I want to add something, because you said Eluana was "sleeping" which looks very peaceful and harmless. I think many people are under the misconception that patients in a coma do not suffer.
When a patient falls into a coma their hands cramp and clutch together so strong that it's almost impossible to open them. To avoid fungal infections the nurses have to open the hands forcefully at least once a day to clean them and they usually put pieces of a towel into the hands keep them dry. The patients do not "sleep", their eyes are mostly open but rolled to the side or up, it looks very scary.
Only a few days after the patients falls into a coma they develop mouth infections because they do not eat, drink or speak. The nurses have to clean the mouth each day and treat the infection. During the treatment the patient usually moans and cries from the pain. A horrible smell comes out of the mouth of a coma patient.
Because of their immobility the patients have to be shifted around at least five times per day to avoid bedsores, the so called decubitus. Decubitus are open wounds which hurt like hell and are very, very hard to heal when the patient continues to not move. Even very good nursing homes cannot avoid bedsores all the time. When a decubitus develops the nurses try to hide the fact from the family members because they will get mad and start rows about the suffering of the patient. Over the years it gets harder and harder to avoid decubitus because the skin of the patient gets thinner, they lose lots of weight and the whole state of the body declines. I spare you the other awful details but believe me: death does not sleep peacefully under white linen, it hurts, smells and causes incredible suffering.
If you ever watched someone suffer like that you want to take a gun and shoot all these Italian politicians who make a sensationalist, tasteless, indecent spectacle out of the discussion of the fate of poor Eluana.
Hitman · Member since
The polemics about the Pope are neverending and often gratuitus because of his role, i'm not surprised, but i just remember that everyone is entitled to give an opinion. Also the Church.
About the disgraced conditions of a coma, again i understand the feelings that anyone me included may have in front of this scary situation but in that "thin" life that might never come back to a normality i see something that can't be denied. And causing a death is something that goes beyond my positions.
Again i don't want to force anyone, i insist that in the end there should be a personal choice (in a frame of rules) but i'd love people to appreciate life in this extreme conditions.
magicalfreddiemercury · Member since
[b]Hitman wrote: [/b]
[b]"...but i'd love people to appreciate life in this extreme conditions."[/b]
[/QUOTE]
===
A person ready to end a loved one's suffering does indeed appreciate life.
This is where the misconception lies. It's assumed that because family members decide enough is enough, then they must be tired of the 'work' involved in caring for the person lying there practically lifeless. Or they must be so used to seeing that person in that condition that they no longer care of feel for him or her. That's wrong. The choice to 'pull the plug' is an excruciating one. Hope is something we all hang onto - often well beyond the time we should.
Letting go when you want to hold on is the most caring and unselfish thing to do. The people who decide to end the suffering of someone they love couldn't possibly "appreciate life" more.
YourValentine · Member since
[QUOTE]
[b]Hitman wrote: [/b]
The polemics about the Pope are neverending and often gratuitus because of his role, i'm not surprised, but i just remember that everyone is entitled to give an opinion. Also the Church.
About the disgraced conditions of a coma, again i understand the feelings that anyone me included may have in front of this scary situation but in that "thin" life that might never come back to a normality i see something that can't be denied. And causing a death is something that goes beyond my positions.
Again i don't want to force anyone, i insist that in the end there should be a personal choice (in a frame of rules) but i'd love people to appreciate life in this extreme conditions.
[/QUOTE]
I absolutely respect your position and we agree on the main issue: it should be a personal decision. What concerns me about the church is that they try to rule into the legislation of the state which I cannot accept - not from Islamic ayatollahs and not from the Catholic church. They can have their opinion but they should not try to monopolise the ethics of the citizens. When I do not believe that the Catholic church knows more about "God's will" than other people, I surely cannot let them try to make their opinion the law in the country. Btw, this is not only in Italy, it's in all countries, Germany included.
Let us just for a moment assume that the Catholic church is right in ruling that a coma patient who is unable to eat, drink, move, think, talk etc must be kept alive with tubes or else it's murder and therefore a sin. Because God wants it that way. Now - what about coma patients in poor countries where artificial nutrition is not available? Does God make a difference between an Italian Catholic and an African catholic? In one case he wants the patient to live and in the other case he wants the patient to die? I think it's very daring to claim that anyone knows what "God's will" is. No devout Catholic (or Protestant or Islamic) person will be forced to cut the tubes under any law. But there must be the choice and it's NOT because people who want it to end are tired of it. You think that life must be preserved because it's a value itself no matter what happens while I believe that it's a decision of love and compassion to put an end to incredible, useless suffering. We both should have the right to have it our own way under any legislation.
JoxerTheDeityPirate · Member since
[QUOTE]
[b]Zebonka12 wrote: [/b]
Just think; if aliens were to impregnate her instead, it'd be a movie.
[/QUOTE]
*waves arms maniacally*
bagsy the role of the impregnating alien!
