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Doctor makes dying pleas for assisted suicide

 
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catman



Joined: 18 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:42 am    Post subject: Doctor makes dying pleas for assisted suicide Reply with quote

Quote:
In an impassioned YouTube video shot eight days before he died of a brain tumour, Dr. Donald Low, the microbiologist credited with guiding Toronto through the 2003 SARS crisis, makes a final plea for Canada to change the law to allow assisted suicide.

“I know I’m going to die, what worries me is how I’m going to die,” the 68-year-old Low says in the video.

Low was the microbiologist in chief at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital and a professor at the University of Toronto.

After the 2003 breakout of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Toronto, Low oversaw regular updates to the public about the syndrome, which eventually killed 44 people in Canada and nearly 800 worldwide.


He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer seven months ago and died on Sept. 18.

In the video produced by Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Low says he would have liked to have the option available to terminal patients in other countries where assisted suicide is legal.


“What the end is going to look like, that’s what's bothering me the most,” he says. “They give you a very simple way out. You drink a cocktail and you fall asleep and you do this in the presence of your family. In countries where it’s legal, it’s quite easy to do. In countries where it’s not legal, it’s pretty well impossible.”

Doctor-assisted suicide is illegal in Canada.

In the video, Low said he was not experiencing pain, but was losing his sight and other senses, and was worried about how his life would end.

He was afraid of paralysis, eventually not being able to swallow food, or use the washroom without assistance.

Maureen Taylor, Low's widow, described her husband's last moments.

"I could hear his breathing, as normal, was very laboured, and all of a sudden, I couldn't hear it. And I turned back to him and he had one last breath and I held him and he didn't breathe again anymore," she told CBC News.

"But I can tell you that was not a dignified death that he died."

In the video, Low makes a direct plea to opponents of assisted suicide imploring them to reconsider.

“I wish they could live in my body for 24 hours and I think they would change that opinion,” he said. “I’m just frustrated not to be able to have control of my own life. Not being able to have the decision for myself when enough is enough.

“In Canada, it’s illegal and it will be a long time where we mature to a level where there’s dying with dignity.”

A statement in the video says Low, “did not have the death he had hoped for, but he died in his wife’s arms and was not in pain."

A spokesperson from the Office of the Minister of Justice sent an email to CBC News on Tuesday, saying that the government has "no intention" of reopening debate on the laws surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3jgSkxV1rw
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young_clinton



Joined: 09 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why does somebody else need to be involved in someone's suicide? Why is another person going to be involved and interested in someone else's suicide? There is always a selfish motive in a person's actions. The motive can be very highly sublimated and deep inside for human beings, but how is it that people can operate contrary to their own interests although the interests may be hidden? The selfish motivations behind love, brotherly love etc. work well and are adaptive and make life worth living. I don't think it's the same for assisted suicide. Again why would a person be interested in assisting someone's suicide? Plain, flat out, what's in it for them?
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

young_clinton wrote:
Why does somebody else need to be involved in someone's suicide?


The same reason you'd want trained medical staff involved in any other procedure: to maximize the chance of success while minimizing pain and potential complications.

young_clinton wrote:
The selfish motivations behind love, brotherly love etc. work well and are adaptive and make life worth living. I don't think it's the same for assisted suicide. Again why would a person be interested in assisting someone's suicide? Plain, flat out, what's in it for them?


You cannot imagine why a compassionate person might wish to help another avoid needless and futile pain at said other's request?
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Underwaterbob



Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm with him.

Death isn't like what you see in the movies. It's ugly. And isn't over in a matter of seconds with a dramatic fluttering of the eyelids. It can take weeks. It can cost a lot of money. It can be a slow, dragged out, painful process for everyone involved.

If I were in his situation: waiting around to die, knowing it's going to happen at anytime, I'd want the quick way out too. And not just for myself, but for everyone else who also has to watch me go through it.
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Captain Corea



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yup, my feelings as well.

I actually take it one step further and say that all suicide should be legalized (or not punished, or whatever).
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geldedgoat



Joined: 05 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Underwaterbob wrote:
If I were in his situation: waiting around to die, knowing it's going to happen at anytime, I'd want the quick way out too.


I wouldn't. I'd want to fight through every last, glorious moment of suffering. And of course Slaanesh tells me that it might just be the best experience yet.

Though I wouldn't want to deny someone else a way out who didn't feel as strongly about living as I do.
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The Cosmic Hum



Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space

PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

geldedgoat wrote:
Underwaterbob wrote:
If I were in his situation: waiting around to die, knowing it's going to happen at anytime, I'd want the quick way out too.


I wouldn't. I'd want to fight through every last, glorious moment of suffering. And of course Slaanesh tells me that it might just be the best experience yet.

Though I wouldn't want to deny someone else a way out who didn't feel as strongly about living as I do.


Though it is hard to tell if you are joking about this topic...suffering is not glorious.
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geldedgoat



Joined: 05 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Cosmic Hum wrote:
Though it is hard to tell if you are joking about this topic...suffering is not glorious.


I'm not, and that is your opinion. I've no desire to throw away such an experience as fighting against my death, no matter how painful.
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catman



Joined: 18 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The primary objective of euthanasia is to reduce suffering. Many religions view suffering as a righteous condition, in effect, an act of faith. Obviously, the unfaithful should not be required to suffer unnecessarily, so no debate is required on that point. Debate is required only with respect to the possible abuse of legalized euthanasia, which is a matter not involving religion. In conclusion, religion has nothing to contribute to the debate.
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The Cosmic Hum



Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space

PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

geldedgoat wrote:
The Cosmic Hum wrote:
Though it is hard to tell if you are joking about this topic...suffering is not glorious.


I'm not, and that is your opinion. I've no desire to throw away such an experience as fighting against my death, no matter how painful.

Why fight against your maker? Accept it...move on.
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caniff



Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map

PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I lost my mother to brain cancer last year. She was still practicing law up until she went in for her surgery to remove the tumor, and unfortunately she was too weakened from months of being sick and she never woke up afterwards and died a few days later.

I saw the look in her eyes before the surgery and it looked like she knew it was the end. I was optimistic (knowing her character), but I guess she knew better.

If assisted-suicide had been an option for her, I wonder if she would have chosen that route. Maybe it wouldn't have been presented to her as an option as the doctors claimed there was hope, but I knew her and it looked like she was ready to throw in the towel but was going through the procedure as it was the prescribed course of action.

It's a difficult subject, but overall I would support assisted-suicide (until it was turned into an industry by the scumbags who always seem to pounce on such an opportunity).
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Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't believe in physician assisted suicide. I do however believe in "Friend/Family with a .45 to the head" (for men) or "Bottle full of pills" (women) assisted suicide.

If you're going to do it, don't drag health care and hospitals into the equation.

If you can't bring your family or friends into it, and they aren't willing to pull a trigger and clean up your skull, then it probably shouldn't be done.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bottle full of pills fails more than it succeeds by the looks of it. Chinese-style "devour pesticide" is the clearly correct approach if a woman actually wants to die (instead of just wanting attention).
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geldedgoat



Joined: 05 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could also try rectally funneling a few liters of vodka. Effective and it makes for a good attention-getting show. A two for one, if you will.
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