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So, Whitehouse.gov now has a petition area. There were all sorts of 'Legalize Marijuana!' and 'Remove God from (vehicle)' petitions and the obligatory 'Free Leonard Peltier' petition, but there wasn't one for the Right to Die / Death With Dignity / Doctor Assisted Suicide.
There is now.
http://wh.gov/gpI
It needs 150 signatures before it goes public, and 5000 signatures by October 23, 2011 before it.. I honestly don't know.. wins a doorprize? Gets the attention of the Pres? Gets me put on an FBI watch list? Let's find out!
A Right to Die federal law would supersede state laws - currently only Washington, Oregon, and Montana support the right for doctors to assist terminally ill patients when they choose to end their life. The only vehicle doctors in other states have is what's considered 'passive euthanasia', where they withhold fluids and nourishment and the person literally starves to death. This is not a slow process. It is not a painless process.
Death with dignity should be the right of all people. When animals have terminal conditions and/or degenerative pain, there's a point where it's considered humane to euthanize and cruel not to, yet there is no such legal vehicle for human beings when they get to that point. In many states, even suicide is illegal (if you survive it), and most methods of suicide are painful and undignified.
My mother died of complications from Alzheimer's - she developed aspiration pneumonia and because she was not mobile, her lungs wouldn't stop filling with fluid. "Pallative care" in Minnesota equaled withholding liquids and nourishment, providing morphine to ease the pain and suffocation feeling as her lungs filled with fluid. It took over a week for her to die that way. We were lucky - her heart finally gave out from trying to breathe. If we'd had to wait for her to starve to death, it would have been drawn out even longer. That doesn't do a damn thing to ease the pain of watching my mother slowly smother to death.
I swore then: That will never be me.
I had a brain malfunction a year and a half ago. For a brief and terrifying time, I lived with the possibility that I could have Alzheimer's - and while it turned out that I don't have it now, there's no guarantees I won't be right back in that terrifying time at some future point. I made the decision that I would not die the way my mother did. I would not put anyone I loved through the horror of watching my personality slowly seep away. If my brain had started to ossify, I'd pick a date, do all the things I wanted to do, have a big goodbye party, and end my life. On my terms, without pain, with as much dignity as I could muster.
It lead me to the realization that I had to quit my job, because not only was the job the root cause of my brain malfunction by making my blood pressure so high I threw a clot and had a stroke - but I was not happy, and life is too goddamn short.
I got lucky. My brain's malfunction was a temporary thing and the side effects I'd been noticing were actually not from the malfunction itself but from the repairs my brain was doing to ensure it never happened again in that blood vessel.
Should the day come when I have to pick a date, I want to be able to go to my doctor and outline a Final Plan. I want to have medical support so my life ends peacefully and painlessly. I want my family and loved ones watch me go to a peaceful, painless end. The fact that this isn't already an "unalienable right" is a criminal shame that should be rectified post-haste.
tl;dr - Go sign my petition. Pass the link on. 150 signatures before it goes public, 5000 before we find out what happens to petitions that get more than 5k signatures.
There is now.
http://wh.gov/gpI
It needs 150 signatures before it goes public, and 5000 signatures by October 23, 2011 before it.. I honestly don't know.. wins a doorprize? Gets the attention of the Pres? Gets me put on an FBI watch list? Let's find out!
A Right to Die federal law would supersede state laws - currently only Washington, Oregon, and Montana support the right for doctors to assist terminally ill patients when they choose to end their life. The only vehicle doctors in other states have is what's considered 'passive euthanasia', where they withhold fluids and nourishment and the person literally starves to death. This is not a slow process. It is not a painless process.
Death with dignity should be the right of all people. When animals have terminal conditions and/or degenerative pain, there's a point where it's considered humane to euthanize and cruel not to, yet there is no such legal vehicle for human beings when they get to that point. In many states, even suicide is illegal (if you survive it), and most methods of suicide are painful and undignified.
My mother died of complications from Alzheimer's - she developed aspiration pneumonia and because she was not mobile, her lungs wouldn't stop filling with fluid. "Pallative care" in Minnesota equaled withholding liquids and nourishment, providing morphine to ease the pain and suffocation feeling as her lungs filled with fluid. It took over a week for her to die that way. We were lucky - her heart finally gave out from trying to breathe. If we'd had to wait for her to starve to death, it would have been drawn out even longer. That doesn't do a damn thing to ease the pain of watching my mother slowly smother to death.
I swore then: That will never be me.
I had a brain malfunction a year and a half ago. For a brief and terrifying time, I lived with the possibility that I could have Alzheimer's - and while it turned out that I don't have it now, there's no guarantees I won't be right back in that terrifying time at some future point. I made the decision that I would not die the way my mother did. I would not put anyone I loved through the horror of watching my personality slowly seep away. If my brain had started to ossify, I'd pick a date, do all the things I wanted to do, have a big goodbye party, and end my life. On my terms, without pain, with as much dignity as I could muster.
It lead me to the realization that I had to quit my job, because not only was the job the root cause of my brain malfunction by making my blood pressure so high I threw a clot and had a stroke - but I was not happy, and life is too goddamn short.
I got lucky. My brain's malfunction was a temporary thing and the side effects I'd been noticing were actually not from the malfunction itself but from the repairs my brain was doing to ensure it never happened again in that blood vessel.
Should the day come when I have to pick a date, I want to be able to go to my doctor and outline a Final Plan. I want to have medical support so my life ends peacefully and painlessly. I want my family and loved ones watch me go to a peaceful, painless end. The fact that this isn't already an "unalienable right" is a criminal shame that should be rectified post-haste.
tl;dr - Go sign my petition. Pass the link on. 150 signatures before it goes public, 5000 before we find out what happens to petitions that get more than 5k signatures.
