dagblog - Comments for "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness includes the right to die.Living wills should include a "pull the plug" clause, beyond simply "Do Not Resuscitate"."

One's mind is drawn

jollyroger — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:23:05 +0000

One's mind is drawn ineluctably to.Quentin Tarantino.slamming a syringe of Naloxone into into Thurman's chest.

Actually most of the time

rmrd0000 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:35:30 +0000

In reply to Parenthetically, the margin

Actually most of the time suppression of breathing is the major problem. If you support respiration with an oxygen mask or ventilator the respirator suppression can be reversed with an injectable antagonist that corrects the problem. If the lack of oxygen because of slowed breathing has effected the brain or other organs, then you may have a real problem.

Or, maybe the receptor

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:02:57 +0000

In reply to To be fair, as categories go,

Or, maybe the receptor surplus is the result of the 400+ acid trips...hard to say.

To be fair, as categories go,

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:49:19 +0000

In reply to Not so much about the pain-it

To be fair, as categories go, I like uppers, not downers. It's probably related to my serotonin receptor surplus (150% of normal per P.E.T. scan) Don't like smoking opium either.

Not so much about the pain-it

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:40:52 +0000

In reply to Really? I will never forget

Not so much about the pain-it didn't get me high (and let's just stipulate that I know a thing or two about the topic..) Now one time I had a root canal level toothache but couldn't get it done for a few days, and I found that a cocktail of romilar, hash and acid did the trick. Still felt some residual pain, but in someone else's body PLUS I was seriously high.

Really? I will never forget

artappraiser — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:57:06 +0000

In reply to o/t I got several shots of

Really? I will never forget the only time. In college, had such severe intestinal pain continually increasing in intensity through like 18 hours, screaming pain, getting louder every minute. I really would have done anything to have it stop, including die. At the ER, the doc gave me one shot of morphine, he could see that I needed it and couldn't even examine me without it, and the pain went vamoose--like within 5 minutes.. magic! There was nothing so heavenly as to be free of that pain and to drift off soooo relaxed, no high can compare, before or since, nothing can compare. Free of the pain at last! (Don't remember if they gave anything else, never really needed a diagnosis, don't remember if I got one, because I slept a day and it never came back, was probably food poisoning or an object I swallowed with food or a stone or something?)

o/t I got several shots of

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:26:53 +0000

In reply to Parenthetically, the margin

o/t I got several shots of Morphine when I first came into the hospital and I don't get what the big whoop is.

Parenthetically, the margin

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:23:48 +0000

In reply to Physicians are trained to

Parenthetically, the margin between a "therapeutic " and fatal dose of heroin is dangerously narrow, perhaps indicating a future category of medical heroin to join medical marijuana. Less facetiously, I am informed that it is far better than morphine as an analgesic, plus it is a euphoriant.

Physicians are trained to

rmrd0000 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 02:12:40 +0000

In reply to One big part of the problem

Physicians are trained to preserve life. In an era when we are discussing people getting vouchers to cover health care that don't cover all the expenses, we have to be careful about encouraging physiatrist-assisted termination of life. The first responder physician should be ready to go full speed ahead to save a life.

Perhaps a subspecialty of Terminal Care/Euthanasia may arise from the current subspecialty of Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine. These physicians has a ready knowledge of the actions of anesthetics and pain medications and be more able of properly administering terminal pharmacology. The fact is that the body fights for life and done improperly medications to "put people to sleep " can lead to convulsions, release of body fluids,etc.

The development of a group of physicians trained to provide a necessary service. I would like to see the other M.D.s being obligated to make the referral. How the referral could be is obviously up to debate.Perhaps a set of criteria that ranks how likely a person receiving aggressive care is likely to have a good outcome. The downside of this approach is that it will rise the specter of "Death Panels".

Einstein's take

jollyroger — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 00:44:44 +0000

In reply to Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness includes the right to die.Living wills should include a "pull the plug" clause, beyond simply "Do Not Resuscitate".

Einstein's take (serendipitously brought to us by an Op-Ed in today's Times ): "As he lay dying of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1955, he refused surgery, saying: “It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.”