The premise of "Million Dollar Baby," which garnered a lot of Oscars, is that an otherwise perfectly healthy, but paralyzed, woman asks her former coach to murder her, and he does, and according to the movie, he's a great hero. I admire Clint Eastwood, but in this I believe that he's wrong.
For many, including many on this thread, being disabled is so horrible to contemplate that they believe that death is preferable. Which I would say is their right to decide for themselves, but not others. In my experience, disabled people are not so eager to die as we might suppose. I don't think a spouse is the right person to decide if the person cannot decide for himself/herself. Maybe it's because of all the divorces I've handled. Spouses have their own agendas.
People say a lot of things, but when push comes to shove, they don't always stick to what they said in the first place. I have read that people who attempt suicide, and fail, almost universally regretted the attempt immediately after they began it. Dr. Kevorkian killed a lot of people who were merely depressed. I wonder how many of those would have preferred, at the last moment, to live but for his efficiency?
This isn't something I think about idly. I have lost several people I loved to suicide, and it's horribly painful for me.
Yet, at the same time, I believe that refusing to prolong life when death is inevitable is not suicide. I believe that it is completely ethical to say, "no more" and simply die, from cancer, heart disease, lung disease, brain malfunction, whatever.
In Terri Schiavo's case, the facts are clear cut -- she won't die unless they stop feeding her and giving her water, and it will take weeks for her to die, and her death will be entirely due to lack of food and water, that is to say, starvation and neglect. |
