quality of life)

[pcrissy]

Ive been cotemplating the value of life in general, do you think the quality of life is more important than
the quantity of life ? If been asked do you want to grow old , often my answer is no, I do not want to
simply because the person I am today is the one I want people to remember , before my vibrance runs
out, before the dementia sets in and the spark runs out, I believe it is a persons  decision to die with
dignity, than to watch someone suffer , the medical community are often told to preserve life but if
It is not in the persons best intrest than why not allow assisted euthanasia , it is sometimes a persons
right to allow dnr on their charts, do not ressicitate , meaning they would rather cease to live than be
brought back, I personally think that we have a right to determine when we should die with dignity
rather than suffer in agony , I pray if I ever get dementia or altizmers someone would intervene at that
point there is no quality of life , your just prolonging the life that ended long before , so why cant
you die before the flame runs out rather tha to watch it linger ??
we choose to die with dignity, I think the candle tnat has gone out before the flame is far better than the
Flame lingering a former shadow of yourself, any opinions on this subject ?

[Anonymouse88]

Move to Oregon or Washington.  They allow physician assisted death in some cases.

People are hesitant to allow physician assisted death sometimes because they worry about coercion.  Keeping someone terminally ill alive is very expensive, and the person might feel pressure to alleviate the financial burden on their family, or worse, the family might pressure the person.  People sometimes change their minds, which makes pre-authorization of euthanasia in case of mental decline problematic.

Quality of life is a complicated thing.  Most people underestimate the quality of life for people with disabilities.  It is possible to be demented but happy.  And not everyone gets dementia before dying of old age.  My great grandmother died at 98, and had short term memory loss, but no dementia.  She was still getting around with her walker and living with my grandparents right up until she died peacefully at home.  

There is something called hospice, though, which is a good middle ground.  Hospice is for people who are estimated to have 6 months or less to live, although it can be renewed if you get lucky (or even stopped if you actually start getting better).  They do not do any life-prolonging treatments--just palliative (comfort) care.  Palliative care can involve giving pain-relieving treatments that may shorten life, on the theory that it is better to be pain free for a shorter period of time than to die in drawn-out agony.  

If the Republican party hadn't made such a stink about "death panels", more people would be getting to talk with their doctors about such things, to pre-arrange things like medical proxies (who gets to make decisions if you are unable to) and whether you want a DNR order.  As a psych patient, you could look into psychiatric advance directives, by the way, which let you say what treatment you would want in case you were committed and to designate someone to make decisions for you if that were to happen.

[Jinx_777]

there is a documentary called 'how to die in oregon' you can find it on a site called putlocker or netflix.  it deals with this very issue and after watching it i am all for the PATIENT to be able to make up their own minds on when they want to go.  
it is legal because a doctor will write a script for the necessary meds and the patient administers it to themselves.  so a doctor is not really terminating life.
they all have horrible terminal illnesses and make the arrangements while they are of sound mind and body.  the people in the documentary waited until all quality of life was gone and there was absolutely no prolonging life anymore.  
i wish it were legal in all states