Posted by Toph on February 15, 2005, at 10:38:12
In reply to Re: Can euthanasia be an act of love? (trigger), posted by Tabitha on February 15, 2005, at 0:38:21
> ...all she had to do was ask the health workers to turn off the ventilator machine and they'd be obligated to comply.
>As I understand it, that's correct Tabitha. Unfortuately, nurses can only remove life supports upon the order of the treating physician. Some doctors will not terminate life sustaning treatment because of their personal belifs or because of a perverse interpretation of the do no harm provision of the Hippocratic oath. Then there's the belief that an individual who is suicidal is prima facial evidence of mental illness. Boy, I'd be depressed too if I had a brain injury or spinal cord injury that rendered me totally dependent on others for my basic needs. Nothing like laying in your feces for hours, the smell of necrotic flesh from decubitus ulcers or a male nurse changing your Foley catheter routinely. Of course, there's always the utter torture of an untreatable brain tumor to cause someone to beg for merciful relief.
I understand the point of view of the disabilities advocates who are concerned about euthanasia as an act of expediancy. I believe that for some it is an act of love.
Ironically this was in today's Tribune. Sometimes we treat animals more humanely than humans.
*One of city's most special gorillas dies*
By William Mullen
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 15, 2005
Kumba, who made history in 1970 as the city's first captive-born gorilla, was euthanized Saturday by keepers at Lincoln Park Zoo after years of slow deterioration caused by kidney failure..."...Losing an animal is the most difficult part of working at the zoo, and it was really tough to say goodbye to Kumba," said Robyn Barbiers, the zoo's general curator.
"For the past few years, we have been closely watching Kumba because of her reduced renal [kidney] function, and we have administered a variety of treatments, but her condition continued to deteriorate," she said. "It became evident that she was dying."
Kumba would have turned 35 in July. Since November, Barbiers said, her health had been in a tailspin as she lost weight and became lethargic. Her system had stopped metabolizing foods, and she had lost interest in eating.
On Saturday zoo veterinarians and ape-house keepers anesthetized her for another round of tests with a prior agreement that, if her condition showed no hope of improvement, they would euthanize Kumba to stop her suffering...
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
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