Colorado right-to-die legislation announced

homeagain wrote:

HEARTLESS wrote: homeagain, You must already have DNR and advanced directives/living will in place I presume. What else do you hope to get from the additional laws?

BECAUSE, a native of Colorado, I do NOT wish to move to one of five states that have LEGALIZED MY
option to release/relieve suffering at the end of life..

www.lifesitenews.com/news/brittnay-mayna...as-committed-suicide

I too am a native of Colorado, that doesn't preclude me from filing out the DNR form, wearing DNR bracelets, necklaces or having it tattooed on my forehead. You can also work on directives with your doctor regarding when you should enter hospice care. What does this legislation offer that can't be done now with some pre-planning?

HEARTLESS wrote:

homeagain wrote:

HEARTLESS wrote: homeagain, You must already have DNR and advanced directives/living will in place I presume. What else do you hope to get from the additional laws?

BECAUSE, a native of Colorado, I do NOT wish to move to one of five states that have LEGALIZED MY
option to release/relieve suffering at the end of life..

www.lifesitenews.com/news/brittnay-mayna...as-committed-suicide

I too am a native of Colorado, that doesn't preclude me from filing out the DNR form, wearing DNR bracelets, necklaces or having it tattooed on my forehead. You can also work on directives with your doctor regarding when you should enter hospice care. What does this legislation offer that can't be done now with some pre-planning?

In ONE word, autonomy, today 2015 doctors/hospice nurses/most medical personnel STILL do not
have pain management handled/are adroit in the field. HOW do I know this, because my Hospice nurse friend is in the trenches and KNOWS. The issue of "killing the patient" because of dosage is a HUGE
problem and most do NOT feel comfortable with the paradigm. IF anyone remembers AspenValley here on MMT her FAST demise was fraught with PAIN ISSUES, doctors did NOT have a handle on the pain curve..her experience was horrific and it served to ENLIGHTEN me.(she was a brave soul and blogged her journey)

The OTHER issue is the medical mindset,itself...doctors take an OATH to preserve life and when one is DYING,it is counter productive. I have put in place EVERYTHING I can control, BUT, the last piece is
the ability of LEGALLY controlling my fate....

In hospice care, pain management is the only real priority, since you are not expected to survive. I would have an attorney lined up at the beginning of hospice care as an incentive to proper pain management for the doctor's knowledge.

HEARTLESS wrote: In hospice care, pain management is the only real priority, since you are not expected to survive. I would have an attorney lined up at the beginning of hospice care as an incentive to proper pain management for the doctor's knowledge.

Comfort Care is priority within hospice, HOWEVER, PAIN management is an art....the RIGHT combo of
drugs for the patient is predicated on how KNOWLEDGEABLE the nurse is in ADVANCED PHARMACOLOGY and how willing the physician is to put aside EGO and rely on the nurses' accessment...THIS dovetails into the previous discussion about medical mindset and NOT being adroit within the field of pain management.

As a sidenote...my friend is going for her N.P. license,BECAUSE she can then prescribe, and NOT
have to rely on the physician's approval.

Yet to see a reply to the question posed earlier. Just how far into the tent do you want this camel to come? Should Amy Van Dyken be able to request a fatal cocktail from her physician if she decides she doesn't want to continue to live without the use of her legs? Would society be denying to her the same "right to die" that the Democrats are currently seeking, the same compassion, the same access to "death with dignity" if we allow physicians to start committing acts of homicide for only those whose death is believed will happen sometime within the next 6 months? And why 6 months? Why not a year, or 2 years? Is one who is likely to be dead within the next 24 months somehow less deserving of the "compassion" or any less in possession of a "right to die", or any less deserving of being able to terminate their life "with dignity"?

The answer, of course, is that "progressives" have to start somewhere so that "progress" can be made towards their ultimate goal. The reason the "progressives" don't ask for what they really want up front is they know that it will be rejected. Society has to be conditioned to accept the ultimate ends desired, and they way to condition the society is to start small and keep expanding on what has been achieved.

Ultimately, as home has pointed out, what is being sought is a societal expectation that the sick and the elderly will feel that they are imposing on everyone else by not committing suicide; bankrupting us all, physically and emotionally, if they don't do what society expects them to do, kill themselves, under such circumstances.

Hospice care: Care designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible. Aggressive methods of pain control may be used. Hospice programs generally are home-based, but they sometimes provide services away from home -- in freestanding facilities, in nursing homes, or within hospitals. The philosophy of hospice is to provide support for the patient's emotional, social, and spiritual needs as well as medical symptoms as part of treating the whole person.
This is from MedicineNet.com
If they aren't focused on pain management, you aren't receiving proper care. Example, my oldest brother just passed in hospice care in Houston, TX. When we asked about an air mattress designed to change the position of the patient to prevent bed sores, they said there first had to be bed sores, then it could be employed to prevent advancement of same. This is more an insurance issue than comfort care issue. Unless the insurance companies see a greater profit, to hell with the patient. So I'm guessing death with dignity appeals to the insurance A-holes.

Hearings are going on right now and some of the local news channels are tweeting Coloradoans going before legislators, some slippery slope arguments.

The legislation failed. If a person feels strongly for this but doesn't have their DNR and advanced directives with their physician, they are just being hypocrites.

MOLST (Medical options Life Sustaining Treatment)is the LEGAL directive that is the most efficient....it
takes EVERYTHING into consideration (antibiotics, comfort care only and what that means to YOU)....I completed 5 Wishes and submitted that, only to be told that document, altho good, was NOT legally binding and was just a guideline. The MOLST document is strictly adhered to because it leaves NO option UNaddressed...it forces you to think thru the process....which is a COMPLICATED/mind-numbing exercise.