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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • I appreciate that you’re looking for discussion, however, I’m hung up on this is the part of your comment:

    But I think human life is something sacred and that we all have a duty to ourselves and to each other to live for as long as we can.

    I also grew up Catholic, and agree that “human life is something sacred.” However, I’d ask you to consider why you think human is sacred, and what about it is sacred? IMHO, our lives are a gift, and we should appreciate that gift by not squandering our lives, by enjoying life and by trying to share that joy with others. If someone is in extreme and unending pain, it would be extremely difficult for them to bring joy into the world and instead their lives often just introduce suffering for themselves, their loved ones, and their caretakers.

    I know one of the arguments against this is that even terminally ill patients sometimes experience miracle recoveries. Similarly, when dealing with terminal illness, there’s a concept know as the “Last Good Day”. My Grandmother had one, where she was nearly comatose for months, had a medical emergency and nearly died, then perked up the next day, was lucid and talking, then died a week later. However, I don’t think we should force people to suffer in the vague hopes that they might have another good day, or in the vaguer hope that they experience a miracle recovery.

    I know this gets into a bit of a slippery slope fallacy, but I’d be curious what your opinion is on DNRs and other forms of with-holding care. I personally don’t think those options are all that different than MAID, though I will acknowledge it’s the difference of action vs inaction. Personally, I think both action and inaction are decisions, as the Canadian band, Rush says in Freewill, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”