I’m not sure if I get my point across here, but for me life is a precious opportunity which should not be thrown away. I meditate to rid myself from the illusion of suffering. And of course I’ll be smarter once I am older. :)

The problem with the death with dignity is the following: it can be abused. Who is to say that a patient is in the right state of mind to make the decision to end his or her life? What if they are depressed, as many rightfully are? Two doctors have to evaluate any patient, but it is very difficult to always determine if one is depressed and of right mind. There has only been one patient who’s medical records have been released and he had a long history of depression, including one hospitalization, long before his terminal illness.

Secondly, there are risks of the medication working. One patient took his drugs to kill himself, and then survived.

Finally, it is also very difficult to determine how long a patient who is “terminal” has to live. Who’s to say if they have less than the 6 month window required to live? Doctors often label a patient with that amount of time to allow a patient the option of assisted suicide. Might there be a slippery slope towards less and less terminal patients allowed suicide? (After all, aren’t we all terminal?) Would this then result is family members, hospital staff, etc, pushing the old, demented, those who can’t care or speak for themselves into ending their lives?

All I wanted to say is that I wouldn’t be so quick to judge Physician assisted suicide as a gift to the world. It is a complicated issue that the vast majority of the public has not learned about and explored. It is one thing to know how is it supposed to work, and quite another to see how is is actually used in reality.

And I got a great laugh out of the advertisement that happened to load below this post: “The Nativity Story… Starts Friday!”