Contraception vs. abortion

[Tex]

There is a difference between ordinary care and extra-ordinary care. You have to feed and hydrate them. You have to clean their crap up. You do not have to keep giving them non-nutritional life care. This not limited to a respirator, but any extra care given that you wouldn't have to give a healthy person.

So, it would be inhumane to stop giving them food and water, even in PVS. However, if they also need a respirator or some medication, those can be removed. The object is never to kill the person.

[festive1]

I agree with you to an extent about the ideal goal being to not kill people, but quality of life needs to be considered in that equation as well. Most will not wake up, so why make their bodies linger when their brains are gone?
If you stopped treating certain PVS patients with basic medicine, they would die. Many PVS patients receive antibiotics, for instance. Hospitals and long-term care facilities are some of the germiest places. I think it more inhumane to not treat a CVS patient for a staph infection. That's something we can fix, unless its MRSA or some other superbug. I also think removing feeding tubes is inhumane. However, giving them an injection to end their life is not.

[fr0d0]

The only problem I see with euthenasia right now is if there was a chance that the person could recover. Personally, for myself, I'd pull the plug. I quite like the idea of old red Indians going out into the snow to die.

I think this ethical problem is another symptom of our morally lost modern world.

[KichigaiNeko]

Yes it is so immoral that people will demand that one hang onto life (whatever the fuck that means) at all costs.

No regard for quality, ability or desire to live. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE is what religion screams at the populace like frightened children.

[festive1]

I agree Frodo, there is something noble (?? Not quite the right word, admirable, perhaps being better?), in admitting and accepting you've reached the end of your lifetime.
I also think about those with terminal illness (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, etc.) Their bodies often continue chugging on despite the pain and suffering the individual endures. I'm not saying everyone who is diagnosed with these kinds of illnesses should immediately be euthanized, but allowing them to decide, "Enough," I think is right. Hell, people put their pets down to spare them from suffering, why is the suffering of a human less of a consideration? Sure it's unpalatable, but so are the end stages of terminal illness.

[KichigaiNeko]

There was a story recently here of a lady (about 80 years old) who decided that she had had enough of living and ended her own life. Quietly peacefully and with much dignity.

I would like to leave this life in a similar fashion.

[Tex]

I agree with you to an extent about the ideal goal being to not kill people, but quality of life needs to be considered in that equation as well.

This is where I disagree. Just because quality is low does not mean the person's value has decreased. I am all for pain relief, and I can morally take away things helping the person live, but I cannot speed the dying process. Even if the person wants to die, we cannot kill them.

However, giving them an injection to end their life is not (inhumane).

It is quicker and less painful, but even if a "mercy kill", its still a kill. "Letting die" allows the sequence of dying, which is already in motion, to continue. Removing medicine that the person requires is allowable for the reason that "they will never recover from the illness", but speeding the process of death is what makes me hesitate.

I quite like the idea of old red Indians going out into the snow to die.

Ah, you speak of the cowards. I use this word not as an insult, but because I think they lack courage. Some people really want to live forever. This is ridiculous. Everyone dies, and people need to submit to reality. There are cases where parents bankrupt their children in order to live just a few months longer. This is not what I advocate at all. There is a courage necessary to accept death as the common fate of all. As for walking out into the snow to die, that is a way to dismiss others of the responsibility to care for you. It's not a statement of "I want to die", but it is a statement of "its time to die" and they let it happen naturally. This is something to be praised.