from the people-dying-older-than-us dept.
Jean-Luc Godard chose to end life through assisted dying, lawyer confirms:
Jean-Luc Godard, the maverick French-Swiss director who revolutionised post-war cinema in Europe, died by assisted dying, his lawyer has confirmed.
The medical report on the death of the 91-year-old director said he had chosen to end his life. He "had recourse to legal assistance in Switzerland for a voluntary departure" because he was "stricken with 'multiple incapacitating illnesses'", Godard's legal council, Patrick Jeanneret, told AFP.
[...] The practice of assisted dying – helping someone take their own life at their request – is regulated in Switzerland and permitted if offered without a selfish motive to a person with decision-making capacity to end their own suffering.
Libération quoted Godard's 2014, appearance on Swiss TV at that year's Cannes festival, when had been asked his views on dying. He said he didn't foresee wanting to continue living at any cost. "If I'm too ill, I don't have any desire to be lugged around in a wheelbarrow ... not at all," he said. Asked whether he could imagine resorting to assisted dying, he said: "yes", but added "for now", saying that the choice was "still very difficult."
In France the law allows doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated until death but stops short of allowing assisted dying.
In a separate development before Godard's death was announced, the French president Emmanuel Macron confirmed this week that a national debate would be held to potentially broaden end-of-life options in France, with a citizens' assembly to consider issues around euthanasia and assisted dying.
What are your views on assisted dying? Are there exceptions to your views for extenuating circumstances? Could you support someone close to you if that was their choice?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RedGreen on Wednesday September 14 2022, @04:38PM (20 children)
I will not be kept alive by artificial means so some idiot doctor can waste both my time and all those resources that can best be used by someone who will live if treated. Too many morons go on the idea they have to live at all costs screw them they can live a natural life like it is supposed to be, not this god damn garbage the parasite doctors push these days. The oh we have the technology to keep you suffering for months if not years on end extending a life that is already over. How the hell does that fit with there oath to cause no suffering, I have seen people so doped up they do not even know what planet they are on, somehow that is supposedly treating them without causing harm, total bullshit. Or even worse the ones when even all that medication they give them does no good, nothing but total pain and misery to end their life. That option should be given to all who need to end their suffering, it is the only humane thing to do if you actually care about people and not the money to be made off of them.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @05:14PM (13 children)
That option is offered to you even now. Take an one person tent (just don't be cheap) and a bottle of nitrogen or argon (not mixed with CO2); put on some music you like, have your drink, close the tent, open the gas bottle and go to sleep.
Why would any sane person ask (or pay) another nice and decent one to kill them?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bart9h on Wednesday September 14 2022, @05:20PM (8 children)
In many cases a person is just too debilitated or otherwise incapable to do that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @05:51PM (7 children)
Why wait for so long?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RedGreen on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:01PM (2 children)
"Why wait for so long?"
Not everybody gets your perfect circumstances when dying, you fool. All kinds of things can go wrong as in the case of my mother when I had to tell them to kill her off a few years ago. She had aneurysm in the brain that left her unconscious from the time it happened until we shut off the life support keeping her alive in vegetative state. I already knew her wishes as she had told me that she never wanted to be like that or sitting in nursing home in that condition. Easy decision once I was informed I was the one to decide to kill her off according to her file listing me as the responsible party for it.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:31PM (1 child)
That's what I'll do once I finish paying my mortgage (3-4 years, give or take)
1. tattoo "Do not resuscitate, or I'll sue you into bare ass poverty " on the chest - that should take care of any accident in which medics will get involved.
2. make preparation in advance to take the exit when my life doesn't bring me any joy of living
3. one of the projects I'll start working on is a body digester to be triggered once I exited. Dump or spread everything in liquefied form in the ground. I might even arrange for a timelapse of the process to be automatically published on youtube, are you interested? (If I don't get to finish it to my satisfaction, fall back on the prev)
My biggest nightmare is to slide into dementia until I forget all the above - I'll take special precautions against.
Not foolproof, but I feel I have a high probability of success.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:50PM
My grandfather died from Alzheimer. During the war he was a prisoner of a Nazi concentration camp. The illness took him back. At first he would recognize me and realize he was not in prison. Later on it did not work out and he would just scream for me to escape.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:46PM (1 child)
Because until that moment I have no reason to want to die?
Duh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @05:53AM
You worth your faith, then. Good luck, you may need it.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by janrinok on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:15AM (1 child)
In my case it was the life of my wife who had been by my side for over 30 years. It is true that one can know that the decision that needs to be made can be justified by simple logic but people are funny things. As Spock frequently observed - we do not always choose the logical option immediately.
The moment that I spoke (on behalf of us both) to elect for a painless death for my wife we knew that we were starting a process that could not be reversed and that sometime in the very near future our life together would come to an end. There is always the hope that somebody will have a bright idea and that a solution would be found. There is always the desire to have just one more day together. The thought of being apart when, for the last 5 years or so, I had to care for my wife in every way possible, almost as if she were a new-born baby. Physically her body was fighting for survival but mentally she was still the same woman that I had married many years ago. Perhaps we were both being selfish by wanting one more day together, another hour in each other's company, or even holding each others hand for a few more moments.
I know I made the right decision. I found it wasn't an easy decision although there was an acceptance of the inevitable once the decision had been made. The death of a loved one affects not only that person, but everyone around her, even those we were not 'close' to her. When she died our long-term support team nurses who had been involved with her care for over a decade all shed a tear. My wife had touched so many lives.
Logically perhaps it should be someone completely unconnected with the life being judged who makes the decision - but that also would not work for many other reasons. We reached the logical conclusion ourselves, but it was not an instantaneous action.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Wednesday September 21 2022, @03:40PM
That was very touching. Thank you for sharing. And my condolences. I know that was difficult. I worry one day that my spouse or I may have to make a similar decision as you both did.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @08:55PM
Many people lack the confidence, perhaps even the skill, to pull off what is in most places an illegal suicide. Not to mention potential negative implications for their survivors if they should perform this illegal act.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:41PM (1 child)
That's great, but... are you sure you will not be rescued, put away to an institution, and literally tortured till your retirement moneys run out?
When my time comes, I will use a gun as any man should.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:14AM
I'll do my best for this to not happen. Maybe have some practice in advance when nobody is looking.
Everyone knows the true men use tantō for the purpose.
Anyway, whatever the means, my main point in all the above is Why place the burden on ending your life on somebody else? I mean, you'd have to hate that person's guts to force them to kill, even if it's a mercy killing
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @12:09PM
Is fentanyl good for this purpose?
( Is overdose painful? )
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @08:52PM (5 children)
>all those resources that can best be used by someone who will live if treated.
While I heartily agree that "negative quality of life" should not be prolonged, nor vast resources expended in prolonging our elderly's suffering against their wishes, I'm not sure that most end-stage care resources translate well at all to caring for the living with hope of recovery... hospice nurses aren't exactly the nurses I would want taking care of myself or anyone I cared about if they had a chance of recovery to a good quality of life. Maybe some of them would be capable, with training, of doing "real" nursing, but odds are they went into hospice for "reasons" that probably mean they don't want to, or can't, be a nurse of the viable.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Informative) by RedGreen on Wednesday September 14 2022, @10:06PM (4 children)
"Maybe some of them would be capable, with training, of doing "real" nursing, but odds are they went into hospice for "reasons" that probably mean they don't want to, or can't, be a nurse of the viable."
Most people do not die in a hospice at least around here, they die taking up a hospital bed which can be used for someone else. I am not familiar with the level of training for those people wherever you are, here they would be fully qualified RNs or a Licensed Practical Nurse the next level below a fully trained nurse, there are also Nurse Practitioners who are a level below a doctor as they have limited diagnostic and prescriptions capabilities they do use in their job.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:06PM
A friend of mine is a hospice nurse. It's not even a your traditional hospice, but a nursing home for seriously ill. A couple of years back she, while we were drinking, told me how she decided to cut finger nails for an old lady because they smelled bad. It was not her job, mind you, The nails detached and she discovered larva nests. In case you care, it's Washington, DC area.
In the beginning of the covid, a nursing home next to my village stored dead bodies in a shed. It was reported to the police and that's how it became a news. It was a place for mentally ill. They mixed up criminals kicked out of prisons along with regular folks. A true place of horror. It took the government three years to close the place but still a few patients are still over there last time I checked.
Don't let something like this happen to you. Die honorably.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:48PM (2 children)
>they die taking up a hospital bed which can be used for someone else.
In my limited experience, my wife's parents occupied such beds for a time before they finally did move to hospice to die, but that hospital adjacent to the nursing home was a sort of stage-one hospice, in theory they were trying to restore their patients to health, but in practice more than half of those patients were simply too far from death to take up the limited available hospice space, but had little chance of ever recovering to a good quality of life. I don't think anyone younger than nursing home age was ever checked into that "hospital."
There are all kinds of nurses here, but the ones that work the hospice circuit (not the hospital mentioned above) were of very limited skills beyond sympathy, provision of oxygen - maybe with a humidifier if you were lucky, and administration of painkiller pills, they didn't even practice intravenous injection. There are dedicated hospice buildings, but most of their work is done "in home" and involves a lot of informal counseling for the long term caregivers.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:49AM (1 child)
My mother died in January of last year from end stage liver failure. She used the services of alive hospice in Nashville Tennessee. I found their services to be competent, thoughtful, courteous, and prompt. I hope to never require their services, but I would be willing to use them.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @11:01AM
Here hospice was a wonderful experience (except for the by then unavoidable fact that your loved one is dying soon), moreso after months in the long term care hospital environment. But, hospice was nothing at all about healing, it was about comfort for all involved.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:04PM (5 children)
I wasn't give the option of assisted death for my wife when it became obvious to everyone that she could only be kept alive by being fed intravenously (she was unable to have a PEG direct into her stomach because food was simply refluxing into her lungs). Mentally, she was still very alert and fully aware of what was happening but she could no longer speak and I had been her carer for about the last 5 years. We had discussed the possibility of something like this several times over the last few years of her life but it still caught us both unexpectedly - it started as a trivial infection and she was due to return home on the day that things started going downhill fast. Because she could no longer speak and her condition was deteriorating I had to tell the doctors what our wishes were. They managed to communicate by having my wife answer yes/no questions by squeezing the doctors hand to confirm that my wife agreed with what I had asked for.
Fortunately I live in France. I was offered the chance to bring my wife home and to receive hospital treatment in the home (including her bedroom being fitted to resemble a hospital ward and a team of nurses to care for her). The final outcome was known, but she spent her last week or two at home in pleasant surroundings, not suffering from any pain, and with her family gathering around her. The personal financial costs? Nothing, zero, zilch. They would be horrified here to even think of mentioning such a thing when ending a human life is being discussed.
I know that I made the right decision but that doesn't make it any easier to bear - even knowing that my wife agreed with me does not remove the thoughts that I have that it was I that made the first move and gave 'our' decision. I am now a very strong supported of assisted death, and not just keeping somebody alive by miracles of modern science but with no hope of any quality of life. There is still a stigma attached to it and I believe that the stigma needs to be removed. Death should be faced with dignity and with the compassion of those around the person concerned. I view that keeping somebody alive when there is no possibility of any recovery or no future with any quality of life is both cruel and heartless. There has to be a legal way to have one's views recorded in advance to be available the event of similar problems but that cannot be achieved when it seems that any attorney could be considered to be 'aiding or assisting' in somebody's death by doing so.
I hope that Macron's initiative does not get 'lost' in all the noise and that everyone in France gets the chance to air their views. But being a predominantly Catholic country I fear that I may still be in the minority.
However, do not underestimate the emotional stress that having to make such a decision causes. It is not an easy, quick option, although until it happens to you it will appear a simple and logical decision to make.
I know that some will now offer their condolences but it is not necessary, thank you all the same. She died 18 months ago and I am adjusting to life on my own. I will, however, look forward to reading others' views in this discussion.
(Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:41PM
Losing a loved one is always tough, whatever the circumstances. The only comfort is knowing that our loved ones no longer have to suffer the pain ...
Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:00PM (3 children)
I believe you did the compassionate thing, and am glad that you were well supported in that difficult time.
In the U.S. assisted suicide is illegal, but death by overdose of morphine during hospice care is all but expected, and not listed on the death certificate as such.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:15PM (2 children)
Yes, true, I watched this when a friend of mine died from cancer. They attached an intravenous probe into his arm, filled the bottle with morphine, and gave him a button to press. Each click would release a certain amount of the drug.
It was real real mercy. It took him about a week to die, but we visited him and talked to him. He was without pain and even reasonably optimistic.
This is the best I want for myself. However, I see no way to guarantee it. I even think it's perhaps already illegal. My story is from mid 90s.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:57PM (1 child)
My first son was born in 2001, with complications due to pre-eclampsia and HELLP which left my wife in ICU for 2 weeks with one of those morphine IV drips with patient button control. They told her to press the button when she was in pain, to help reduce her blood pressure and risk of aneurysm. She did as she was told, but the pain never really went away - what did happen was the morphine suppressed her respiration, so they started her on (dry) oxygen nasal cannula, and then her nose started to crack and bleed - more pain that the morphine didn't help with, but it did give her frightening hallucinations. After a day of the cracking and bleeding and some vague suggestion from her physician that more drastic measures would be taken to keep her O2 levels up I suggested to her, in private, that if she wouldn't press the button as much, she wouldn't need the oxygen. She immediately stopped pressing the button altogether, it made little difference in her pain and blood pressure levels, but her oxygen saturation rebounded to normal without the cannula within hours.
Medical care in this country is warped, beyond belief. Her OB remarked after the whole episode (which could have been avoided with more attentive pre-natal care, but the OB's practice is too busy for that): well, at least we had a good outcome. Yeah, 2 weeks separated from her newborn child, stuck in ICU with morphine induced hallucinations and no sleep is a good outcome? Or was she referring to the $30K bill? Friend of mine had a similar experience in 2011, their bill was $85K.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 16 2022, @05:17PM
Oh, man, I am so sorry you and your wife had to go through this. I watched my both parents die from stomach cancer. My dad was lucky as his pain was controllable until his heart gave up. My mother was not so. She died in pain, and, basically, from pain.
I don't know if this is true, but when I had my bypass surgery nurses told me that morphine used in the US hospitals is not pure morphine, but mixed with certain drugs that make it deadly if used recreational. They told me that 5 days of use is the max if I want to stay healthy. Once again, I never verified the claim, but I tend to believe it. Morphine by itself should not have any deadly limit as long as the body is adjusted to it gradually.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Informative) by bradley13 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:48PM
I'm in Switzerland, and I can tell you that this is *very* restricted. Not many people choose it, and there are a lot of hurdles.
It *should* be an option, and I'm glad we have it. The problem is the worry about someone being forced into it. Greedy kids wanting an early inheritance, or whatever. You have to prove that you are of sound mind (which may not be easy, when you are old and sick), and that you choose this of your own free will. Then you have to actively take the final action yourself, which also cannot be easy.
Sadly, this does not help the cases where people are not of sound mind. In a coma? Brain-damaged or even brain dead? Dementia? You cannot make this choice and (afaik) no one can make it for you. Worries about that early inheritance, or caretakers suddenly turning up as beneficiaries, or whatever...
It's a tough issue...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EJ on Wednesday September 14 2022, @06:59PM (6 children)
If machines are required to keep me alive, then I want them turned off (unless I can still play video games or whatever).
I don't know that I would actively end my life unless I was in agony. I don't think I could live like Stephen Hawking did. That's right out.
If they could ever invent Matrix-style tech, then I'd be fine with staying alive if I could have an enjoyable experience in virtual-land.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:35PM (3 children)
Can you afford it? Your body will produce nothing of value, and by your description, neither your mind will.
Even a garden snail will be more valuable for this world, at least it will produce some progeny in return for the leafy greens it chews
(Score: 4, Insightful) by EJ on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:18PM (2 children)
The assumption is that whenever such technology would be available, money wouldn't be a thing anymore.
You're missing the point about the mind. Stephen Hawking's body didn't produce anything useful, but his mind did.
In MMORPGs, players have "jobs" doing quests and stuff. In virtual-land, you can still create meaningful things.
Most white-collar jobs these days are done purely on computers. There's no reason I couldn't still do useful work.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:25AM (1 child)
It won't be available to you, then, as sure as death and taxes.
Which means you'd better face the reality and actively makes some plans anyway you like, as opposed to "Wouldn't it be nice..." dreaming.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday September 15 2022, @07:56AM
I disagree. My wife had the best care available to her. Money did not enter into the discussion. There was nothing that anyone could have done to cure her, or even to offer her a future with some quality of life, no matter how much money we had.
I was grateful, however, for having a functioning health care system that is not predicated on how wealthy you are, but on medical need.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2022, @07:40PM
Bottom page quip: "One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:03PM
Christopher Reeve only soldiered on as long as he did because of the impacts he could make due to his fame. It was extremely hard for him and in the end he chose to retire rather than continue the very difficult fight to live in his condition.
https://www.christopherreeve.org/ [christopherreeve.org]
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by number11 on Wednesday September 14 2022, @08:37PM
And I hope I'll be able to make the final decisions. Assistance is not legal where I live, so it would have to be while I still have the mental and physical capacity to do it. I'd prefer to just slip away in pleasant surroundings, but if it has to be the messy way, that would have to be it. I don't stock a tank of nitrogen and am not confident about opiates plus alcohol, but do have firearms. Apologies to whoever has to do the cleanup, if I have it together enough I'll spread some tarps or something.
Hopefully, it won't come to that. I'd prefer for the end to be in my sleep, or else sudden and unanticipated, strolling down the street when movers drop that cartoon safe from the 10th floor.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by istartedi on Wednesday September 14 2022, @08:53PM (7 children)
In most of the USA, you can set things up so that you're DNR (Do Not Resussitate) when you're not expected to fully recover. You can also get "palliative care" through hospice (ie, focus on pain relief and comfort rather than treatment).
Some states have edged closer to the "assisted dying" model, such as Oregon and I think it can lead to some serious problems [reason.com].
The decision should always be in the hands of the patients (or their appointed guardians if not conscious) and not the state. The state shouldn't even be allowed to recommend or discuss it with patients, other than in the process of going over options for something like an advanced directive. The incentives are just too great for the state to push costly patients in directions that will cause them to eventually request such service. You just know there's a computer somewhere looking at the cost of a decade of dialysis vs. assisted dying. Prescribe anti-depressants and psychotherapy? Hell no. The algorithm is recommending death. Good-bye granny. She went with dignity. Yeah, right.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:14PM (6 children)
I know all too many (adult, even elderly) children of rich parents who are impatiently waiting for their inheritance.
An additional cluster of cases to the above: my wife worked at a psychologist's office where the specialty was helping children, usually in their 20s or 30s of rich (and Jewish) parents to deal with the fact that their parents aren't giving them more of their inheritance now. The office was on Miami Beach and booked solid 5 days a week. $200+ per hour counselling fees, almost always paid for by the parents.
Making suicide legal shouldn't reduce the depth of investigations performed on apparent suicides, but it inevitably would.
Cynically, I feel that a LOT of the support for letting COVID spread in the U.S. and especially Florida, came from older children impatient to receive their inheritances.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2022, @01:54AM (2 children)
Another way to look at that is that if your kids kill you for the inheritance then it's a death penalty for being a shitty parent. Raise them as decent people and they won't off you for a few shekels.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Reziac on Thursday September 15 2022, @04:34AM
Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.
.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @11:05AM
Nice thought, but if you ever have children you may come to realize that how your children turn out, particularly after leaving home, is only influenced by your parenting, it is far from a "control" relationship, unless you are doing it very very badly.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 15 2022, @06:25AM (2 children)
Nice angle. I reckon, in the more general case, the "Ok, boomer" attitude is also a plausible explanation, even if subconscious in origin.
And I can't actually blame them youngsters, we aren't letting behind a nice world and society to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2022, @11:11AM (1 child)
Interesting thought experiment: if you were Thanos+ and could "snap away" 50% of the Earth's population, but rather than randomly selecting the survivors you could choose by criteria, A) what would your criteria be, and B+) for the various answers to A) what would the results look like in 10, 50, 500 years?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 26 2022, @06:27AM
Fortunately, I'm not and I can only be ever made responsible for myself.
In other words, my apologies to disappoint but I don't consider the thought experiment to be interesting enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Wednesday September 14 2022, @09:28PM (1 child)
Frank Gallager got "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattooed on his chest. When he went to the hospital the nurse said "ask legal if this is valid".
IMHO, that's the way it should be. My mother in law had a DNR, and we watched her die when they could have probably brought her back. But. She'd been fading for years. Every Sunday we'd take her out to breakfast. Once in a while she would come back, realize how she was 90% of the time, and bum us all out. Her for the memories, my wife because of the mom she used to be, me because when I met my wife the MIL was already faded.
RIP Lillian, you were a great mother in law. Even though I didn't get to meet you until you were well in the grips of Alzheimer's.
I just passed a drug test. My dealer has some explaining to do.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday September 14 2022, @11:22PM
Unfortunately, in many situations it is not legal or is dangerous for doctors to follow the tattoo. Therefore doctors do resuscitate and let lawyers sort it out later.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday September 15 2022, @02:44AM
I'm of two minds on this. First I have, as a core belief, that your life is not your own if you do not have the ability to end it. On the other side I know that humans are deeply flawed creatures. Legal assisted suicide will be abused; It is as inevitable as sunrise.
Despite the risk, I support this as a legal option.