[E-DOG]

WHEW! Thank you Simon.

[Jax]

Yes, THANK YOU SIMON!!

[gordonr]

Jax, on Aug 12 2009, 07:19 PM, said:

If you aren't physically able, endorse this release in front of the lawyers, and after 12 hrs, the doc will put you down like a puppy. Hell, we could even give veterinarians the release forms and let them do it. They do it to animals all the time, so it shouldn't be much different to do it to humans (after all, we are mammals). There's your 'who' answer and possibly your 'where' and 'when' answers.

Jax,

I think we would be better to get the whole medical profession out of the killing business.

Your mention of Veterinarians hints at why. The Vet is a general purpose animal guy. He foals and calfs, patches wounds, treats sickness, castrates and puts down. That is not the sort of mentality you want in a doctor. You want him working to save you, not hesitating between treatment and a lethal dose. If it comes to that, because that is what you want, then he should pass you off to someone else.

I once worked in a chicken packing plant. The first day I found it kind of gross to be shovelling guts up off the floor. But I soon got used to it, and as I looked around, I saw that the only thing people were thinking about was working fast enough, not what they were doing. And I remember having the distinct notion that if the chickens were replaced with human beings it would only take a few shifts to get the line back up to speed. This is the secret of slave camps and death camps. People just get used to it.

I don`t think it is in our interests to get doctors and nurses used to performing that kind of proceedure.

In any case, there is no reason why they should. Killing is not a medical act. It is not a treatment.

The same ideas cropped up with abortion. Doctors did not want to do abortions for personal ethical reasons. In private practice that was ok, but in the public clinics of the social medicine countries, it has become impossible to do Obstetrics without doing abortion. I once talked about this with an abortion doctor in one of their forums. He tried to impress me with his knowledge, two years pre-med, four years of medical school, a year of internship, a year as a resident, two more years to specialize. I told him that I thought that was a really long time to spend learning how to operate a vacuum cleaner...

And yet there is a rationale for abortion in a medical setting. There are things that can go wrong. The health of the mother must be protected. That takes medical professionals.

But euthanasia? What the hell? Nothing can go wrong. There is no situation in which a doctor could be required to SAVE anybody.

I believe there should be a completely different technician responsible for whatever acts are required. And there is no reason for this to happen at a MEDICAL clinic or hospital. Any office would do. It might sound gross, but such a facility might most naturally be integrated in the funeral home/crematorium complexes. One stop shopping. Full service. Package deal.

While researching this, I found an interesting article about the way things are done at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. Actually there is no clinic. Just an apartment apparently. Law requires that the lethal prescription be written by a doctor, but no doctor is present at the scene. A Dignitas employee of unspecified duties does the honors of putting the spiked drink on the table, filming the proceedings and calling the cops when all is done.

This is an interesting read. It puts the thing in perspective. The client here, shows up with an expectation of special effects, music, a sense of mystery, a meaningful experience. And there is none of that, she just ends up a stiff in very short order. Moreover, you realize that whatever the stagecraft, and it might be exceedingly elaborate, for the client it all boils down to the same bottom line.

So lets keep our doctors out of it. Let them be eager and keen to keep us alive as long as we are willing to let them. That is their job. Very few want any other role. Let us not force it on them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-43...ortionists.html


Best Regards,

Gordon

[wheeliebear75]

I think that last line is one of the best I've read for a while.