Euthanasia debate ...?

Question

A man in Belgium was misdiagnosed as being in a vegetative state, coma for 23 years. He had to live silent and helpless, unable to communicate for 23 years. One of 43% of people who's states of consciousness are misdiagnosed. Would you risk euthanasia knowing if it is a person diagnosed perhaps as having a coma where the error rate could be so high?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

This is a very unusual and sad case, as his life was a living hell. Life is a precious gift to be enjoyed with every breath we take but if the quality is not there then I can understand why people would opt out. I couldn’t do it; even after nursing my sick dad through palliative care and witnessing the horror of death but he loved his life and fought right until the end; as will I because while the sun still rises and sets upon us there is always hope…

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

There is always hope.

Answer 2

No. On the other hand, I'd rather be dead than to be in such a state myself.

Answer 3

Its too great of a chance to take.
We wouldnt take those chances with someone who has been convicted of murder and is facing the death penalty-if their was a 43% chance they were not guilty they would instantly receive a stay of execution and another trial.

Answer 4

At age 80 I want as much as I can out of life.The health plans of Obama scare me.I was just successfully radiated 40 times for prostate cancer and it is gone. Were this to happen after the new health package I feel that the radiation would be witheld.

Source(s):

scared old man

Answer 5

Life is FULL of Risks... -And would not be worth Living- if we didn't take any of them... In the case of the Belgium Man- HIS "misdiagnosis" came a LONG time ago... I would like to THINK that such Errors as HIS- are not nearly as commonplace now... The World has "moved on"- and so must He (and US)...

Answer 6

It would have been a tragedy if the gentleman were inadvertently euthanized, despite his "persistent vegetative state of 23 years," when in reality, apparently his cognitive state would ultimately "correct" itself.

However, I would consider Euthanasia as an option for any patient requesting it, were it legal, and they patient met the criteria, including being in "sound mind" or being represented by an advocate and the state, if not.

The example you cited is a bit of an anomaly and human medicine is rife with it. However, it is also rife with suffering in which the sufferer does not have the luxury of lying in coma, but must agonize horrifically. Even with morphine, the priceless gift of life is compromised too severely with the pain of the pathology, of which there are thousands.

How about a Human Being who has contracted rabies? It's even more lethal than the Ebola virus, with a 99% fatality rate. Should the searing fever, madness, intense anxiety, agonizing muscle spasms be treated palliatively, as the victim's central nervous system is ravaged and their brain seared by a fever that literally destroys it? Or after a certain point, should the victim be spared the ordeal that awaits them, as a fever ravages their brain irreversibly.

Answer 7

the docs screwed up. should have been evaluated a long time ago. I 'd sue.

Answer 8

Its a very sad case.

I think you have to be involved in something like
that to answer the question really.

Its a tough one