posted on January 24, 2006 10:25:57 PM new
Clinic assists doctor's suicide
A retired doctor has taken her own life with the help of doctors at a controversial Swiss clinic.
Dr Anne Turner, from Bath, had a progressive and incurable degenerative disease called supranuclear palsy.
She travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich on Tuesday, where doctors gave her drugs with which to end her life.
Dr Turner, 66, who invited the BBC to travel with her to Switzerland, could only walk with a stick and faced a future in a wheelchair.
Dismissing concerns that many people might argue that she was far from an invalid, she said that for her death would be a release.
But opponents of assisted suicide said it was wrong to take human life in this way - and argued that good quality palliative care was the right approach.
Dr Turner's condition, which also afflicted comedian Dudley Moore, also left with her with badly slurred speech, and she had some difficulty swallowing.
She could no longer drive, take a bath unaided, and had difficulty feeding her cats.
Her husband, a GP, had already suffered a lingering death from a similar illness.
Her brother too was a victim of another progressive condition - motor neurone disease.
"But opponents of assisted suicide said it was wrong to take human life in this way - and argued that good quality palliative care was the right approach.
The answer to this problem is exceedingly complex. Letting people die may seem to be the most humane approach. But we should not let "humane approach" become an excuse for not providing optimum medical and human care. In other words, death with dignity should not be used as an excuse for the failure to provide life with dignity.
posted on January 25, 2006 06:11:30 AM new
"""In other words, death with dignity should not be used as an excuse for the failure to provide life with dignity."""
GOOD point and the reason she went to Switzerland and NOT the U.S.
Other countries are so much more advanced than the U.S. Here, Tom Delie or some other political criminal would've grandstanded using her life to take focus off Republicans criminal activities. NAAWWWWW, would they do that ????
posted on January 25, 2006 07:33:53 PM new
This is a disease which has no cure,average lifespan is 6-8 years,it is like a good mind trapped in a useless physical body-you either cant open or close your eyes,you cant swallow,you cant blink,you cant move your bowels,you cant talk as your tongue wont move,you cant walk,it is a disease where the brain cells which produce dopamaine is either damaged or destroyed and so there is no marching order to the peripheral nerves to tell it to speak,blink,look up or down,walk,curl finger,move bowel or any kind of motor activity.
How do you provide quality care to a mind trapped inside a body which cant function??of course it would be nice to give it a new body?and the only way we know how is to end our life so for those who believe in reincarnation can get a new body.
/ lets all stop whining !! /
