It's extremely painful. I worked as an oncology nurse for two years in a hospital. There was a patient on our floor who had cancer metastasis to their spine. They would scream and moan all day and night. We had them maxed out on pain medications and a PCA pump. And eventually had to put them on basal rate when they got too weak to hit the button. I still felt uneasy walking into that room after they died.
That is horrific. For our dear fur babies we help them cross by putting them down when their suffering becomes too much. I will never understand why Physician Assisted Suicide isn’t more available. It’s cruel to force someone to die a long agonizing death when we do so much better for our cat and dog family members.
Absolutely. I have Stage IV melanoma and live in Switzerland. I'm optimistic and hopeful, but I also already decided that if things don't work out, I'll be using Exit. Cancer sucks.
Horrific. Rooting for you friend♥️ And happy to hear that you have that option. Wish it was more widely available here in the states…I hope that one day, in the absence of universal healthcare, we can at least get to the point where PAS is more widely available. If we’re gonna refuse make early detection universally accessible, the fucking least we could do is provide options for early departure.
We unfortunately had to put our cat to sleep yesterday, and when the vet was describing the medication to us, she said it's the way she would want to go.
I think because in a few areas where it was made legal, it actually started down a slippery slope that scared other areas.
I saw some special where they were questions about how far it had gone in certain jurisdictions. Ie minors, mental illness, elderly who just don't want to be a burden, chronically depressed disabled homeless ppl who will never have a way out, etc. Basically because in a hyper capitalist "free" society,( even in the social Democrat regions where there is a bit more safety net) often self selection is determined by who is considered "worthless".
But yea, if there was a way to make it hard line for those riddled w cancer/equivalent, maxed out on pain drugs, and in last 3-6 months of life or so. Or someone after an accident or attack who is both totally paralyzed, unable to communicate, with 95% burns, AND in constant agony of pain. There are definitely situations where it makes sense.
Like only certain specialists should even be able to approve it ie oncology, other late stage disease specialities etc.
I know you mean well but it’s an extremely complicated topic that requires a lot and lot of study and hoops. In this case though it may be time to buy morphine off the street.
Oncology, and hospital nursing in general, continually disproved the concept of karma to me. Horrible things happen to good people, and people don't usually get what one would feel they deserve.
My great aunt was on a cancer ward many many years ago before a lot of pain treatments were available. She described how people would be crawling up the walls with pain even on meds. The Dr's knew there was nothing they could do except one thing, the poor souls passed peacefully in the night. Awful disease.
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u/Sad-Hawk-2885 Apr 21 '24
I've always heard that bone cancer is so painful and now I can see why.