living wills
I'm giving a talk in July to a group of retired
folk (like myself), on euthanasia, making a
living will and related topics, and have been
doing some background research on the net. On
the subject of making a living will, I've found
a couple of sites that might be of interest to
you or a relative.
The first one is the Alzheimer's Society's site,
which has a lot of info on the subject and a
will template (in PDF format) that you could
print off.
The second one is the Dying In Dignity site,
which has similar info on it, and more about
euthanasia.
I’ve sometimes wondered about what I’d do if
I were diagnosed with terminal cancer, and only
had a few weeks left to live. I would certainly
wish to tell my family and say goodbye to
everyone, and I would also wish to enjoy each
day left to the full, even if I were doped up
with morphine. I would listen to my favourite
music, re-watch some old films (of a lightweight,
cheerful nature), perhaps asked someone to read
a funny/serious book to me, and if I were fit
enough, re-visit some lovely beauty spots in
the countryside.
One thing that the medical profession doesn’t
talk about is that they’ve been practising a
kind of euthanasia for years, especially for
patients with terminal cancer. Why they don’t
talk about it is obvious – no individual doctor
wishes to be imprisoned and lose everything,
for committing an illegal act – assisting
someone to die.
Someone with terminal cancer on morphine or
diamorphine (heroin) will require increasing
doses of the drug, partly to alleviate worsening
pain and ease anxiety, but also due to the fact
that an individual will develop “tolerance” to
the drug ... with time the body requires more
of the drug to get the same pain-killing effect.
So a lot of cancer deaths are morphine-assisted,
and rightly so, I think. Who would wish to die
in agony? I would prefer to die peacefully in a
morphine haze.
A common cause of death in terminally ill
individuals is pneumonia, which can set in
when you are unconscious /semi-conscious with
a terminal illness, lying in bed all day. In
that situation, I would prefer doctors not to
give me any antibiotic to prolong my life, as
I would die not long afterwards (and perhaps
have a worse death). I would hope the doctors
looking after me would let me die there and
then. This is the sort of thing you could
insist on when you come to make your living
will, which would assist doctors in their
decision-making (and would allow them to carry
out your wishes without any come-back/litigation
from relatives or the General Medical Council).
folk (like myself), on euthanasia, making a
living will and related topics, and have been
doing some background research on the net. On
the subject of making a living will, I've found
a couple of sites that might be of interest to
you or a relative.
The first one is the Alzheimer's Society's site,
which has a lot of info on the subject and a
will template (in PDF format) that you could
print off.
The second one is the Dying In Dignity site,
which has similar info on it, and more about
euthanasia.
I’ve sometimes wondered about what I’d do if
I were diagnosed with terminal cancer, and only
had a few weeks left to live. I would certainly
wish to tell my family and say goodbye to
everyone, and I would also wish to enjoy each
day left to the full, even if I were doped up
with morphine. I would listen to my favourite
music, re-watch some old films (of a lightweight,
cheerful nature), perhaps asked someone to read
a funny/serious book to me, and if I were fit
enough, re-visit some lovely beauty spots in
the countryside.
One thing that the medical profession doesn’t
talk about is that they’ve been practising a
kind of euthanasia for years, especially for
patients with terminal cancer. Why they don’t
talk about it is obvious – no individual doctor
wishes to be imprisoned and lose everything,
for committing an illegal act – assisting
someone to die.
Someone with terminal cancer on morphine or
diamorphine (heroin) will require increasing
doses of the drug, partly to alleviate worsening
pain and ease anxiety, but also due to the fact
that an individual will develop “tolerance” to
the drug ... with time the body requires more
of the drug to get the same pain-killing effect.
So a lot of cancer deaths are morphine-assisted,
and rightly so, I think. Who would wish to die
in agony? I would prefer to die peacefully in a
morphine haze.
A common cause of death in terminally ill
individuals is pneumonia, which can set in
when you are unconscious /semi-conscious with
a terminal illness, lying in bed all day. In
that situation, I would prefer doctors not to
give me any antibiotic to prolong my life, as
I would die not long afterwards (and perhaps
have a worse death). I would hope the doctors
looking after me would let me die there and
then. This is the sort of thing you could
insist on when you come to make your living
will, which would assist doctors in their
decision-making (and would allow them to carry
out your wishes without any come-back/litigation
from relatives or the General Medical Council).
posted by justin at 9:59 am
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5 Comments:
Very good report and so true. You tend to build up a tolerance to any opiate, I know I lived it all the way to heroin. Just the facts!
I know what you are talking about here, my Father died of cancer,it took 3 months for him being a big man to the point where I could lift him up in my arms and take him upstairs to bed he eventualy had to go into hospital the outcome was of course an overdose on morphine to kill the pain I have no objections to this I would just like to remember him the way he was he was 55 when he died I was 22 still miss him
I'm sorry to hear about your loss, Steve. It doesn't seem fair that a parent should die at that age. My mum and dad died some time ago, my mum died aged 88, and my father aged 79. I miss them too, especially when I see colour photos of them, looking very alive.
It must feel very strange for John Thaw's family to see him again and again in the repeat showings of "Morse".... someone who was almost a double for my own father.
BB - I presume you managed to "kick" the heroin habit?
You're looking great.
I went through a phase of drinking too much home-brew - 3-4 pints a day of the stuff - more and more to get the same effect. So I was obviously building up tolerance to the booze, but fortunately I was able to cut down to drinking very little (before alcohol addiction set in).
I think that is a very good idea. My uncle died of lung cancer a year and a half ago and he was on morfiem the last 2 weeks. He was so thin and in pain. Why see your loved one like that and let him go through all that if you can end it before it gets worse. My uncle was appr. 30kg when he died.
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