wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Thank you for discussing the topic of physician assisted suicide. I'd like to add the what your guest said about the demographics of the people who want physician-assisted suicide. He said they tend to be middle class affluent people. As someone who works with the elderly, in my experience, many people in lower socioeconomic groups tend to refuse anything else that would end curative treatments or testing because #1 they believe longevity is paramount regardless of suffering and #2 they are afraid the medical establishment and society at large are trying to get rid of undesirables.

It seems to me that some of the hysteria surrounding suicide (assisted or otherwise) is predicated on the notion that human beings are somehow more precious, more worthy of preservation than other life forms. I disagree. Whether is barks, blooms, or sings, life is life, and all life is transient. When I've had as much life as I can stand, I'd like to be able to check out quickly, painlessly, and with dignity.

I believe that any thing of this nature shall introduce more corruption into the Healthcare system and doctors shall end-up forcing the senior, disabled and those with mental problems into killing themselves for "your own good" which is really just to get them out of the way.

A female fetus being transferred for burial from Afula's Haemek Hospital on Sunday night was found to still be living as the body was being washed.

The fetus, delivered in the mother's 22nd week of pregnancy, was pronounced dead and was meant to be buried in a village near Nazareth.

After it was discovered that the fetus was alive, she was examined by a doctor and returned to the hospital

What about those who are terminally ill, do want to die, but are incapable of administering the medication to themselves?

If it's my life to do with as I like, may I kill myself at 18? At 21? Suppose my beloved 21 year old wife is dying of a terminal illness while I, at 21 also, suffer from significant hearing and vision loss. Should I be allowed to kill myself along with her?

this too shall pass (perseverance: pass it on)

And to the first poster, do you have any idea how much money is wasted, yes, wasted on end of life care so someone can possibly eek out another week or two confined to a hospital bed maxed out on pain killers? I’m not suggesting euthanasia, as you’ve referred to is, but people not being so self-importance and families not being so selfish as to stave off the eminently inevitable when they know they won’t have to foot the bill.

I was on hold on the phone before you cleared the lines, & my question was about the role of depression in both doctor-assisted & the more usual kind of suicide. This doesn't have to do w/whether it's the gov't's. business & is an important issue that needs to be addressed in any discussion of this issue.

This story isn’t particularly new, In October of 1972, one of the United States’ most prolific designers (Henry Dreyfuss) committed suicide with his terminally ill wife. They died by carbon monoxide poisoning using their car.
The question is, what vested interest do you have in… as the host says “someone like this” ending their life… Bad if a designer or conductor ends their otherwise healthy life, but great if a dictator or mass-gunman does?

It should not be up to society to legally force a person to live, I think assisted dying even in the case of people who are not terminally ill but simply no longer wish to continue living should be legal.

It should be a matter of personal choice, why should the rest of us dictate what one person should do with his or her life?

Please find out about the number of people in Holland who are killed in involuntary euthanasia, it's quite high.
The proposed health care bill has the horrifying statement that those who are elderly or disabled (Medicare) should have an assessment every five years, to decide if they should consider going into hospice or into palliative care.
This means that anyone concerned about the elderly or the disabled, should fight this bill: it's about denying treatment, deciding that some are not worth treatment, euthanasia.
People won't believe that the bill says this, but it does.