This topic from and for the Weekend Experiences community is something I think of sometimes. Somehow I believe a few relatives had a euthanistic end. Well I don't really know if that's the right term because it can't be suicide, right? 🤔
Let's find out the meaning of Euthanasia according to Britannica encyclopedia online.:
Now that we know what it is, it seems it can indeed be suicide or murder if you look at it. Technically speaking that's really how it is.
Death aided and made possible by ourselves is called suicide. If we end our own life, that's what it is. Murder happens if somebody else kills another person but usually it is because the victim doesn't want to die yet. Indeed this topic may be hard for some so let's be practical about it.
Let me give you some examples of what happened to some people I know.
Aunt May and Brain Tumor
I will just share the very first time I learned about what can be called euthanasia when I was a kid. Someone I knew decided to do this. Let's call her Aunt May (not her real name).
While she was on her death bed, I heard a story. I was a grade school student at the time and didn't really know much about such things.
It is said that years ago Aunt May decided to die once she reaches 50 years old. Sounds weird right? Proclaiming your own death before it even happens... But hey like a prophesy, she eventually developed a brain tumor at that age.
Of course family members tried to help her get better but she chose to just stay at home and be bedridden somehow. Eventually she stopped taking any medications, alternative or not, and then died within that year.
I didn't think of it as suicide though. If she was suffering then of course it is better to just leave this world since she got cancer. That's one of the deadliest diseases ever.
Obese Grandpa With Diabetes
Another case is a distant grandpa who had diabetes and was really overweight. Eventually he had to be confined in the hospital because of a wound that wasn't healing anymore. And he was having other complications.
Of course grandma had the money to pay for hospital bills but somehow I sensed something when we visited him. He was not really conscious or talking at all. Not sure but he was always sleeping from what I heard.
Anyway he'd been in the hospital for months and it was like he wasn't getting any better. One time I decided to pray for him with my grandma to see if maybe it could help make him get better.
I prayed for him with raised hands over him and my eyes closed. No I don't really do such things. He wasn't getting well so I felt like I had to do whatever I can.
It was my first time doing that and I even got somewhat embarrassed when I found out the nurses were watching. 😂 I mean, whyyy were they even watching what was happening in a sick person's room? 😅
Anyway, his face was facing the room door and the big windows when I opened my eyes while praying. His body was still the same, lying on his back. As I looked at his face I got the sense that he didn't want me to do what I was doing. But of course he couldn't speak or I dunno his health status was really not well at that point. It was like he just wanted his suffering to end.
Soon enough he also left this world. That's not a case of euthanasia but I believe he would have preferred it at that point. Because, if you really want to continue living you would do everything you can not to die. You would fight to be alive. I didn't get a sense of that from him at all...
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Am I Pro or Anti Euthanasia?
As we all know, life is hard. If we do not have a strong enough family and friends support system we are most likely gonna think of suicide quite often. Especially when problems and challenges happen in our lives, we would think just leaving this world would solve it.
Unfortunately those who end their lives early and are reported in the news had problems which could have been solved in time or with other people's help. In the case of grave illnesses, that's where the difference of euthanasia and suicide comes in.
Intense pain is something that we want to avoid. It's not a good feeling at all and if we could avoid it we definitely would do anything just to not feel it. Physical pain is not funny. That is why painkillers are addictive to those who experience it a lot.
For me if there's really no other way to keep the person alive and well, then it is okay for them to pass on. Especially if they are able to request it themselves, like Aunt May.
What About Murder?
If someone wants to end their suffering sooner because they would eventually die very soon anyway, that's different to just leaving someone to die because you don't want to pay for the patient's medication. If you know the person still wants to live but you withhold your resources to help that family member then I would see you as a murderer.
Such a scenario actually happened to a grandma. Her kids, even if they had businesses, did not do enough to make her live longer. Even if she's old, she could still be saved if they tried everything. It's sad to see how love is lacking in such a family.
If you are sick and dying but want to continue living however you are not given a chance by your relatives or family members to survive, that's sad. That's murder in a "hush hush" way.
As someone who didn't have any funds and during the time of no social media, all a young person could do at that point would be to just look on as the elders did the unthinkable. Clearly that is not euthanasia.
Euthanasia Must Be Allowed Only For People With Grave Illnesses
For me if someone gets sick, like have terminal cancer and only a few months to live, they should be allowed to continue to live their life the way they want to. It doesn't mean the end of their life immediately. However we all have a choice what to do with our life right?
If we don't have a happy life, most likely we would not want to drink any form of medicine to get better. For example, a person with cancer would not go through with any biopsy, chemotherapy or even avoid alternative medicine. Is that suicide? Perhaps, but remember if you are too tired or lazy to find ways to fund your medication or hospitalization then that's clearly suicide. It means you just don't want to live anymore or you are already depressed and not thinking well.
Maybe you won't even tell your friends or family members that you have such a disease. You don't wanna have them fuss over you because they aren't well off either. Is this a form of suicide or euthanasia? As mentioned, it may as well be synonymous.
But still, a lethal disease is something we all do not want. It can kill us really fast unless our will to live is truly strong. If we give up and just want to end the life we live now then we would just stop doing anything to get better. That would be tragic and sad right?
The other side of the coin is... If you see your loved one suffering and they said they already want to rest, who are you to stop them? It is not you who are feeling what they are feeling. If you love them so much you probably won't allow them to die yet. However if there is no cure to prolong their life and make them better, think about it, doing that could be torture to the sick person. It is better to accept their request soon enough than to let them suffer longer.
Well those are my thoughts on this topic, what about you? Do you know anyone who has done anything similar or did euthanasia itself?
XOXO,
Edit June 2024:
P.S. No longer do I agree on what I wrote here last year. Read what I think about mercy killing now in my newest post: The "Secret Ways" to Avoid the Devil's Invisible Trap of Euthanasia
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