"Elder Mentor" comments on PL's post: "YOU DON'T KNOW JACK! (ABOUT PAIN AND SUFFERING)"

Here's Elder Mentor:

I saw the movie about Dr. Kevorkian and I too, thought it was very well done. You gotta love Al Pacino...he's a method actor virtuoso!

I am intrigued by what you say in this post. I definitely think that people should have control over the way they choose to live and the way they choose to die. I also believe that it shouldn't be up to the government, or even other members in families if a loved one who is terminally ill and completely cognitively intact decides they wish to be euthanized. There was a scene in the movie when Jack makes a comment about how in our society the medical community, (and insurance and pharmaceutical companies for that matter) are trained to extend life at all costs. Except if the patient is poor, then not so much.

My take differs a bit from yours, however. While lifestyle choices can to a great extent contribute to our own eventual "suicides", I don't think that applies to all diseases. I do firmly believe though, that every disease, even dementia and Alzheimer's (my personal causes) have a lesson to teach us about what makes life worth living. And I like very much what you said about humans needing their pain. It's how we learn.

The real issue that irks me more than anything is the notion of imposing extraordinary measures like CPR, feeding tubes and other invasive procedures on patients who are already very frail and diseased. Why can't we let nature take its course? Why do so many people feel like its "playing God" if they DON'T put a feeding tube in their 90 year old demented mother who lives in a nursing home? Wouldn't the fact that she's not eating be a sign that her body is no longer in need of nutrition *because* its dying? I never understand how families think they're playing God if they don't consent to these measures. It seems contradictory...putting a tube in someone's body or hooking them up to a respirator to keep them living seems to me like that's interfering with the natural (and God-like) process of bringing one's life to a close.

Oh wow...I went on quite a tangent! :) Anyway, you wrote a very provocative post and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with in the future