On Euthanasia

Living is not just breathing. Living means having fellowship with family and friends, it means learning and sharing, travel and adventure, joy and happiness, health and mobility, peace and tranquility. It means love of family, of friends and of country. When a person can no longer enjoy these things, when he or she can no longer be a contributor to the joy, the welfare and the needs of others, when there is no hope for improvement, for rehabilitation, or for cure, then life has lost its purpose. I like to believe that his or her God-given mission is completed. It’s time to go.

Euthanasia is defined as the painless termination of life of a person or an animal suffering from incurable, terminal and painful disease or an irreversible coma.

While we value life and we love our fellow man and our pets, there often comes that time and circumstance when the elements that give meaning and relevance to life are lost and termination of life is the merciful course of action, both for the individual and for the family.

Probably the hardest thing we ever face in this world is to be a participant in a decision to terminate a life. It is a sad and reluctant deed, but, most often an act of love and sacrifice.

Today there are about 14 states in America and over 8 countries that permit some form of Assisted Suicide without punishment. There should be more.

It’s a travesty that Dr Kevorkian died in prison for assisting people fulfill their wish to die. It is a difficult and heart wrenching decision, but a decision only for the person, for the family and for the attending doctors to make. I remember the 1990 Terri Schiavo case when state legislators, the U.S. congress and even the presidency got involved on whether to remove the feeding tube from a lady who was in an incurable vegetative coma. She remained in that state for 15 years before she was finally permitted to die. To me that was excessive overreach, unnecessary, unwelcome and an intrusion on a matter with which only the family should wrestle.

At the end of life all that remains is memories. How does a person want to be remembered, and what memories do families and friends want to have of the deceased? – – In agony, helpless, needy, burdensome and dependent? I think not. 

One should be allowed to leave this world with dignity, leaving  memories behind of the best of times, not the worst of times.

– – – Just the view of a common man