Assisted suicide, be careful what you wish for

"Death never seems to come the way we want. It often comes with pain and ugliness. With many who are aged, depression, dementia clouds the judgment. The once adult has become the child. The all-knowing medical staff can be a bit overpowering and strongly influence choices made.

I am all for changing the care from trying to heal to treating death that is inevitable. I am concerned about the state of mind of those dying. and the transfer of power to others. If assisted dying becomes law the land, will it lead to insurance and government aid setting time tables for treatment and termination.  It will be decided based on cost and will be applied to those who can't pay or weak of mind. There comes a time when to allow death to take its course is the most logical one. 

The dying need help and care, but beware that we are far more capable of misusing assisted suicide." 

I wrote this comment in response to an article by Susan Gruber, Living with Cancer: Deciding About Dying. NYT http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/living-with-cancer-deciding-about-dying/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Living%20With%20Cancer&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

Much of our social law is based on individual choice and I am assuming that assisted suicide will eventually become law the land. 

Many years ago Francis Schaeffer arguing for pro-life saw a society with the values of personal peace and influence wouldn't time embrace euthanasia. Well that time is finally arrived. 

Many of us have seen loved ones reach a time in which they were fighting a terminal illness. All of the efforts to cure or to put in the remission the disease had  come to an end. What was ahead was dying and the best decision was to quit fighting it and make the person more comfortable.

I read in the other day that Maureen Ohare age 95 passed away peacefully in her home while she was asleep. She was surrounded by friends and family so they know her death was coming. The article didn't report any suffering that she may have done prior to her death. 

I think we all envision a death where we just wear out as we age. But unfortunately death comes in all packages and all different ways. In the stories that I've read from the article the deaths wrote about were cancer. 

Terminal illness has to be treated. Probably the number one priority is pain. Helping the dying has its own care. I would argue against assisted suicide for the following reasons:

1. The mental state of the one who is dying,  I have noted before that 25% of us  are clinically depressed at age 63. With dementia and other aging issues  bring about some form of mental decline as we age. For many who are older a childlike state becomes a factor.  Others may maintain a high level of awareness at death.
2. Once assisted death becomes the the law land government and  insurance regulations will impose policies based on cost-effectiveness which will open up the door for euthanasia for those with dementia and terminally ill who are poor and cannot afford personally the cost of care.   Assisted death will be practiced against the will of seniors we can't afford to care for. 
3. Personal choice will be the trump card into putting this into action, But the ramifications will go way beyond the present debate. It will open up the door for us to socially engineer death to be more cost efficient and to terminate the weak and the old, especially those far removed from the power circles that we invent. 
4. Personal affluence and peace have little concern for trials and struggles.  It ts our various difficulties that define us and make a strong. Even death which we run away from or try to cover up needs to be faced.  Death teaches us our days are numbered and the need to prepare for eternity.  We have enabled ourselves to rarely get involved with it. Assisted suicide is just one more way we make ourselves comfortable. We will be enabled to not face our mortality.  no matter what you believe life is short.  We are living longer but with age there is problems.

 Care for the dying and their families I totally embrace. Helping everybody come to terms with our mortality is a critical part of our humanity. As a Christian I believe death opens the door for eternity with or without God. Helping those with terminal illnesses spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically to them through death will maintain the highest dignity we have for life. Keep walking