welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

euthanasia

EUTHANASIA
euthanasia is ending a life intentionally to end pain
and suffering
we all know what it means

many of us have euthanized pets before
in some areas they simply use a gunshot to the head
but most probably use vet assisted euthanasia

and i think we all feel ok with pet euthanasia
it hard but we know the time has come when
the suffering outweighs the living
my wife she has held pets while they slowly
fall asleep
peacefully

like most of us want to go with family and friends
around us


amsj.com

in humans it seems to be more sensitive
i watched the story of brittany maynard closely
before she euthanized herself
or as it called assisted suicide
legal in oregon
but practiced everywhere else but its not ever really
discussed openly
if you are in the medical field and have been around
dying terminal cases you know what i am talking about

have i seen it probably
have i participated probably
after all there are different degrees of this
an elderly person debilitated and severely involved with a terminal
diseae like eg alzheimers disease
pneumonia is allowed to progress untreated
food and water is withdrawn
chemo is stopped
all meds are stopped

when i looked at brittany maynard and when i look at cases
like this
i picture her being my daughter my daughter in law my grand
daughter my niece
and then i say
what would i do or want done or what would i say if asked
should she have this done

there is a point of no return in diseases
that when its reached
then its time or its ok to let go or to help

the problem is when is that time
was she there
she thought so
she went out on her own terms

now ive seen these stories about euthanasia in the past
and
seen folks who euthanized themselves
and
to me they did not seem at that point

finding that point that sweet spot
is the essence of all of this
when it becomes a feel good thing the right thing
everyone involved feels ok with it
that may have been with brittanys case

i do think about this a lot
doing euthanasia
and
i have no problem with it personally

since if i have alzheimers disease then i have a terminal
illness that will eventually get to that sweet spot
but
will i be able to know when that time has arrived
will i be able to make that decision
i am afraid thats not the way this disease works
i dont want to go before i have eked out ever;y second
of being with my wife she my sons my daughterinlaws
my future granddaughter
but
when i have maxed out my time here
then
i want to go

i would if i could follow in the footsteps of brittany
and
want my family to feel good about it
feel good about the life i lead
ok sorry i fell asleep on yall all the time
but it could have done worse
but
i also dont want to put that burden that decision totally
on them
how to get prepared this far out is difficult
but
i dont want to wait too long
and
i want to be able to be involved
with finding that sweet spot
like finding that perfect sunrise or perfect sunset










for now
the best i can do is a living will with definite things written
like
no ivs
no feeding tube do that to me and i hope you rot in hades
no cpr no ventilation tubes again if you do that to me
i will haunt you for as long as you live
stop all my meds please
and
let me go since i want be able to make you stop doing those things
to me
or
lets just move to oregon

the organicgreen doctor

1 comment:

  1. Up until recent, certain religious entities stood on the belief that anybody who committed suicide "went to hell". The change in that position came when it was recognized that mental health/anguish played a factor and that it was not such a "selfish act".

    I'm not really sure the delta between suicide and assisted suicide. Overdosing on pills because you want to die is the same regardless of what label you place on it. I think the issue simply stems from the fact that one is considered to have some sort of mental duress whereas the other is still in possession of their mental faculties.

    I've only seen a few people die from cancer but to know they were dying from the inside out is painful to watch.

    One last thought... how is a "DNR" (do not resuscitate) not considered a similar form of suicide? My Dad had a DNR when he had lung cancer (Agent Orange - Viet Nam) and knew at some point he would pass out from lack of oxygen due to his lungs slowly filling from cancer... I loved that man more than life itself and yet have no qualms with his decision. Slowly choking to death was something we knew was not in his best interest and certainly lacked quality of life.

    ReplyDelete