I watched a movie the other night staring Al Pacino called "You Don't know Jack" In this HBO movie Pacino plays Dr. Kervorkian.Dr. Kervorkian also known as "Dr. Death" was tried and convicted and sentenced to 10 -25 years in prison. He was released in June 2007 after serving 8 years in prison for his role in patient assisted-suicide. What an interesting man. A man of conviction and willing to put everything on the line to change what he considers an unjust law. He's the kind of man you either admire for his convictions or hate him for his beliefs.
In the state of Michigan where Dr. Kervorkian was practising they didn't have laws which would allow him to participate in patient assisted-suicide. He challenged the law on many occasions. In 1998 he was accused and then convicted — of murder after injecting lethal drugs into Thomas Youk, 52, an Oakland County man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Dr. Kervorkian now 81 years old still believes that people have a right to choose when they want to die. He is a advocate for terminally ill patients right to die via physician assisted-suicide.
I listened intently to the movie and then did my own research on Dr. Kervorkian and physician assisted-suicide. I personally don't like the term assisted suicide, to me it immediately implies criminal activity. I don't believe it is and here's why.
Let me play devils advocate for a moment. We already have in place "Advanced Directives" and "No Code" orders. Some of you may argue that Advanced Directives and No Code does not mean that the doctor's assist you in your dying process. Well let's look at that. A No Code order means that if you heart stops or you stop breathing the doctor or health care practitioner is not going to stop that process and they will allow you to die. So how is that any different than saying ok..... you have a terminal illness the medical field has done all it can for you the outcome will ultimately be death....you may die today, tomorrow, next week, next year who knows...but you will die from your disease.
Let's imagine your disease is Lou Gehrig(ALS) or MS or even something like advanced emphysema where you struggle for every breath you take, how long would you fight this battle?
Prior to any of the 130 assisted-suicide Dr. Kervorkian participated in he interviewed the patient and the family to assess their mental well being, he wanted to make sure they understood what it was they were asking him to participate in. He video taped his interviews. From what I could tell all of these people had done everything the medical field had asked them to do and they were just biding their time on this planet before nature took their last breath. These individuals felt that their quality of life was gone.
Now the anti Dr. Kervorkian activists felt he was playing god and feared that by legalizing physician assisted-suicide you were opening the door to the possibility of doing away with people prematurely.
On a personal note I can remember when my mom was caring for her dying husband at home and I asked her about his pain, or what he wanted with regards to death. He had extremely advanced cancer had undergone chemo, radiation, surgeries you name it. He had led a full life and he knew his time was coming. The doctor overseeing his care had written him a prescription for a liquid morphine. My mom told me she asked the doctor how much she should give him, the doctor's response to my mom was pour him a tumbler full leave it at his bedside he will take what he wants...and so that is what she did. He drifted off to sleep, only to wake briefly the morning of their anniversary to say his good-byes and he was gone. So you tell me....did the doctor assist with his dying process?
This is definite food for thought....what do you think?
4 comments:
This has been going on for years though not openly - increased dosage of Morphine for terminally ill patients to relieve their suffering eventually will lead to their death - this is kindness in my opinion. However, as in the case of Harold Shipman, some doctors believe they are God and they can decide when a patient should die - that's wrong.
Interesting post RN.
Such a sticky wicket, this topic is. There is of course, the issue that doctors may (some, not all) be feeling a bit godlike if this were legalized but I wonder too if this would be that much higher a number than already exists -in some mds anyway.
My Mom passed away 31 years ago this month and her passing was terrible for me to see as on a day-to-day basis you could see her deterioration taking place. When she went into a coma the night before her death -the dr. and the nurses told me the pain she was experiencing was so sever that even with the highest doses of pain killers they could give her, combined with the coma, nothing was enough to quell her pain! I am, to this day, relieved that this didn't go one for weeks or months which could have happened. We, none of us, want to see a loved one in horrendous pain, nor do most of us want to experience that or the loss of quality of life from other extenuating factors either. But our laws do not give us -or the drs -the legal power to end the pain or issues from various types of illness. I am not and advocate of suicide on one hand but then too, who am I to determine what another person feels that they can deal with in their life either. There really is no easy solution to this issue -legal, illegal, as pain free as is medically possible, with family able to gather to "assist" with the transition from this life to the next seems to me the best solution for all concerned but even that has its loopholes too I suppose.
Excellent post addressing a really difficult subject, Mary Ann.
I agree completely with your take on this subject. Could there be abuse. No doubt. But the overall common sense is clear. My own experience was to rush out and make an advanced directive when I saw the Dr. Senator pontificate a diagnosis on the woman in Florida who had been in a vegatative state for years. I think all of this kind of stuff should be between the family and the doctors. Period.
Wonderful post, Mary Ann...what would I want, I wonder. No one can make a decision like this unless they are in the situation itself. I'm for keeping it between the doctor and the family in cases where it's terminal.
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