Dr, Death

So, Jack is out of prison. I am glad. I didn't think he should have ever gone to prison in the first place. Physician assisted suicide should be legal on a federal level. Yes, there should be controls to it and laws in place to protect people, but essentially people, especially terminally ill people or people that live pain-filled, suffering lives, should have the right to die when they want and with dignity.

Anyone who has worked in the medical field knows that the medical professionals try to provide people with a good death, one that is not painful and that is with dignity. It wasn't always like that. Before Dr. Jack came along, many doctors would not prescribe hospice care to their terminally ill patients. I cannot tell you the number of doctors I have heard say they don't believe in hospice over the years, prior to Dr. Jack.

Perhaps what Jack did was illegal, but it wasn't unethical. And, he helped millions of people die a good death, with minimal suffering. I know, I watched my mother die of cancer prior to Jack. It was a horrendous death, filled with intense pain and suffering. Even though she was in an inpatient hospice care unit, one that is still considered the best on the West Coast, we had to fight to get her morphine increased to deal with her pain. It was horrible, both for her and for us, to sit and watch her out of her mind in pain, with little to no relief. Even as she took her last breathe, she had a grimace on her face. In all honesty, I don't know if I was more upset at her death or at the pain she was allowed to endure.

In contrast, I lost my best friend to breast cancer 2 years ago. She was in hospice, but as an outpatient, as she wanted to die at home. Char's death was a good death. Her pain was adequately controlled, she died peacefully at home with her friends and family. There was nothing but a peaceful expression on her face. The difference?? She was allowed to have adequate pain control. The hospice nurses continued to increase her morphine until she was comfortable. Yes, in all actuality the morphine probably decreased her ability to breath and thus quicked her death, but she was comfortable. To some, hospice delivered a lethal amount of morphine and to most people the amount that Char was given would have been lethal in minutes. However, even with increased, lethal doses of morphine, it took many days for her to breath her last breathe and she did so after she said her good-byes to those she loved.

My mother didn't get that option. The intense pain from the cancer caused hallucinations and psychosis. My mother never got to say good-bye and as a result I never got to say good-bye to my mother when she was still coherrent.

Quite a difference a few years made. Dr. Death, or Jack Kevorkian, was and is a God send to those people and families that are suffering. Physician assisted suicide is only legal in one state and it may never be legal in any other state, but Jack opened the eyes of many people to the suffering that is allowed to continue and as a result he helped tame that suffering. Now, in hospitals every where across this nation and in hospice units, doctors and nurses are allowed to increase the morphine levels in terminal patients to lethal doses to control pain. Pain relief is given and people are allowed to die with peace and dignity -- not in the throes of painful suffering.

We should all be thankful for Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The next patient his work helps, may be you or someone you love. After all, when our pets are suffering, we think nothing of taking them to the vet and have them 'put to sleep'. Why should our loved ones, our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers and even our children, be allowed any less humane and compassion??

New Blog, First Post

First post, new blog.

About me.

Middle aged (God I hate that), married to Ray, mother to 2 grown human children and 5 furry butts, commonly called dogs. I have a son, who is currently in the Navy and a daughter, who is a school teacher. The dogs, are dogs -- 3 Siberian Huskies, one Malamute mix and one German Shepherd mix.

I can be very strong willed and opinionated. That's putting it nicely. My thoughts are my own, they may not agree with yours, but I'm not asking you to agree with them. I probably don't agree with you opinions, but I respect that they are yours, and that's what makes each person on this earth an individual.

I don't know how often I will post here. Probably some, maybe not a lot. Maybe more then I think. It's unknown. Time will tell.