Dr. Death

As you may or may not know, I feel that everyone should have the right to make their own choices. I’m quiet extreme in my beliefs that we should have rights to everything. I think we should be able to have guns, smoke pot, not wear seatbelts, pay for sex and abort anytime we’d like. I’m not saying I do any of the above… as a matter of fact I can honestly say I’ve never taken part in any of the previous examples however, what I loved about the united state when I was younger was this idea that we were free. As I’ve aged and more and more legislation has happened, I’ve figured out that we really aren’t quiet as free as I once believed. At court today (yes, I got a speeding ticket) I found out that it’s illegal to have grass higher than 8 inches in the city limits. Oddly, I already knew about the ordinance, because I received a citation/warning previously, but in court today I finally heard how high it was allowed to be, which is shocking. How can we have so many laws? How can they be enforced effectively and fairly? How can we have time spend on meaningless things such as grass being too tall to things such as assisted suicide, which is what this blog really was going to be about. Working in a nursing home this summer, or as it’s appropriately referred to, a skilled nursing facility (SKF), has showed me a wide variety of people in different stages of their lives. Some of these patients are just passing through with an orthopedic issue, some are living there long term and some are in their final days of their lives. Oddly, I have dwelled on the idea of assisted suicide before… and even pondered the meaning of hospice and “comfort care”. Would I want to commit suicide? I can say no know because I’m not sick, in pain, and with no quality of life. Would I consider some super strong “comfort care”, in my end of life stage? Yes. I look back at Dr. Kevorkian’s work and I wonder was it really wrong for him to help his patients. I really can’t pass judgment because I’m not in his position or in the patient’s position. I do see major ethical issues regarding assisted suicide. I can honestly say I would not be able to assist a patient in committing suicide, but I can tell you I would hold the persons hand, tell them why I thought they should stay in this world, say a prayer for them but then I’d let them make their own decision. I don’t know what the “right” answer is, but I do have to wonder, if we are willing to put our animals down when they are sick and dying and we allow people to refuse medical treatment… how is this not the same? It’s hard to admit that I have looked into a patient’s eyes and prayed for their pain to go away; regardless if it means to let the person move on to whatever is next for them (heaven, reincarnation, nothing).