'They wouldnt treat a dog like this' (Euthanasia)

Member Name: feex1982x

Product:	Euthanasia
Date:	09/11/08 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can save people the terror and loss of dignity in their final weeks

Disadvantages: Some people may abuse the system

Whatever anyone will write about this subject it is sure to bring up such a wide range of emotions, should we be able to 'play god' and choose to go when we feel that we have no quality of life or should we leave it to fate to decide. We have heard manier times that animals have more rights than what we do when it comes to suffering, and it's a confusing issue as the law that says people must go on and suffer, is infact the same law which is there to protect us.

I've written some other reviews as a new member and came across this subject by accident whilst looking around the site. It's a subject very close to my heart at the moment, my fiancé lost his Auntie aged 54 to cancer. She was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer spreading from her windpipe into her stomach, liver and kidneys, within 3 months of the diagnoses she died. It was a long drawn out death which took 3 months of everyday losing that little bit of independence she had left. She was told upon diagnoses that she would not survive and all they could provide was Chemotherapy treatment to perhaps extend the inevitable. His auntie was a strong determined woman and where some people would give up the fight before it had begun, she accepted the chemo and went into it determined she would see the course out and have perhaps maybe a few more months to have her last Christmas with her family.

We watched her as she lost her strength, and slowly she decided that she was no longer going to continue the chemo. The fire inside her had well and truly gone, being the party girl she was, one of her last requests was for a family party, and so we all headed to the hospice (which I must say did a fantastic job) for her farewell party. By this time she couldn't walk and had to be wheeled into the family lounge in her bed and lay and watched us all. I believe she was ready there and then, she had her family around her and I think it almost made her feel safe to be surrounded by love. Unfortunately due to the laws here she wasn't allowed to go as happy and as calmly as that, she had to wait 3 more days of being completely bedridden and with no dignity left. She was lucky compared to some people she had two sisters and her mother that cared for her round the clock as they knew she would hate strangers undressing and washing her . The actual death itself has traumatised her sister, mother and son. It was not the type of death they were told to expect, it took hours and was quite horrific. How could we make a person live to that moment and go like that, when she could have gone peacefully in her bed surrounded by loved ones?

Of course it would have to be monitored and would have to be carried out within a hospital with doctors present and forms would have to be signed. Perhaps after thorough and extensive counselling, if that is the affected persons final wish and they declare this free of any other outside influences, they should be allowed their wish.

There would have to be the strictest regulations upon euthanasia as it's a worry that it may fall into somebody untrustworthys grasp. And that there alone is my only disadvantage as that is a very terrifying prospect indeed, but unfortunately not impossible.

Summary: Would end suffering and if can be done elsewhere, why not here...