Euthanasia

[carbon dioxide]

It is a tough issue.  What I do believe is that we should not treat our dogs and cats better than we treat human beings.  When I hear of cases of people having their feeding tubes pulled so that they slowly pass away, it makes me angry.  Nobody would ever put their dog to death by a slow process that takes a week.  Why should we allow our loved ones to slowly die.  I see no difference between giving someone an injection that causes a quick death and withdrawing something that leads to a slow death. 

[cinepro]

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like Grandpa.  Not like the passengers in his car who were screaming for their lives.

 

 

- Jack Handey 

[Silhouette]

It is a tough issue. What I do believe is that we should not treat our dogs and cats better than we treat human beings. When I hear of cases of people having their feeding tubes pulled so that they slowly pass away, it makes me angry. Nobody would ever put their dog to death by a slow process that takes a week. Why should we allow our loved ones to slowly die. I see no difference between giving someone an injection that causes a quick death and withdrawing something that leads to a slow death.

Amen.

[CV75]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/?c=&page=1

I am guessing most of us have heard this story. Is there any reason to object to Brittany Maynard's decision from an LDS point of view?

I think that as long as someone shares her desires, those who have been informed should jointly make a prayerful, medically competent and unanimous decision among themselves and share the accountability. So it is a great responsibility to share such things. If they haven't a spiritual foundation for the decision, I see the practice as akin to taking enough pain medication to be kept comfortable, which sometimes inevitably requires deadly levels.

 

Because no one can be robbed of his choice (only its implementation), I think there is no cut-and-dried approach to dealing with end-of-life comfort.

[Freedom]

From an evolutionary perspective, we are harming our species by removing natural selection. From an eternal perspective, god has given us the wonders of medical advancements for  reason and I suspect that this mortal sphere will come to an end well before we witness the death of our species. Nevertheless, until I am faced with a loved one who is suffering unbearably for weeks, months and years, I will reserve judgement. 

[mfbukowski]

It is a tough issue.  What I do believe is that we should not treat our dogs and cats better than we treat human beings.  When I hear of cases of people having their feeding tubes pulled so that they slowly pass away, it makes me angry.  Nobody would ever put their dog to death by a slow process that takes a week.  Why should we allow our loved ones to slowly die.  I see no difference between giving someone an injection that causes a quick death and withdrawing something that leads to a slow death. 

You can't see the difference between allowing nature to take its course (including theoretically possible improvement or a miracle) and voluntarily making a decision to end a human life?

 

Pain is part of life.  We don't put people "to sleep" because they are in pain.  We can learn a lot from pain.  I have.

[mfbukowski]

You mean this thread isn't about sending missionaries to China?

Yes, I find it quite confusing myself.   I have always supported Youth in Asia.  Why are all these people talking about dying?? 

[mfbukowski]

I've commented on this before, but here we go again, I suppose,  

Talked to my doctor after the latest scan.  The place where my tumors are growing is in my lungs, the other tumors around my body are dead or not getting larger.  If the lung nodules continue to grow, in anywhere from a few to several months, I will be short of breath.  Then I will need supplemental oxygen, then kind of like emphysema, as the tumors take up more and more space in my lungs, I will not be able to take in enough air to survive.  I'll pass away gasping for breath.  That does not sound like a lot of fun, and I'm not looking forward to it.

But where do I have the right to say it's time to off myself?  When I can't climb a mountain? When I can't work full time? When my lung capacity falls below a certain level?  No, it's not my decision to make.  God has reserved that decision for himself, and I'm not smart or wise enough to presume to override him. 

I totally have empathy for what this young lady is going through, but have no sympathy for the decision she has made. 

I have been close to death. I thought it was certain that I would die, so I had to face it.  I found that the experience changed my life significantly and see it as a blessing.  I no longer have any fear of death.  We all have to die sometime, and the fact is, that we could die any day through an accident or who knows what.  Every single day, I face the fact that today could be it.

 

We have to live tully appreciating the sweetness of life while we have it- and cherish every moment, but it is a fact of life that it will end one particular day, which might be today.   We all need to do that, but only a few of us are privileged to really KNOW that.  Cherish it all while you have it, but when the time comes, it comes.

 

I spoke recently to a guy with terminal cancer and he totally understood this.  You never know when it will happen.   He passed away a few months ago, and though I did not know him well, it felt to me like a brother had gone.  We understood each other.  Not everyone gets this.

Edited November 3, 2014 by mfbukowski

[Silhouette]

Brittany Maynard ended her life today.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/death-dignity-advocate-brittany-maynard-dies-oregon-n235091

Edited November 3, 2014 by Silhouette

[VideoGameJunkie]

I read about Brittany Maynard. I'm not sure how Heavenly Father feels about her decision. I was not in her situation, but I can't help but feel that suicide sends you to Spirit Prison. If she let herself die naturally she would go to Spirit Paradise.

[Tacenda]

I read about Brittany Maynard. I'm not sure how Heavenly Father feels about her decision. I was not in her situation, but I can't help but feel that suicide sends you to Spirit Prison. If she let herself die naturally she would go to Spirit Paradise.

What do you think of Alzheimer victims doing this?

[VideoGameJunkie]

Alzheimer victims have to deal with it like my grandma dealt with it. We can't end our own lives. Only God knows when the time is right, otherwise you're killing a person. Unfortunately I feel we have to deal with the suffering if we want relief in the spirit world.

[VideoGameJunkie]

Just imagine how much Jesus suffered for our sins that he bled from every poor and the physical pain on the cross. I guess we have to suffer ourselves for our Lord and take upon ourselves our cross.

[Calm]

I read about Brittany Maynard. I'm not sure how Heavenly Father feels about her decision. I was not in her situation, but I can't help but feel that suicide sends you to Spirit Prison. If she let herself die naturally she would go to Spirit Paradise.

Only if she had already learned what she needed, repented and accepted Christ as her saviour so the Atonement applied, IMO (if you are right that she needs to seek forgiveness for her suicide)

Now having said that, I don't believe this necessarily means she or anyone else has to be mentally aware and have book knowledge of Christ, etc. perhaps our spirits knowing and loving him is enough. God judges in ways we don't understand yet.

Also we are taught there is much we all need to learn still even after death so Paradise may be more like college while Spirit Prison is high school instead of Paradise being an endless summer vacation as many envision it. Sprit Prison is a gift, not a punishment for those who haven't had the same chance to learn of God. He hands out free scholarships to everyone. Only those who turn up their nose at the gift for some reason, refuse to abide by the condition of the scholarship which is to love God and all mankind end up in hell earning their own way and suffering the hardship of doing so.

[Kaleb Webb]

 

I read about Brittany Maynard. I'm not sure how Heavenly Father feels about her decision. I was not in her situation, but I can't help but feel that suicide sends you to Spirit Prison. If she let herself die naturally she would go to Spirit Paradise.

 

I don't know if Brittany Maynard is going to Spirit Prison or not, but I always thought of the afterlife for a suicidal person as being more of a case-by-case approach rather than all of them going to Paradise or Prison. 

[Calm]

Alzheimer victims have to deal with it like my grandma dealt with it. We can't end our own lives. Only God knows when the time is right, otherwise you're killing a person. Unfortunately I feel we have to deal with the suffering if we want relief in the spirit world.

Christ "gave up the ghost" or allowed himself to die when it was his time to go. I believe we teach he wouldn't die until he chose to do so. And apparently it was a surprise to the guards who expected him to last longer as crucifixion generally was a long and excruciating death. Perhaps given he had experienced all he needed to experience already, he caused himself to die as to not experience needless pain himself or prolong the suffering of his loved ones watching him.

I am not adverse to the idea that we through inspiration can know when it is time to go home and no longer work to maintain our physical bodies so that it allows our spirits to depart. Whether this means anymore than refusing to eat or take nourishment or other aids that would sustain our bodies or God would allow an active killing of our body because we do not have the ability to command it to let go of our spirits as Christ did, I don't know but I would be very, very cautious when it came to making decisions.

Edited November 3, 2014 by calmoriah

[VideoGameJunkie]

I read a book written by Mormon members about a collection of NDEs and it stated those that chose to end their life found that they "messed up".

[Rain]

I read about Brittany Maynard. I'm not sure how Heavenly Father feels about her decision. I was not in her situation, but I can't help but feel that suicide sends you to Spirit Prison. If she let herself die naturally she would go to Spirit Paradise.

All I know about her is what I read here. If she wasn't baptized than either way she would go to Spirit Prison where she could be taught. https://www.lds.org/topics/paradise?lang=eng

[Tacenda]

Just imagine how much Jesus suffered for our sins that he bled from every poor and the physical pain on the cross. I guess we have to suffer ourselves for our Lord and take upon ourselves our cross.

Not downplaying His sacrifice, but my Mom suffered nearly 10 years with early onset Alzheimer's. Where with her very healthy body it seemed there was no end in sight, until her body finally succombed. What other disease takes this long with someone not even mentally there??

[VideoGameJunkie]

My grandpa had dementia and he suffered until he finally got pneumonia and basically drowned. I hate that anybody has to suffer, though. I don't understand the point of suffering for some people while others die peacefully or quickly. I pray I die quickly and without pain.

[Calm]

I read a book written by Mormon members about a collection of NDEs and it stated those that chose to end their life found that they "messed up".

Given that they were 'sent back', that makes sense. If anyone commits suicide because they were inspired by God to do so, I would assume it is their time to go, so none would be experiencing an NDE.

[Silhouette]

All I know about her is what I read here. If she wasn't baptized than either way she would go to Spirit Prison where she could be taught. https://www.lds.org/topics/paradise?lang=eng

Thank you for bringing this up, Rain. This was my impression too, that everybody who hasn't heard the Gospel goes to Spirit Prison where they can be taught it, and then decide whether or not to accept it. I've just always thought this, and though it's been a very long time, I do believe that the missionaries who taught me the Gospel taught me this concept.

[mfbukowski]

What do you think of Alzheimer victims doing this?

By definition, they are already mentally incompetent.  It doesn't much matter what they do.

 

One could argue that anyone who commits suicide is mentally impaired.  I notice no one has brought that up yet, and I find that surprising

[Silhouette]

By definition, they are already mentally incompetent. It doesn't much matter what they do.

One could argue that anyone who commits suicide is mentally impaired. I notice no one has brought that up yet, and I find that surprising

I believe that, too. But there is a thought by some faiths that a person who is of sound mind can willfully and calculatedly take his own life very deliberately. Hence the teaching by some faiths that people who commit suicide are destined for hell with no chance of redemption.

I agree with the argument that no one of sound mind would commit suicide. There was an article in the Ensign several years ago by Elder M. Russell Ballard entitled Suicide: Some Things We Know and Some We Do Not. The general idea that this article gave was that a loving and merciful Father in Heaven would look at suicides on a case-by-case basis, as someone here already mentioned.

"Obviously we do not know the full circumstances surrounding every suicide. Only The Lord knows all the details, and He it is who will judge our actions here on earth.

When he does judge us, I feel He will take all things into consideration: our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth."

The article is very comforting for family members dealing with the sorrow of losing a loved one in this way. My brother committed suicide, so this subject is very close to me.

I'll see if I can find the article online, and then edit with a link.

Here is the link to this beautiful article:

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/10/suicide-some-things-we-know-and-some-we-do-not?lang=eng

I carry a printout of this article in my bag that I take to Church on Sunday, along with my Scriptures and other Sunday items. I read it often because of my brother.

I hope this doesn't derail the topic of euthanasia, but since we are discussing the eternal ramifications of taking one's life in whatever circumstances, I thought this article pertinent.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Silhouette

[thesometimesaint]

Brittany Maynard has died. Her last words “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more,” she wrote on Facebook. “The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!”