My apologies to the list (and to Russell). I sent my comments on
euthanasia to Russell privately because I thought we were getting off
topic. But maybe others will be interested.
As one who is almost a neighbor of Dr. Kevorkian's (he lives in Royal Oak,
I live in Rochester Hills, a distance of ~12 miles), I've had quite a bit
of occasion to think about assisted suicide. Kevorkian's supporters
typically argue that an individual should be permitted to seek help to end
his/her life as an alternative to a slow, painful death. The factor which
seldom comes up in the debate is that almost none of Kevorkain's clients
have been terminal cases. I have read fairly extensively on the hospice
movement and interviewed a local MD who has organized one of the hospices
in the Detroit area. These people have assured me that most terminal
patients are not interested in suicide. They just want relief from pain.
Hospice can help them in nearly all cases. Initially I thought I had
discovered an alternative to Dr. Kevorkian's services. But then I realized
what I said above: almost none of Kevorkian's patients have been terminal.
They are mostly people with chronic conditions who either want out of the
long term pain/disability they are suffering now, or are fearful of a
future slow, painful and debilitating period ending possibly with a very
undignified death. Or they fear eventually becoming a vegetable, and don't
want to burden others. The point is, it's generally easy for a terminal
patient to get help from a hospice. It's not particularly costly, and
there are quite a few hospice facilities in most areas. The person with a
chronic condition though has far fewer alternatives. There are pain
clinics which use approaches similar to those the hospices use, but they
are not nearly as common as hopsices. I have never been very sympathetic
to the idea that if some kind of behavior is deemed counterproductive, the
solution is to pass a law against it. Rather than pass laws against
assisted suicide, I would advocate supporting more pain clinics -- provide
an alternative. I have been usggesting in my own church that we do so, and
I would recommend it for other churches.
>
>That is interesting; I hope that you and others succeed in getting pain
>clinics set up. Perhaps that will help.
>
>>wrt the Netherlands. I have heard that euthanasia for old people there
>>doesn't require the individual's consent.
>
>That's not what I've heard.
What I have heard is that there are some safeguards, but that they are
frequently abused or circumvented.
Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr, Ph.D. | Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems | General Motors R&D Center | Warren, MI
William_E._Hamilton@notes.gmr.com
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX) | whamilto@mich.com (home email)