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Assisted Suicide Doctor Dies @ 83

ticklemepls

3rd Level Red Feather
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Apr 20, 2008
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Jack Kevorkian, the doctor from Michigan who help end the lives of many people, has died...

so ... this got me thinking...

Assisted suicide. We debated this topic in Med Law a few terms ago. What are your thoughts? As long as someone who is terminal is in a 'fit state of mind' when they ask for their life to be ended, should it be 'ok'?

Honestly, I'm kind of torn on this one. Quite frankly, anyone who's been given a diagnosis of a terminal illness technically is not in a 'fit' state of mind. The overwhelming stress that type of diagnosis causes, could alter their thinking. However, I also believe that if someone wants to die in a more dignified way than suffering for weeks, months, years (whatever) ... then it should be their decision...

Thoughts? Kinda random I know, but this kind of stuff gets me thinking...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/03/assisted-suicide-advocate-jack-kevorkian-reportedly-dies-at-michigan-hospital/
 
Dr. Death!

I saw the Documentary w/Al Pacino who played him. Interesting stuff.

It's going to be a catch-22 either way. Ultimately, people's lives are their own. We didn't get to choose to be born, but we can decide when and how we want to die, for the most part. Aside from circumstances beyond our control.

I think that the concept of choosing to die is pretty rough all the way around. But in those severe cases of folks with something Terminal & are basically just left to suffer until their body decides to shut down, I'd support it.

Some of the examples given in the movie were really hard to watch. Those who were just so sick that they couldn't do anything but beg for death.. broke my heart. And the scenes where they showed how they "killed them" were twice as hard, because gut instinct (or many years of Moral Hammering?) made you want to have it be stopped.

Some folks deem it as that he was playing God and in turn that was a travesty among it self. So this could take a religious angle. (hoo-boy..)

All in all: I feel that the person requesting to Die should have a pretty sound reason for it. Wanting to die because your favorite Football Team didn't make Superbowl, or your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you & you can't see life without them, are utter Bullshit reasons.
 
Well, for me, why not make it an option when you fill out a living will? Then you can be "certifiably sane" to specify that you want someone to end your life when the time comes that there is no hope, no respite, no cure. Only certain death.

For me, I deal with euthanasia all the time. I'm only sorry we don't offer the same dignified ending for humans as we do for our companion animals. I think Dr. Kevorkian provided a needed service - and those who wanted it, took advantage of it. When the time comes, I plan to get my affairs in order and head to Amsterdam where I believe it IS legal - provided you supply medical documentation and declare your intent.
 
all very good points...

my aunt, just a few years ago, died of cancer... her last month or two of life was horrid, painful, and down right undignified....

not that they are one in the same BUT:
I find it interesting a lot of people who support the right to abortion do not support assisted suicide... why is this? i mean, you're terminating a life which didnt have a choice in the matter with abortion, yet someone who CHOOSES on their own free will to end their life due to a terminal illness is wrong? idk maybe im the one with the messed up thinking 🙂

anyways, it was just a random thought and was curious what others thought 🙂
 
i had to write a short paper on this very subject. i'll post if anyone would like to check it out.
 
i had to write a short paper on this very subject. i'll post if anyone would like to check it out.

very well written hun... made some excellent points in that paper. I agree, so long as there are safe guard methods in place that someone should have the right to decide.
 
I'm not even a little conflicted about this. Assisted suicide is just fine with me. People have the right to die. Apply a reasonable psychological evaluation, and if they're sane and lucid, let them choose. The idea that you can't be sane and lucid after being diagnosed with a terminal illness smacks of extreme condescension to me.

I suspect a lot of the conflict over this issue is still due, in large part, to underlying religious aversion to suicide.
 
I'm not even a little conflicted about this. Assisted suicide is just fine with me. People have the right to die. Apply a reasonable psychological evaluation, and if they're sane and lucid, let them choose. The idea that you can't be sane and lucid after being diagnosed with a terminal illness smacks of extreme condescension to me.

I suspect a lot of the conflict over this issue is still due, in large part, to underlying religious aversion to suicide.

just fine with me too.

see switzerland!
 
I'm not even a little conflicted about this. Assisted suicide is just fine with me. People have the right to die. Apply a reasonable psychological evaluation, and if they're sane and lucid, let them choose. The idea that you can't be sane and lucid after being diagnosed with a terminal illness smacks of extreme condescension to me.

I suspect a lot of the conflict over this issue is still due, in large part, to underlying religious aversion to suicide.

There was a time I would've argued you down to the dirt on this. Then I watched my mother, aunt, and uncle within an 18 month period deteriorate to nearly nothing and die miserably.

We can take our pets to the vet when illness deteriorates their quality of life. Why can't we allow those who are terminally ill without hope of recovery have the same? There is no dignity dying writhing in so much pain you have to be hooked up to a morphine pushbutton drip. You're in diapers because you can no longer control your bodily functions. Your mind is slipping away and delusional; you're lucky if you remember your loved ones when they come to visit. I personally find that scenario (which many of our loved ones had to go through before dying) cruel and unusual punishment.

I remember when Kevorkian first came on the scene; I wanted to boil him in oil and thought he was despicable. Now, after a couple of decades of growing up and shaking that religiosity off me, I say bring it on!

R.I.P. Kevorkian.......you were a man before your time.
 
Great points! I need to learn more about this man, before I can say anything abt him. But I have, and most people, been around the terminally ill. If they are competent, society must allow them to choose their fates and assist them humanely. What strikes me as absurd and always did was a person who is ill may beg for death, to help him achieve that goal is to commit a serious crime.
 
We can take our pets to the vet when illness deteriorates their quality of life. Why can't we allow those who are terminally ill without hope of recovery have the same? There is no dignity dying writhing in so much pain you have to be hooked up to a morphine pushbutton drip. You're in diapers because you can no longer control your bodily functions. Your mind is slipping away and delusional; you're lucky if you remember your loved ones when they come to visit. I personally find that scenario (which many of our loved ones had to go through before dying) cruel and unusual punishment.

dont get me wrong, im for assisted suicide (as i said so long as they prove they arent just suicidal)... but the devil advocate in me says that humans put their animals down when they get an incurable disease because they are 'just animals'. they are not as 'fragile' as a human life and dont have the life expectancy humans do anyhow... then theres others who are "its just an animal, im not dumping a ton of money into it for it to die anyways" type.

i had an aunt just a few years ago die of cancer, and she was in so much pain it made me want to scream. but as Luke said in his paper, we are typically more selfish and want anymore time we can get with that person- no matter how much pain they are in.
 
dont get me wrong, im for assisted suicide (as i said so long as they prove they arent just suicidal)... but the devil advocate in me says that humans put their animals down when they get an incurable disease because they are 'just animals'. they are not as 'fragile' as a human life and dont have the life expectancy humans do anyhow... then theres others who are "its just an animal, im not dumping a ton of money into it for it to die anyways" type.

You are correct to a certain degree; to some, they are "just animals." But I just lost my furry life partner of nearly 16 years; I wasn't a pet parent but a pet owner but that didn't stop me from bawling all weekend. That didn't stop me from still looking for him to show up any time now....almost three weeks after he died on my livingroom floor. I didn't even have the chance to get him to a vet for euphanasia-it all came so fast.

Before I get on a tangent about my cat, I'll just say that even though he was "just an animal" he meant a lot to me over the years and deserved a more dignified death than he got to have. That option that's been available to pets/animals should be allowed for human beings as well.

i had an aunt just a few years ago die of cancer, and she was in so much pain it made me want to scream.

Same with my mom, and two of my aunts. My uncle died horribly of a multitude of issues with diabetes, kidney failure, and other medical issues. He was a man of 6'4" and nearly 300 lbs; when he died he weighed about 125lbs......now that's some suffering IMO.

but as Luke said in his paper, we are typically more selfish and want anymore time we can get with that person- no matter how much pain they are in.

I'm not in complete agreement with this statement and I'll base it on my own family's experience with my mother. At first we prayed for healing and recovery; but towards the end, we were begging God (insert your deity of choice here__________) or whoever would listen to take her so she'd be out of misery and pain.

As much as I miss her and all the events she wasn't able to attend (in her physical body anyway), if she had to spend another second in misery and pain I'd rather her be where she is now.
 
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