Conversation with my boss and me Tuesday before I left for the day:
Boss: By the way, Cecily, you are doing an hour and a half presentation on Friday about self-esteem to potential clients. Oh, and you have to turn in your goals and objectives and an outline by tomorrow morning at 9.
Cecily: You got it (what I said in my head: What?! Are you serious?! You are just telling me this?!)
*Wednesday morning
Boss: Oh, we changed the date from Friday to tomorrow. Thanks!
And my morning iced coffee was made wrong TWICE and I can’t keep walking over there to get if fixed.
I’m grumpy.
I’m taking a class at the University of Memphis this semester to go towards licensure (I have a masters in counseling, but need 3 more classes to become licensed…after this semester, only 2 to go!). The class is on counseling ethics, which can be completely dry, boring, narcoleptic, etc., etc. However, one topic that we (briefly) cover is the ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide. This is one issue that I really like to debate/discuss, and have formed some strong opinions over the years. I actually remember writing a persuasive paper in my 10th grade government class about the pros of assisted suicide, and even though my teacher liked it, my classmates had a lot of nasty things to say about it. So, when I opened my homepage this morning, I was interested to read this story about a woman in France who was suffering from a painful and relentless disease, and doctors would not assist her at all. She ended up dying, but not with their assistance. They are still speculating as to if she took her own life, or if it was organic (or, if someone else besides a doctor helped her die).
I find it really disturbing that doctors, who took an oath of “first, do not harm” are letting their patients suffer to the highest extent, and causing HARM by prolonging their lives.
What is a life worth?
Why do we say when an older person dies that “we are relieved that they are no longer suffering” but when it is someone younger, we hold on to them so tightly that we are really just selfishly wanting to keep them around so we don’t have to deal with their early death?
Why do we not hesitate in putting animals to sleep when we know they are suffering? Because it is HUMANE.
I believe in euthanasia. I believe in mercy killing. I feel that no one should have to go through the rest of their lives suffering so much from terminal illnesses or excessive amounts of physical pain. If it were my parents or friends or family, I would NOT want them to suffer just because I want them around longer. It’s called Die with Dignity for a reason. Personally, I do not want to end up so freaking old that I cannot wipe my own butt, am drooling everywhere, cannot talk, cannot feel, and cannot think just because no one wants to grieve over me. Oregon is the only state that has allowed this kind of assistance. They passed this law in 1997, and it raised this question:
Do people who are terminally ill, have an incurable disease, or are in extreme pain have a right to choose the time and the means of their own death by seeking aid-in-dying?
Obviously this topic is extremely complex, and there are few simple answers. There are difficult situations that may call for this and others that may not. I didn’t want this to turn into a full on dissertation about euthanasia, but here is my one sentence summary of the situation:
Individuals should have the right to make appropriate decisions about their lives when they are terminally ill, have an incurable disease, or are in extreme pain/
PS—Did anyone notice that Dr. Kervorkian running for congress?
On a different note, I found this story is also very interesting about vets who come back from the war missing limbs and experience phantom pain. I’ve read a lot of articles and research about this phenomenon and find it very fascinating that holding mirrors to the opposite limb actually helps with the pain. It is so simple, so brilliant, and will hopefully help out those that suffer from this. Any form of therapy can be really simple if people just talk to the client as if they were an equal and really hear what they are saying. We can learn so much from our clients.
**Oh, in case anyone reads this and was completely shocked at how much of a genious I am, the husband messed up scoring my IQ test and it is a little lower. I’m clearly still the smartest person ever, but just not wiht a 136 IQ. That’s what I get from taking the test from a beginner!!
