Let me start off by saying thank you to Karen and Glenda, both of which gave me very nice Easter baskets! How terribly sweet! Karen had a great idea, she put a Tide Pen in my basket. She says she wanted me to have something useful. I"m sure that is because I have children and not because I'm a sloppy eater. Good thing she did though, because I dropped a wallop of chili right down my front side today! Thanks again girls!!
I don't know how many of you are avid news readers but a French woman plagued with an untreatable tumor in her skull died today. What makes this woman's story newsworthy is that she has been fighting with the French government to allow her to utilize euthanasia to end her painful battle. According to fox news, she was in terrible pain which was not relieved by analgesia. Her face was terribly disfigured and she lived in daily agony for eight years. Her death is under investigation.
I have always been a proponent against euthanasia. That was before I witnessed death in a very personal way. Devon and I both have literally stood over our parents as they took their last breath. If you haven't experienced it first hand you have no idea what it is like. Being a nurse, I had witnessed people and even babies die, but it is different when it is your loved one lying there. Not to be gruesome or morbid, but I sat on the couch agonizing with my dad as his chest rattled like brewing coffee pot, moaning with pain, unresponsive to everything except his suffering. I ached, ears strained, waiting to not hear another breath. I waited there for over eight hours. Begging God to let his next breath be the last. We gave him the maximum of pain medicine, I held in my hand a bottle of Ativan sublingual (under the tongue) drops, glaring at the clock for the appropriate time to give him more. I won't lie, you don't even know how tempting it was to pour the entire bottle in his mouth to hurry the process.
The Salvation Army explains their stance on euthanasia as the following:
Peculiar as it seems, while a person is alert and conscious, they may make choices to intentionally shorten their life. However they may not make premeditated decisions to quicken the pace of their dying. Some choices, yes, such as life sustaining food and water and the use of ventilators, defibrillators, and medications are options when planning end of life choices. I've questioned however what prevents moral "correctness" from being able to choose a strong sedative to end life quietly and peacefully. We even give hard core criminals the luxury of a quiet and peaceful death when sentenced to death.
Do you believe in the power of God to override any poor decisions we make? You certainly have heard testimony of babies surviving abortions, persons surviving their own suicide attempts, and miraculous healing from life threatening disease. Do you not think he would have power to keep you alive if it was his will?
We say that when new medications to cure disease are created that it is by God's creation of human intelligence. But when the same intelligence is used to cross over the moral high ground it is inappropriate.
We use medication and technology to bring people back from the dead or to stop their death, why can't some use it to bring upon their death?
Please do not misunderstand me, I do not think we should put a euthanasia kit on the shelves of your local pharmacy. I do believe however, that if my staying alive for 7 more days instead of 1 more day causes more suffering on me and especially my loved ones, an extra push of medication would be my premeditated desire.
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