11 Mar 2018 Why Can't We Have A Right To Die?

Why Can’t We Have The Right To Die?

There is a never-ending battle in this country over whether a woman has a right to terminate her pregnancy or whether the fetus has a right to be born. However, any support to help someone die with dignity would lead to criminal charges. If we are a “civilized country” why would we not do everything to allow someone to die peacefully? The closest I have seen this is through the hospice network. My father’s time in a hospice could not have been better. The care and empathy of the staff was outstanding. However, the bleak reality was they helped him to die a peaceful death through the application of medicine for pain management. I was fully aware of this and wholeheartedly supported it. I know multitudes of people did not and do not have this way of dying.

I understand the arguments from some that it is a slippery slope from allowing someone choose how they want to end their life to having another person or organization make that decision. In essence we have that for the poor who can’t afford quality medical care. Some of them die not of their choosing but through policies established in government and health insurers.

I had written earlier about a national age for alcohol and marriage, etc. Should we consider a national age above which people can choose to end their life on their terms and through painless options? If someone is aged and not happy with the quality of their life and decide they would prefer death, why shouldn’t they be able to? I would not consider that suicide. Just someone who determined the life they have now or in the future this not worth it. I know this would be very controversial and the age would have to be a minimum of 80.

How much pain should we allow someone to be in before it is okay to give them medication doses that could be fatal? Can someone in severe pain make rational decisions? What is a rational decision when one is in great pain? Pain provides an acute focus on it and nothing else. There are subjective measures as to how much pain each person can tolerate.

If there were a right to die process I know there would be examples of people who chose to die but the decision was made in haste and at the moment. This is where it gets challenging. How long must a person wait from the time they stated their decision to die and when it can actually be fulfilled?

Having a right to die will have intense debate from all sides, especially the religious organizations. However, it is time to have that debate.