Assisted Suicide?

I know if I was terminally ill with no hope of recovery, I would want the right to make the decision, if I so chose, of when and how I would die, rather than laying in a hospital on life support with no chance of any quality of life. I am pretty certain I would make the decision to end my life, but until I am in that situation, of course, there is no way to know for sure.

There need to be clearly defined standards. The patient, family and doctor have to agree that its the only way to keep a person from suffering. No bumping off Granny, simply because its too costly or inconvenient to keep her alive.

I have a DNR (Do Not Rescusitate) order in place. This is only effective in a hospital, though. Emergency personnel have to make the effort.

As my next of kin, Mark knows that I do not want to be put on life support, if I have no brain activity.

My father had a DNR, as well as a living will. When he was in the final stages of leukemia, he requested to go home with Hospice. At that point, no further life-saving or prolonging measures were used on him, except medication for pain. Why is this accceptable and assisted suicide not? I am not sure I understand.

Back when I worked in a hospital (I'm a registered nurse), one of my co-workers announced that for her 60th birthday, she was going to get "No-Code" (hospital term for do not resuscitate) tattooed on her chest so if anyone went to give her CPR, they would see it right away.

I guess there could be no doubt whether the DNR order was given with her consent or not!

The night that my husband died, he sat down on the edge of the bed and had a massive stroke. I knew, immediately, what had happened and called 911.

Russ was still breathing and had a pulse but was unresponsive, pupils fixed and dilated. I shut the cats up and left the front door open, for the EMTs and stayed to monitor Russ.

During the 20-minute wait, for the ambulance, Russ coded. Not knowing the extent of the brain damage, I initiated CPR and got him going, again. After a few minutes, he coded again. I was doing CPR, when the ambulance got there.

The hospital worked on Russ, for about 1/2 hour, to no avail. There was never any question of life support. Russ and I had already discussed that and he was adamant, the he not be "plugged into a wall".

The autopsy showed a massive brain bleed that wiped out the parts that made Russ a person. He would not have wanted to be kept breathing, with no brain function. He trusted me carry out his wishes and I don't regret it. I miss him but, I wouldn't have wanted him to suffer.

I worked at an Assisted Living Facility and we had quite a few DNR residents. I had one lady named Margaret with terminal lung cancer. She was an absolute angel, and she had a dnr.


At the beginning of my shift (6:30 am) she had a heartattack, and passed out. My coworker saw her and didn't try to help her because she was a "DNR". My coworker got fired, and Margaret survived the heartattack and came back a week later.


2 days after coming back she passed away 15 minutes before my shift was to start that day. Hospice was there, and we were allowed to go in and pay our respects.


That was the third hardest I have ever cried.


Margaret was a very strong woman and she liked to chat with me, especially while I rubbed her feet. She often told me that when she reached her final stages that she would rather have someone assist her in suicide than to continue on to suffer. She said she didn't want anyone to see her in that condition, and she would rather have family see her when she is looking better and can give them the goodbye she really wants.


I think assisted suicide should be allowed (WITH STANDARDS). I see nothing wrong with helping someone make an educated choice to kill themselves with they are terminally ill and riddled with pain.


Craig's bestfriend Bill had a father with severe back pain. His father ran out of pain medication and couldn't afford anymore. He ended up committing suicide because he couldn't deal with the pain.



If people are hurting and it won't stop, or they are terminally ill. They have all right to decide what to do with THEIR life. Who are we or anyone else to tell them they have to stay alive until their is absolutely no will for their body to fight and continue on?

I would like to see it legalized. A friend died of pancreatic cancer at age 32, and both my great-uncle and a cousin died of Lou Gehrig's Disease. They all had horrible deaths. My Dad (unfortunately) survived a massive stroke, and said for almost seven years that he wished he had died. He passed away last year, but only after dying piece by piece over a long period of time. Obviously there have to be some very strict standards in place, but just having the possibility would put a lot of minds to rest.

A little over two years ago, my mom had double bypass surgery and a subsequent stroke. She lost her speech, for a couple of weeks and is a right hemiplegic.

Mom's mind works, almost as well as it ever did (she was kind of goofy to start with) and she is able to do some things for herself: getting in and out of bed, going to the bathroom and maneuvering her wheelchair.

After the heart trouble and stroke, though, I know that Mom has a DNR order. She says that she's had enough and the next one will probably be "the big one".

I had to watch my father suffer terribly with cancer. The doctors stopped all treatment on my father because their was nothing more they could do for him. Yet even without treatment, my father 'lasted' 2 more years but he was not living, he was waiting for death. The last years of my father's life was horrible for everyone involved.

I totally believe in assisted suicide and believe that the decision should be in the hands of each individual to make. Even though I strongly agree with assisted suicide, I do totally see the potential problems for the government that tries to regulate and monitor such a decision.