Around this country there are many hospices whose sole purpose is to
care for their dying patients at the end of their life. They do it with
compassion, professionalism thereby affording their patients mercy, grace and
most of all dignity as death approaches. This notion that by pulling a
patient’s feeding tube is starving them to death is reprehensible.
The doctors and nurses give pain medications to those who may feel pain and
they prescribe drugs such as Zanax if a patient is feeling any anxiety during
the death process. By stating that patients such as Terri Schiavo are
being starved to death is totally uncalled for and it lessens and degrades
these health care professionals who care for these most vulnerable
patients. At the end of my father’s life while in hospice care at
home where he was no longer able to take in any nourishment or water, he was
medicated so that he could pass peacefully and these professionals who helped
my father did so with the utmost respect for him and for my family.
Perhaps the time has come for us as a nation to revisit a practice
known as physician assisted suicide if we see the cessation of feeding tubes as
being barbaric where the dying patient lives for thirteen days as Terri
did. Perhaps if we afforded these patients the right to choose how they
die, that would be the merciful thing for us as a society to do for them.
This way, they can pass easily and with little discomfort.
Some may say that suicide is a sin, but shouldn’t it be the
patient’s choice where their decision is between them, their doctor and
their God? In my opinion the true sin is where the only medical option
afforded these patients is to let them linger for days where some may feel pain
and go through periods of anxiety.
Many states that practice the death penalty have opted to put to death
condemned prisoners by lethal injection because they saw other practices as
being barbaric. So, why are they afforded mercy where innocent dying
patients are not? There seems to be a disconnect there and even
hypocrisy. We as a society will humanely put a prisoner to death in a
matter of minutes, yet a dying patient who has done nothing wrong must linger
for days?
The guidelines of how this practice of letting a dying patient ends
their life must be handled with great care so that no abuses will occur.
Perhaps those more learned in the this field can come together and set the
guidelines so that we as a society can afford these patients the true mercy,
grace and dignity they should be afforded in the last days on Earth.
Do I honestly think that we as a country can even consider this as an
alternative right now? Sadly with the religious right wing having a
stronghold on our government, the answer is no. But, this debate must
continue if we are truly to honor one’s wishes while they are still
alive. If a dying patient is of clear mind where they have had enough of
the pain, then who are we to say no to them? If a person who is not sick
yet and chooses this manner of death through a living will, then again, who are
we to say no to them? Where is the compassion in saying no to a
terminally ill patient?
What do we do with people who find themselves in a persistent
vegetative state who left no living will such as Terri Schiavo? We
approach those cases using the utmost care and what their spoken wishes were in
life. Again, we as a society must come together to see that no abuses
occur where we do not see the media circus that surrounded her vigil for days
on end. This is where we as individuals must take the responsibility now
and fill out living wills and file them with the proper authorities to see that
our wishes are carried out. If such a practice of physician assisted
suicide ever comes into practice then the patient requesting it must meet with
a psychologist so that again no abuses are occurring where the dying patient
may feel undo pressure to end their life.
When President Bush said, "In
cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts,
our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of
life," the same could be said before he bombed Iraq where it was not clear
that Iraq had WMDs where he did not let the weapons inspectors do their jobs
and kicked them out of Iraq where there was no favor of life.
If we are truly to honor life, then we
must also honor those that tonight are going through a death process hooked up
to various life support measures where there is no hope for them to live the
life they would want. If we are truly a free society, then we must be
free to make our own decisions as we near death without the government
saying—“No you can’t.” I will say it again a
prisoner is afforded more mercy at his or her own death by lethal injection
where these innocent patients must linger for days on life support or the
cessation of life support. Where is their mercy and where is any
compassion shown them?
