Alzheimer's and Euthanasia, a Poll

[Wry Catcher]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

 

[dilloduck]

What was the question again ?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

Giving the Government or doctors or anyone else the power to end lives because of some illness or condition is a step towards the Government deciding who is important enough to live.

 

[Sherry]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

I might support a living will in which a person makes the choice based on they just wouldn't want to be in that state. It's the last part of your post that makes me cringe...I do not want our culture to evolve into one which the elderly feel obligated to check out based on not "becoming a burden to their family". I also don't want it to be accepted for younger people to feel entitled to being resentful if an elderly family member didn't want to make that choice, as if to look down upon them for "being selfish".

 

[Wry Catcher]

What was the question again ?

"Should the law outlaw euthanasia?

 

[daws101]

now what's the problem with youth in asia?
that being said, everyone has the right to choose when, where and how they die...

 

[TheOldSchool]

What was the question again ?

Oh Lawd!

 

[Mr Natural]

There's a big difference between living and being alive.

When my time comes, I'd like to know that I can at least check out with dignity and on my own terms.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

I might support a living will in which a person makes the choice based on they just wouldn't want to be in that state. It's the last part of your post that makes me cringe...I do not want our culture to evolve into one which the elderly feel obligated to check out based on not "becoming a burden to their family". I also don't want it to be accepted for younger people to feel entitled to being resentful if an elderly family member didn't want to make that choice, as if to look down upon them for "being selfish".

In our living will (revocable trust) both my wife and I agreed on a a DNR, which we gave to our health provider. I have no interest in living out my life in a bed unable to function and dependent on others for basics [in fact I told my adult kids of our choice and asked them after my demise to spread my ashes on a ball field where I spent my youth, along with the ashes of my dog who loved playing catch).

My (our) choice is not one of obligation to anyone but ourselves, I love life but not so much that I want to spend my final days in bed, needing a bed pan, and my meals delivered via an IV.

 

[Wry Catcher]

There's a big difference between living and being alive.

When my time comes, I'd like to know that I can at least check out with dignity and on my own terms.

Spot on!!

 

[Sherry]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

I might support a living will in which a person makes the choice based on they just wouldn't want to be in that state. It's the last part of your post that makes me cringe...I do not want our culture to evolve into one which the elderly feel obligated to check out based on not "becoming a burden to their family". I also don't want it to be accepted for younger people to feel entitled to being resentful if an elderly family member didn't want to make that choice, as if to look down upon them for "being selfish".

In our living will (revocable trust) both my wife and I agreed on a a DNR, which we gave to our health provider. I have no interest in living out my life in a bed unable to function and dependent on others for basics [in fact I told my adult kids of our choice and asked them after my demise to spread my ashes on a ball field where I spent my youth, along with the ashes of my dog who loved playing catch).

My (our) choice is not one of obligation to anyone but ourselves, I love life but not so much that I want to spend my final days in bed, needing a bed pan, and my meals delivered via an IV.

That is a reasonable decision that I can respect...I just do worry about the elderly feeling pressured to make such choices because it becomes the norm. I think it should remain a moral struggle for good reason...families should support what the individual desires, even if they don't agree.

 

[Wry Catcher]

I might support a living will in which a person makes the choice based on they just wouldn't want to be in that state. It's the last part of your post that makes me cringe...I do not want our culture to evolve into one which the elderly feel obligated to check out based on not "becoming a burden to their family". I also don't want it to be accepted for younger people to feel entitled to being resentful if an elderly family member didn't want to make that choice, as if to look down upon them for "being selfish".

In our living will (revocable trust) both my wife and I agreed on a a DNR, which we gave to our health provider. I have no interest in living out my life in a bed unable to function and dependent on others for basics [in fact I told my adult kids of our choice and asked them after my demise to spread my ashes on a ball field where I spent my youth, along with the ashes of my dog who loved playing catch).

My (our) choice is not one of obligation to anyone but ourselves, I love life but not so much that I want to spend my final days in bed, needing a bed pan, and my meals delivered via an IV.

That is a reasonable decision that I can respect...I just do worry about the elderly feeling pressured to make such choices because it becomes the norm. I think it should remain a moral struggle for good reason...families should support what the individual desires, even if they don't agree.

My wife and I made our living trust in our twenties when we first had our kids. No one pressured us into this decision. It's something every couple needs to discuss and then let everyone in the family know that such a decision was made freely and voluntarily and was ours, individually made. Thus, no one should question me or she when our time has come.

 

[Missourian]

Tough call this.

I don't want to live in a world where people feel a social, economic or familial pressure to terminal their own life.

That is a recipe for disaster.

On the other hand, what choice is more personal in life than hour at which one decides it is time to shuffle off this mortal coil.

I think, weighing the pros and cons, I err on the side of tradition.

 

[Politico]

What was the question again ?

He wants to know if it is ok for some pencil pusher to Soylent Gtreen your ass when they determine you are longer useful.

 

[NoNukes]

There's a big difference between living and being alive.

When my time comes, I'd like to know that I can at least check out with dignity and on my own terms.

What he said.

 

[Noomi]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

Make a living will. If I end up severely incapacitated I will make it clear that I want my life to be ended, if it is legal.

 

[strollingbones]

wow this question has hit rather close to home with me...as i have said in the past....mom has a living will....mom says in that will...once she has dementia...severe stage to with hold all medical treatment including meds...no feeding tube etc...my mother was a very strong willed and determined woman...born and raised born who managed by hard work and make the buffalo on the nickel shit in her hand...she achieved her goals....she was well dressed, well spoken great since of humor...she was also cruel, hatefilled and vengeful to the max...now she has indian alh. where she has forgotten everything but the grudges....mom is dead..she has been.....

now i got this smelly mean ass little alien...who gives me the skunk eye more than anything else...she is legally blind but knows my damned shirt tail is showing below my hoodie and takes great offense...i have to look right to take her smelly ass out...lol....she is a happy little thing for the most part...has her dove ice cream and little mints hidden behind her huge ass tv screen...she no longer reads nor writes...the other day...she was all happy about the new tv shows on .....and wanted me to watch the last of the new shows....i watched 30 minutes of the 'big valley' wondering how old that show really was....everything old is literally new to her again...she will say..."i have never seen that" at common things...but my point is...its easy to say this and that...cause most people have no real concept of the stages of alz and how it robs the person and the family but its not that easy just to say.....let her go...take her off her meds....let the diabetes run wild inside her...let her kidneys shut down...i have gotten a dnr ..that is as far as i will go and i only got that cause after her heart attack i opted for the 'conservative treatment' and they pretty much said...that means a dnr...

i guess my point is...yes the one you know..dies with dementia...but there are glimmers of that person even inside the smelly little alien...and that kinda keeps you going...plus its just not as easy to let a person die in real life as it is in cyber life

 

[editec]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Z6Yi_tlhs]Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)-Billy Joel with lyrics - YouTube[/ame]

And it seems such a waste of time
If that's what its all about
Mama, if that's movin up then I'm...
Moving out.​

 

[asterism]

Of course, Alzheimer's Disease isn't the only terminal illness, but what if you someday you were stricken with this ailment and no longer had the ability to make personal decisions about your future?

Today, being of sound mind (well, I'm not speaking to CrusaderFrank, Willow Tree, Warrior or Stephanie) would you choose to end your life before becoming a burden to your family?

I might support a living will in which a person makes the choice based on they just wouldn't want to be in that state. It's the last part of your post that makes me cringe...I do not want our culture to evolve into one which the elderly feel obligated to check out based on not "becoming a burden to their family". I also don't want it to be accepted for younger people to feel entitled to being resentful if an elderly family member didn't want to make that choice, as if to look down upon them for "being selfish".

In our living will (revocable trust) both my wife and I agreed on a a DNR, which we gave to our health provider. I have no interest in living out my life in a bed unable to function and dependent on others for basics [in fact I told my adult kids of our choice and asked them after my demise to spread my ashes on a ball field where I spent my youth, along with the ashes of my dog who loved playing catch).

My (our) choice is not one of obligation to anyone but ourselves, I love life but not so much that I want to spend my final days in bed, needing a bed pan, and my meals delivered via an IV.

A standing DNR order is different than euthanasia.

I don't support euthanasia, too easy to be manipulated into murder for personal gain. It also makes it easier to allow policies to be mandated that intentionally cull the herd.

 

[freedombecki]

wow this question has hit rather close to home with me...as i have said in the past....mom has a living will....mom says in that will...once she has dementia...severe stage to with hold all medical treatment including meds...no feeding tube etc...my mother was a very strong willed and determined woman...born and raised born who managed by hard work and make the buffalo on the nickel shit in her hand...she achieved her goals....she was well dressed, well spoken great since of humor...she was also cruel, hatefilled and vengeful to the max...now she has indian alh. where she has forgotten everything but the grudges....mom is dead..she has been.....

now i got this smelly mean ass little alien...who gives me the skunk eye more than anything else...she is legally blind but knows my damned shirt tail is showing below my hoodie and takes great offense...i have to look right to take her smelly ass out...lol....she is a happy little thing for the most part...has her dove ice cream and little mints hidden behind her huge ass tv screen...she no longer reads nor writes...the other day...she was all happy about the new tv shows on .....and wanted me to watch the last of the new shows....i watched 30 minutes of the 'big valley' wondering how old that show really was....everything old is literally new to her again...she will say..."i have never seen that" at common things...but my point is...its easy to say this and that...cause most people have no real concept of the stages of alz and how it robs the person and the family but its not that easy just to say.....let her go...take her off her meds....let the diabetes run wild inside her...let her kidneys shut down...i have gotten a dnr ..that is as far as i will go and i only got that cause after her heart attack i opted for the 'conservative treatment' and they pretty much said...that means a dnr...

i guess my point is...yes the one you know..dies with dementia...but there are glimmers of that person even inside the smelly little alien...and that kinda keeps you going...plus its just not as easy to let a person die in real life as it is in cyber life

So true.

I saw that little glimmer a few days ago on my birthday. He saw online friends posting cards, walked up, grinned, and said "happy birthday." That's a lot more than I had expected to hear.

It helps to walk them to the bathroom and tell them "You have to brush your teeth." And stand there until they complete the task, because they turn to leave when you do. I found that out with his medicine. He will not drink enough liquids if you do not say "You have to show me bottom's up." "you have to drink 8 ounces of liquid with each pill or you'll be sorry and I will too." Then you have to watch them finish the last drop or they'll only take enough to get the pill past the gullet.

And so forth. But they're a lot less smelly when you tell them in no uncertain terms they have to change their own depends, and then you stand there until they do, because they'll walk away if you don't, because they no longer have inhibitions and in dementia, sometimes they describe having no sense of smell, which means they are oblivious to anything they weren't oblivious to just a year or so ago. And yeah, if you blow a little nice perfume their way as a little reward, they like it.

That's what friends are for, though. To sweeten life for someone who used to be a sweetie but can't connect the dots any more.