Sunday, March 20, 2016

Should the terminally ill control how they die?

Should the terminally ill control how they die?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-aid-in-dying-lapook

<< Extract>>

Dr. Eric Walsh: When the physician decides that suffering (of a hospice patient when standard hospice care does not work well enough) is intolerable, the physician prescribes a medication which puts the patient in a coma.

Dr. Jon LaPook: Which is what?

Dr. Eric Walsh: Well, usually it's a barbiturate. The nurse administers it. It's given until the person is asleep. The person sleeps for three days, five days. I've had someone live 10 days, still excreting, still breathing, with the family at the bedside wondering, "When is this going to end?"

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