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Philosophy 101
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Letting Go
| Philosophy 101 |
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Letting Go |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan 
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‘CLAMART, France — Yasser Arafat has suffered brain damage and kidney and liver failure, the Palestinian prime minister said Wednesday, but a top Muslim cleric ruled out any possibility of life support being turned off... Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Arafat, who was in a deep coma connected to a respirator and a feeding tube, had suffered brain damage because of a hemorrhage. Only his heart and lungs were still functioning, Shaath said... As long as there are signs of life in the body of the president, he will remain under treatment," said Tamimi. "It is prohibited in Islam."’ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138217,00.html So when is enough enough? For you? Anyone remember Karen Ann Quinlan, (my “Karen Ann” was written to her)? How far should a society go. John P.S. the constant struggle with submission is tiring this so-called strength I’ve gained is just another heavy load, I wish to curl myself into a Fetal rose and rest in the eternal womb awhile. January 7, 1975 Karen Ann Quinlan |
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| © Copyright 2004 John Pawlik - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Huh? Disconnecting life support is against Islam, but suicide is condoned as long as you kill others? Personally, as I told my Dietetics professor (much to her chagrin), 'I'd rather die at 50 of a heart conniption eating a rare steak, big baker, with a dark beer in hand surrounded by friends and family, than to live to 90 being fed strained mushed peas by someone I don't know.' I'd rather not be on life support if there was NO HOPE of any sort of recovery. If I'm a vegetable, check me out and put me to bed with a shovel. Which reminds me. Gotta get one of them 'living wills'. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
Alicat, “I'd rather not be on life support if there was NO HOPE of any sort of recovery.” And if recovery meant: “being fed strained mushed peas by someone I don't know” ? Would Lazarus want that? John |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
He's dead, guys. Happy now? |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Rather ambivalent actually, Brad.  John, why on earth would you namedrop Lazarus? I mean, come on...that's a friend of Jesus who died almost 2000 years ago. Life Support was not around in any shape/form/fashion. Best they could manage was salting the corpse to preserve it for viewing or transport! If you're gonna discuss 'Current Events', then stay current! Geeze, it'd be like bringing up Genghis Khan in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Non sequitors out the ying-yang. If you want to be on complete mechanical life support in the vain hopes of making a complete recovery and rehabilitation towards normality, then go for it. Personally, I stick with what I said and made sure my SO knew as well. She thinks the same way. Put me to bed with a shovel, take what you need, then plant the rest, unembalmed, so that the soil can get some benefit without being poisoned by viewer-friendly ichors. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
Alicat, Just wondered if Lazarus would welcome returning if it meant a life such as you described. If anyone afforded that chance would want it. Seems going once is enough, if that’s all you got to come back to. John |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
Ahh, the foolish pride of the young and healthy ... |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
Ron, My father was neither young or healthy, and he was very deliberate in his wish not to be brought back. He was not a religious man. And I doubt he was unique. “He had been to touch the great death, and found that, after all, it was but the great death. He was a man.” Stephen Crane I wonder if that is true. My father, the concentration camp survivor, wasn’t afraid of death; he hated dying, but death itself was no terror. Perhaps our generation has a different view. If so, the question is why. John |
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hush Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653Ohio, USA |
Alicat- ''I'd rather die at 50 of a heart conniption eating a rare steak, big baker, with a dark beer in hand surrounded by friends and family, than to live to 90 being fed strained mushed peas by someone I don't know.' I'd rather not be on life support if there was NO HOPE of any sort of recovery. If I'm a vegetable, check me out and put me to bed with a shovel. Which reminds me. Gotta get one of them 'living wills'.' Right, that's nice and ideal, walthough chances are you'll make it to the hospital and survive... maybe with constant heart problems for the rest of your life, or even a stroke... I work in a nursing home, and I see plenty of people in their 50's and 60's being feed pureed goop, unable to talk aside from the occasional incoherent mumbling- maybe they wanted the same thing. It doesn't work that way. And you can't take someone off life support if they aren't actually on it. |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Agreed wholeheartedly. My personal views are still the same though. Do the same even if mostly vegetative. If all I'm really good for is consuming oxygen, eating mush, and creating fertilizer, I believe I could do that much more efficiently a few feet under the sod. That's just me. Any medical mishap is in the genetic gene pool from my mom and dad, although mostly from mom's side, as that line has been here for far longer than my dad's. If Grandpa Henry counts as being a citizen, being born on the boat coming over, then I'm third generation here. Otherwise, I'm the second. Combined, their families have had just about everything out there, except for Hep, AIDS, and HIV. So I reckon when the bundle of straws are held forward, it's gonna be random chance whether or not I pull the short one. |
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hush Senior Member
since 2001-05-27
Posts 1653Ohio, USA |
LOL, I feel the same way. But anyway- unfortunately, under current law, if all it takes to keep you alive is oxygen and mush, it's illegal to kill you. There's no oh-so-vital plug to pull. |
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