangerous...
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