Slightly tangential, but I believe this article segues into a discussion about assisted suicide or euthanasia at the end of life.
My entire family has been suffering over the past 18 months watching my 88-year-old grandmother slowly pass away from age-related deterioration and AD.
I worked with mice during my PhD training in the US. If a lab was caught with lab mice suffering like my grandmother is without euthanizing them, the lab would be liable to be shut down.
So I ask: why am I forced to sit and watch my grandmother suffer slowly to death? Why can't there be assisted suicide/euthanasia protocols in place to prevent this suffering?
Because far too many people believe that human life is the most precious thing on Earth and willingly ending it is literally the worst thing you could ever do.
There's also the worry that it will be abused. Kids who want their inheritance, people who have been abused and told it's the right thing for them when it's not, or just insurance trying to save money by avoiding more expensive treatments
You aren't forced to. You can take matters into your own hands and trust that a jury will let you off the hook.
> Why can't there be assisted suicide/euthanasia protocols in place to prevent this suffering?
Even most religious people believe in mercy killing. The issue is the slippery slope, and the fact that various people have slid down this slope in every country with legal assisted suicide or euthanasia. Whenever you are going to have a third party, or even just a second party, involve itself in someone's death, you have to figure out how to deal with issues every bit as serious as letting someone suffer to death.
My entire family has been suffering over the past 18 months watching my 88-year-old grandmother slowly pass away from age-related deterioration and AD.
I worked with mice during my PhD training in the US. If a lab was caught with lab mice suffering like my grandmother is without euthanizing them, the lab would be liable to be shut down.
So I ask: why am I forced to sit and watch my grandmother suffer slowly to death? Why can't there be assisted suicide/euthanasia protocols in place to prevent this suffering?