Monday, May 16, 2005

We want government approval... I mean personal choice

L.A. Advocates, Oregon Governor Kick Off Drive to Win 'Compassionate Choices' for Terminally-Ill Californians
Former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts, who signed into law that state's historic "Death with Dignity" law, made the case for a similar law in California today.

Joined by local senior, clergy and medical activists, the Governor said the time has come for California to show compassion by respecting the right to choice for terminally ill people. "I have learned that more than costs and more than pain, the biggest issue for the terminally ill is loss of choice," Roberts said.

Mrs. Crouch, 78, said she is grateful for the hospice care she is now receiving and for the continuing love and support of her husband, children and grandchildren. "It is my choice to have no more invasive treatments and no more hospital stays," she said. "I want the option to hasten my death when life becomes unbearable."
You know these people are liberals because they can't even kill themselves without asking governments permission. Not to be rude but if you want to die then stick a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Don't ask the state for permission and then ask them to do it for you.

Do these people need to be coddled by government for everything? Or is this about making a culture of death public policy? Is this about not valuing human life when it a person becomes "inconveniant." Do we want euthanasia laws that are similar to Amersterdam? Should depressed teenagers have this "choice?" Oh wait, they do have the personal choice to kill themselves, really who can stop them, they just can't do it with the state's approval and assistance.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're a bit off the mark here. We're not talking about depressed people who just want to die, we're talking about people with terminal illnesses, without hope of recovery, in perpetual pain. If you had a loved one in this situation who, in conjunction with a physician, decided to end his/her life, would you really ask them to just get a gun and blow their heads off?

http://www.deathwithdignity.org/fss/facts.asp


Obviously, you don't have to agree with the premise of assisted suicide, but I think your response made light of a very serious situation, and one that no one who chooses it would ever make lightly.

Daniel said...

I certainly wouldn't ask the government to condone it or help with it. It's just not government's job.

Anonymous said...

Is it government's job to hold the keys to all the medicine dispensaries? Because the only thing this narrow, carefully constructed law does is release the fingers on a few meds for a few people, who take them entirely by themselves.

Sally

Daniel said...

"Is it government's job to hold the keys to all the medicine dispensaries?"

Ummm, yes it is. That is why they are called controlled substances.

I just don't think it's governments job to HELP you kill yourself. With my "blow your own head off" suggestion I wouldn't want the government to supply you with the gun to do it either.

Anonymous said...

"I just don't think it's governments job to HELP you kill yourself. With my "blow your own head off" suggestion I wouldn't want the government to supply you with the gun to do it either."

All government is doing, Daniel, is supplying the regulations by which guns or drugs are obtained. The only "assistance" in the so-called "assisted suicide" bill is the (carefully controlled) prescription of medication. There is no other "help." I do want to be sure we are talking about the same thing. No one is administering these drugs. The law requires that two physicians verify that a person is in the late stages of a terminal illness and is not clinicially depressed or under duress. And then at the very most it provides for his or her being able to obtain the drugs to take themselves, if and when they choose.

Sally