In my own experience, I watched as my Grandmother suffered from throat cancer. Terminal, with a few months left. She couldn’t eat or swallow, she had lost so much weight that she had to safety pin her pants together so that they wouldn’t fall off. She survived only because of the feeding tube that hung out of her belly, and the pain medication that was administered through another tube that was inserted in her chest. Surviving, but not living, this was no life to her. She was too weak to do much of anything, and right before she died, she had developed a high fever and it took away what was left of her mind. She didn’t know anybody, or where she was. And she talked to people that we couldn’t see. When she found out that she was terminal, 4 months prior, she wished that she could have found Dr. Kavorkian so that she could end her life with some sort of dignity. Watching her go through so much pain and agony was the most heartbreaking thing I ha

Cancer, Aids, Lou Gehregs Disease. These are just a few of several terminally ill diseases where someone who has been diagnosed might seek out ‘Physician Assisted Suicide’. It started with Dr. Kavorkian, a Pathologist in the state of Michigan. He built a machine to help those who asked for help in ending their lives. It wasn’t for just anyone, but for those who were suffering from a terminal illness and wanted to leave this world with some dignity left. He helped many suffering people find peace in their death before he was put on trial as a criminal and charged with murder in the 2nd degree.

The late Gov. Tom McCall gave proponents their ballot title long before the issue went to voters. The moderate Republican and revered champion of individual rights stunned the state GOP convention in 1972 when he announced he would appoint a task force to look into concerns among some ailing senior citizens who wanted “death in dignity vs. death as a vegetable.” (Murphy, 1998.) In the first year under the nation's only assisted-suicide law, 15 terminally ill people in Oregon used it to end their lives, and there was no evidence they suffered painful, lingering deaths as opponents had warned.(Associated Press,1999.)

ve ever experienced. I too, wished for Dr. Kavorkian. And that very same year, a few months later, Oregon put up for vote to the people, the ‘Physician Suicide Act’. And being an Oregonian, I voted for it.

Voluntary euthanasia is a notoriously complex and controversial issue. There is a sharp distinction in the law's approach to passive and active euthanasia. While the law recognizes the patient's right to refuse treatment, and permits passive euthanasia in certain circumstances, active voluntary euthanasia is prohibited in most jurisdictions, and is considered murder regardless of the special circumstances usually existing in such cases. Therefore a doctor who assists a patient in committing suicide will be held criminally liable for the offence of assisting suicide. However, a doctor may lawfully comply with a patient's request for the withholding, or withdrawing of life-saving treatment; which will result in death. Although the patien

Some topics in this essay:
Tom McCall, November Rasmussen, Rasmussen Murphy, Pathologist Michigan, Question Rights, Michael Vernon, Salem Hospital, Netherlands Oregon, Dr Kavorkian, President Bush, terminally ill, dr kavorkian, murphy 1998, intractable pain, voluntary euthanasia, and/or loss, assistance dying, pain medication, choose death, committing suicide,