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Death with Dignity – endoflifeWA program.
. [sanjuanupdate.com]

JackPedigo 9 May 20
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9 comments

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0

I think that "end of life" stations should be in every city, and ANYONE, regardless of condition, should be able to walk into one and end their life with no stigma of "quitting" - if they so choose. No trying to convince you to stay alive, just a check to ensure that they have their affairs in order and next of kin notified if that is a request of the soon to be deceased.

No one ever asked to be born, and it should NOT be a requirement of any society to force you to stay alive if you don't wish to. All organs would be harvested for reuse, and the remains composted or cremated.

End result: Everyone is happy.

I agree and it should be like the scenario in the movie "Soylent Green" (but without being turned into food).

2

When I told people that run the local funeral home that I was going to be cremated one of them came back at me saying he believed in death with dignity. My response was that death has no dignity.

2

Medicaly assited life termination is now legal in Quebec under certain conditions. The father of my sister-in-law asked for it and his request was accepted.

0

Death with dignity is fine if you don't have a condition that is so painful it doesn't respond to the maximum level of painkillers available, and you have to be moved to a part of the hospital where the screams and smells don't upset the other patients. In the UK the organisation Dignity in Dying is trying to change the law so that people can end their lives with medical assistance before they reach that point - a right which I believe you have in some US states.

It is and is not about suffering. Any person with a deadly disease is eligible. One does not to suffer to be enrolled. My late partner did not suffer at all and was accepted. The program is not so much about alleviating pain but ending life in a fast and easy manner.
One area of discussion is how about people with long term deadly diseases like Parklinson's or Alzheimer's?

@JackPedigo When my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he asked me to promise that when the time came that he couldn't remember who I was, that I would take him to Switzerland where they allow assisted suicide. I couldn't make that promise for several reasons. Yet watching him drift away day after day, I call it the long goodbye, I believe I was more effected than he was. The American/Western medical establishment is so mired in money that they refuse to let people, who want to, die with dignity.

@SiouxcitySue A very close friend of our's husband had Parkinson's. We watched him slowly fade for over 15 years. His wife as scared he would have to go into a nursing home and drain her savings. My partner actually died a year before her husband and her death was actually an inspiration for her. He fell one night and punctured his bowel. He didn't know and 2 days later it got infected and he was airlifted to a Catholic hospital where they performed surgery and induced a coma. She got a lawyer and they threatened to take him elsewhere if they didn't remove the drugs. They did and she did not give him his meds and he slowly faded for 5 days and finally died (the day before his 71st birthday).

@happyhiker1, @JackPedigo In the UK you are obliged to suffer to the end of you don't have enough money to get yourself to Switzerland. We are trying to change the law. It is something I feel very strongly about.

@happyhiker1 Hospices can't always control pain. But they are not allowed to give the dose of painkillers that will probably deal with the pain but also end the patient's life

2

" A program to educate people about the importance and positive aspects of aging and dying."

if they can put a positive spin on the above then pat robertson has got nothing on them.

i suppose wisdom comes with age but what's really depressing is the old adage : too soon old, too late wise. which probably applies to most people.

2

Let’em use whatever language they want to use. It’s a free country.

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How can anyone who has reached the part of life where you start looking at your age, your "stuff," your beliefs, your mortality, and your own death, or has dealt with a close terminally ill relative or friend, not be open-minded and interested enough to hear what others, who might have even one small bit of knowledge to pass on. In my mind, I am secure enough with the knowledge that I am an atheist/apatheist that people using religious terminology to describe end of life and, yes, talking about the end from a purely religious system, to listen to hear if they might actually have real information that might be valuable to me. If not, then that's an hour from my life that I'll not get back, but what would I have been doing if not listening. From my point of view, most people use religious terms to describe events because they have a limited vocabulary - they don't know the other words. I have my moments, but I hope I will always be open to hearing another's views about something that interests me. I would have attended.

I wrote them and complained. Even though this is mainly a secular issue so many are caught up in old terminology (like using 'passing' as a term) we don't really see the effect on others. This is an important issue and I wish I had seen this sooner because I would have attended and made some comments on their terminology.

0

I can't tell if they really mean it as helping your soul pass onto the next thing, or just as a part of who we are during life. I kind of suspect it could mean either or both depending on who reads it. But it's really common for people nearing the end of life or needing to begin making preparations to deviate from whatever their usual beliefs are/become uncertain, or do the opposite and go hardcore with reinforcements. Things like this are often just intended to provide peace of mind (and sometimes simultaneously get some dollars, but in this case it's just donation that's asked for).

See my comment to Victoria above. After-life does not always mean your life but how you can influence others after your death.

@JackPedigo you said you didn't attend the workshop (there's another coming up too) and I was looking at what they said in the link, curious what their angle is, if any.

@Duchess_Nyx Thanks for the reply. I see I misread and the program is June 15th not May. I put it on my calendar. We recently had a woman speak at our library on this topic (this one I did miss). There was a lot of discussion about legal issues like living wills and such. Going to Friday Harbor is not a big deal (I just returned from there today) so I will plan on going. I will also try and talk to them about their terminology.

@JackPedigo I always find the various ways people deal with death interesting (and sometimes ridiculous), so I'm intrigued any time there is a resource that is even a little bit free from religion and nonsense.

2

More religious or pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo. There is no journey of the soul.

I totally agree and this word and some other words bothered me. One major problem is that so few people are aware of this program. Classes as this need to bring in a broad spectrum of people. I missed it and if I had attended I would have asked questions about the terminology.

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