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Pastimes : Physician-Assisted Suicide nightmares can come true -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank Buck who wrote (2)	2/11/1999 7:41:00 PM
From: ClNDl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12

Frank, Thank you so much for responding to my thread. Yes, I can fully respect where you are coming from with regard to painful terminal illness. My father had bone cancer, but fortunately it was the kind where removing his leg could save his life, that was 25 years ago, and he is still alive. However, I do urge you to look up and read the entire article from the Washington Post that I refered to when I opened the thread. I would recopy it here, but I think that would be a violation of Webcrawler's rules, as well as some other rules Trust me, it would explain a lot!! :) Also, my sympathy for you and your father, and I hope he is kept as comfortable as is currently possible. Opening the door to physician-assisted suicide, as it is already open in Oregon, is not something disabled people want. It won't take long for the laws to relax and allow any depressed person to request suicide. This leads to all kinds of huge problems with opening the door at ALL. Allow me to share something about myself. I am 33, diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder--bipolar 1, or severe manic depression. This illness has the highest suicide "success" rate of all, much higher than for depression alone. Without medication, 25% of manic depressives commit suicide, successfully. In Canada right now, the Right to Die Movement (or something like that) is saying that it is discriminatory to not equate psychological pain with physical. VERY scary stuff has already occurred in Holland, with regard to mentally ill and assisted suicide, but I will have to look up my reference for that before I say. In any case, I know many cases can be made to make assisted-suicide look compassionate on the surface, but underneath the surface, the disabled people of America, and of Oregon, know the implications. Cultural genocide? Yes. My feelings on this issue go way beyond spiritual or religious, although I am Roman Catholic. That has nothing to do with the imagery I have, of being in a hospital bed, and having a government-employed counselor walk up to me and say, "Well, we have tried meds, you didn't respond. We have tried ECT. Oh, and by the way, we noticed you have been on SSI for 6 years, and you are 33 now. How much longer are you going to be a burden to society? You have one option left...and we can help you end your life." Please read "Free Ticket to Eternity" Washington Post February 6 , 1999, Page A21.