X-Message-Number: 26792
From: "marta sandberg" <>
Subject: Legal euthanasia 
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:35:44 +0800

When contemplating euthanasia it is VERY important to find out what the 
local laws are.  They change from country to country, state to state and 
from one year to the next.

The next part of this message may be confronting.  Please do not continue 
reading if you feel the discussion can upset you.

- - - -

I did some research in this when my husband was terminal and here are a few 
pointers that may help.

Starving to death is a long, slow process that takes months and leaves a 
devastated body behind.  But if you refuse both food _and_ drink, then 
dehydration will kill you in about two weeks or less.  It is a quicker, but 
still a nasty way to die.  Essentially, you are thirsting to death whilst 
remaining conscious for most of this time.

The patient can be fed one ice cube (broken into slivers) per day without 
delaying the process of dehydration and the lips should be coated in a 
non-petroleum lib balm to stop them cracking.  That is about all you can do 
to ease the situation.

The only good thing about it is that it is legal in _most_ Western countries 
as long as the patient is of sound mind, and s/he doesn't have to be 
terminal.

Similarly, refusing medical aid (including drugs, dialysis, life support 
etc) is usually legal.  Unfortunately, it only works if you are being kept 
alive by a machine or continuous use of drugs.

In some places it is possible to use heavy doses of painkillers to 
essentially keep a patient unconscious even if it will 'hasten the moment of 
death', but only if the patient is close to dying anyway.  Please note, this 
is only available in a few places.

Hypothermia and drowning whilst nocked out by narcotics seems a much nicer 
way to go, _if_ it is legal in your neck of the woods.  It wasn't available 
when my husband was dying.

I don't think it is possible to voluntarily drown in a bathtub without first 
taking some form of knock-out drug, for the same reason it is impossible to 
die by holding your breath.  You may have a strong willpower, but it is 
fighting against several billions years of instinct to breath.  Guess what 
will win, particularly as you begin to lose consciousness.

Finally, I am glad that Thomas seems to be beating his tumour.  I am 
crossing my fingers that your luck will hold out.

Long life,

Marta

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