Mercy Killing and You

Are you ready for controversy?

Everyone knows Dr. Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian aka Dr. Death. He was a physician that assisted people in suicide.  I mentioned in a previous blog entry Sunday and Slade. I mentioned how I wondered what Kevorkian did to merit his getting into heaven or if he ever got in at all.

Obviously no one will know what is on the mind of God let alone the exact time of when the human race will be Raptured, Harold Camping has led us to believe that only he could know God's mind.

Anyway we all know what Kevorkian did and I know that the surrounding controversy most people were appalled that he could kill people with the lowering of a syringe stopper into an IV. People die everyday and in most cases its a tragedy because of the way they go. Other than the way that Kevorkian's patients went, people cannot control how they die. People die in so many ways and not one person thought to stop and question whether or not that person wanted to go out that way.

I can tell you most people don't want to suffer so why is it so hard for people to accept what Kevorkian did for his clients? Is it any different than putting a beloved pet to sleep? Isn't it more wrong to make our loved ones suffer than to give them the relief they need that only death can give them? Those people that died wanted more than pain medication. They wanted a full life but because of the way things happened it just didn't happen for them.  I personally couldn't put a loved one out of their misery. I would turn to my doctor for that. Because don't we trust the doctor explicitly? Don't we expect them to be "right" more than our loved ones?

For example you are at a stage 4 with Cancer. Chemo therapy isn't helping anything but your hair falling out if it hasn't already and is killing your liver. It's draining your life savings and that of your grandkids' life savings. You are depressed and to top if off your memory is going to shit. Your doctor tells you and your loved ones that you have early onset of Alzheimer's Disease. No cure but he can give you medicine to prolong your life. The part they don't tell you is that its going to cost an arm and leg that you can't afford. So what is your choice? Suicide or suffer through and wait for death to come knocking? Now while I don't agree with suicide most of the time (most people associate suicide for younger people that want to end things before they can fix them) at least with this option you get to choose how you go. Then there was a man that made physician assisted suicide a hot topic.

Because he is a doctor he had to take the doctor's creed - Hippocratic Oath.

I am sure that in his 4 trials that the Hippocratic Oath was brought up. They probably thought to use it against him. His 4th trial ended in a mistrial and the other three he was acquitted. So what does that tell you? (No lawyer could convict him explicitly.) He served time

To me it says he did what he thought was necessary in helping these families even if it meant death. As a physician I can imagine he had to have counseled these people and their families or at least referred them to a counselor. Death and choosing your way to go is a serious undertaking of knowing exactly what you want and not just having the pain speak for you. The other side of that is knowing what you will be leaving behind. Getting all your affairs in order and making sure that most of the major things are done so that your family doesn't have too much of a hardship later with bills and what not.

I know that most people tend to not think about death and the problems that come with it such as dealing with debt and grief. The people I know who proclaim the Christian faith believe that death isn't the end and that through Christ they will have ever lasting life so death is conquered and the only thing they are leaving behind is the shell. So is it really hard to make your decision on how you want to go instead of waiting for your time?

What if physician assisted suicide is your answer after praying about it for God knows how long?
I said earlier I don't agree with suicide. That is not quite accurate. What I mean is I don't agree with killing yourself because things didn't go your way and then you are all depressed about it. Take for example those teens that kill themselves because a certain person turned them down or because their parents split up. What about the middle aged man that is just fed up with life and things won't change so he takes his life in the hopes that it will "save" his family more grief? That now because he is gone they can do the things that they couldn't while he was there.

My personal belief that I am not shoving on anyone and not asking anyone to understand is that if I have a terminal illness with no cure and its costing my family money we don't have to keep me alive I would rather die. Now mind you I am on the healthy side of this because I am not suffering from an illness that eventually will take me.

I guess the point of this is to maybe get a different perspective of what Kevorkian did for these people was a blessing instead of a curse. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Kevorkian was a saint but he did what I believe he thought was right. What right do we have to judge a man that was helping people?

My point is Kevorkian probably is sitting in heaven right now with those people getting thanks for helping them. His merit was that he was compassionate enough to see how much life hurt them. He was compassionate enough to give these people a way to end their suffering. In much the same way we put a beloved pet down he understood that. What he did is between him and God and he will be judged accordingly and chances are that he will get to have everlasting life even after the last judgement or White Throne judgement.

We will all be judged for things we did or didn't do (in respects to what we could have done vs not doing anything at all) and we will have to answer for them.



This pretty much explains it. I may not have been a Kevorkian supporter but I wasn't on the bandwagon to crucify him either. I am of the mindset that what you do is what you do. If you involve me that was my choice to join you or not. I think because we are all entitled to our opinions everyone should have an open mind and do what we think is right for us.