The Duty To Die

Terry Schiavo Among The Most Politicized Right To Die Cases Ever. Here, It Took Christine Busalacchi's Dad Five Years To Have Her Taken Off Life Support After She Was Severely Brain Damaged In An Auto Accident. Right To Lifers Claimed She Could Follow The Movement Of People With Her Eyes And Attempted Primitive Verbal Responses.. Her Father Won The Right To Remove Her Feeding Tubes And She Was Allowed To Die Saving The State Of Missouri Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars In Medical Expenses That Would Have Had To Be Diverted For Her Care For What? So Some Right To Lifer Can Point And Say, "Look, There's Dignity In Every Life!"?

Old People When They Are Cognitively Or Physically Spent Have The Right, No, The DUTY, To Die

One Little Injection Can End It All, What Would You Do? Would You Say, " Okay Doc, Hit Me Up!"?

I HAVE A FRIEND OF MINE WHO'S ONLY 53 OVER IN A NURSING HOME RECOVERING FROM A SHATTERED PELVIS HE GOT WHEN HE SLIPPED ON THE ICE, THE END OF DECEMBER. HE JUST GETTING TO THE POINT WHERE HE'S WALKING AROUND WITH THE AID OF A WALKER AND IN 4 OR 5 MORE MONTHS HE SHOULD BE AS GOOD AS NEW EXCEPT HE'LL HAVE A PRONOUNCED LIMP.

THE NURSING HOME HE'S AT IS FILLED WITH A LOT OF SENIORS ON THEIR WAY OUT. YOU KNOW GOD'S WAITING ROOM. THEY COULD NEVER AGAIN BE SELF SUFFICIENT EITHER THEIR BODIES ARE TOO FEEBLE OR THEIR MINDS ARE GONE. WHY DON'T WE JUST PUT THESE SENIORS ON AN ICEBERG AND LET THE CURRENTS TAKE THEM OUT TO SEA? WELL, IT JUST WOULD NOT BE RIGHT.

WHEN I WATCH THE JOKE THEY CALL THE NIGHTLY NEWS ON THE MAJOR NETWORKS ALL OF THE ADS APPEARING ARE TARGETED TO SENIOR WITH THEIR VARIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS, YOU KNOW ARTHRITIS, COPD, DRY EYES. BUT, THE ONE THAT REALLY GETS ME ARE THE ALZHEIMERS DRUGS THEY ARE FOISTING ON THE PUBLIC. IT SEEMS THE ADS ARE TARGETING NOT THE SUFFERERS OF THE DISEASE BUT RATHER, THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS MAKING THEM BELIEVE THAT THEIR IS HOPE THAT THIS "MAGIC PILL" WILL BRING BACK THE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING OF THEIR ELDERLY FAMILY MEMBER.

Emotional Extortion?

THE RESULTS FROM THESE MEDICINES ARE MEASURED IN BABY STEPS, HOWEVER BIG PHARMA THROUGH THEIR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS SOMEHOW WANT TO LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE THAT THESE MEDICINES WILL RESTORE MENTAL FUNCTIONING TO THAT OF A NEWLY MINTED YALE GRADUATE. TO ME, IT'S SAD TO SEE HOW THESE GREEDY PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES PLAY OFF THE EMOTIONS OF FAMILY MEMBERS IN ORDER TO SELL THEIR EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE PRODUCTS.

MY GRANDMOTHER TOLD ME, "IT'S HELL TO GET OLD" AND SHE WAS 100% RIGHT. MY BUDDY BILL SULLIVAN TOLD ME, "IT'S A GREAT LIFE IF YOU DON'T WEAKEN" AGAIN 100% RIGHT. BUT HERE'S THE DEAL, WHEN OUR BODIES AND MINDS GO, DO WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE TAKEN CARE OF UNTIL THE PHYSICAL BODY JUST EXPIRES? I DON'T THINK SO. WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE HOUSED IN A NURSING HOME FOR 5, 10, 15, 20+ YEARS JUST SO I COULD EXIST. EXIST THAT'S IT.

LOOK AT ARIEL SHARON IN ISRAEL, THEY'VE KEPT HIM ON LIFE SUPPORT SINCE HE STROKED OUT IN 2005. I MEAN WHAT'S THE POINT? SURE HE WAS A GREAT MAN, A GREAT LEADER AND ALL THAT SHIT BUT LOOK AT THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT HAVE BEEN SPENT TREATING HIM LIKE HE WAS SOME SORT OF GOD. HE'S JUST A MAN, HE STROKED OUT. PULL THE PLUG ALREADY. WHAT'S THE POINT OF KEEPING SOMEONE LIKE THAT ALIVE? THIS HAPPENED TO MY UNCLE, HE STROKED OUT OR SOME SHIT, MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COULD HAVE KEPT HIM ALIVE FOR YEARS, THEY PULLED THE PLUG AND NOW HE'S IN VALHALLA OR WHEREVER HE'D IMAGINED HE'D BE - GOOD FOR HIM. 

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, NURSING HOMES CRAMMED WITH ELDERLY PEOPLE NO LONGER ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES, MANY WITH THEIR MINDS SHOT. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS, THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN SONS OR DAUGHTERS. AT THIS POINT SHOULDN'T WE SAY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - STOP THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD AND TERMINATE THESE NO LONGER USEFUL LIVES? IF IT WAS ME, I WOULD WANT MY LIFE TERMINATED. I WOULD NEVER KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

WHEN I READ RECENTLT THAT ADULT DIAPERS WERE OUTSELLING BABY DIAPERS IN JAPAN FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER I ALSO REALIZED THAT JAPAN IS A DEAD SOCIETY, UNABLE TO REPLENISH ITSELF WITH NEW YOUNGER GENERATIONS BECAUSE THEY BAN IMMIGRATION TO KEEP THEIR BLOODLINE PURE. SURE, THEY HAVE GUEST WORKERS, BUT THEY CANNOT BECOME JAPANESE CITIZENS. SO WHAT IS TO HAPPEN TO THIS EXTREMELY LARGE POPULATION OF SENIOR CITIZENS IN JAPAN? WILL THEY EEK OUT THEIR FINAL DAYS JUST EXISTING WAREHOUSED IN SOME NURSING HOME IN SOME REMOTE PREFECTURE? WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS HUGE GENERATION OF ELDERLY NO LONGER ABLE TO CARE FOR THEMSELVES? SHOULD THEY BE SANITARILY DISPOSED OF OR SHOULD BILLION OF YEN BE SPENT AND BILLIONS OF MAN HOURS BE EXPENDED FOR THEIR CARE?

THIS IS THE QUESTION THAT FACES US ALL.