PM: Blindly prolonging life is not the solution
-
Ken Jones (Aberystwyth)
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001 and received radiotherapy treatment. Since then the cancer has returned more aggresively, and has been treated with cryosurgery, which may keep it at bay for another couple of years. Dying of prostate cancer has been described by a surgeon as one of the more sensationally awful ways to go.
Palliative care provision, even at best, will be far from a hundred percent effective in my case. And even to the extent it may be, I don't look forward to dragging out my end in a doped, constipated, morphine-induced haze. I have several friends who are hospice nurses or working in other capacities with people dying of cancer. All recall many harrowing incidents of patients pleading for a merciful release, and how their own attitudes to assisted dying have been changed by such experiences.
I have made my own arrangements for a graceful exit (and am pestered by many friends who want to know how to do likewise!). But the agonising dilemma is that when I'm still fit enough to leave of my own volition my disease will not have progressed so far that I yet feel ready to go. And when it has so progressed, I may not by then have the strength and resolution to take my life. I know of several others who anticipate being faced with this cruel quandry, and for whom the mere fact of voluntary assisted suicide legislation would bring a huge sense of relief and comfort, even though in the end they might never actually avail themselves of the new freedom. -
Lisa Cook - Huddersfield
My story
I am a 38-year old mother who in 1997 tested positive for the Huntington's Disease faulty gene.
Although I am symptom free at present, it is clinically certain that I will develop this incurable illness. I have grown up in a family where I have seen sufferers of HD endure a long and slow decline. They have gone from being busy, lively, active, entertaining, well loved people to twitching, bedridden, doubly incontinent, lonely, skeletal, incoherent shadows of their former selves. I live on a day-to-day basis with the knowledge that that is my future.
There is little I can do about my genes but I want to do something about the amount of suffering that my family and I will have to endure as a result of HD. I firmly believe that the degradation and indignity this condition imposes is a greater concern than death itself.
The law needs to be changed to allow me and the many others like me the chance to choose a dignified death. -
Peter Chesterfield (Brighton)
Peter's story
"I am Peter Chesterfield. I am 50 years old and for many years I had a successful acting career that was cut short by ME.
In March 2004 I experienced pains and in May I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I had two operations, the second involving major surgery. But on Monday 8 November my doctor gave me no more than three months to live. I am in great pain, and this increases daily, despite the fact I take significant amounts of pain relief. I do not want to die in pain, but despite my condition, the law prevents a doctor from helping me to die at my request.
When I first raised the subject of suicide with my medical team they referred me to a counsellor, who concluded that I was as sane as him, and sympathised with my wish to have a gentle death.
My current regime leaves me bed-bound for the majority of the time. The bladder cancer has now spread to my lungs and is blocking my kidneys. My cancer is terminal. My pain is great and constant. I am afraid of dying in pain, at an unknown time, and probably alone. Why does the British law impose such tragedy and injustice on human beings?
My doctors and surgeons cannot help me to die at my request. They could be charged with murder, even if it were clear they were acting at my request. Only with a law that allows a patient to have a choice and to express this within a properly safeguarded system will we allow true human justice and dignity. A terminally ill, mentally competent patient like me should not be forced to suffer. This is as morally unacceptable as murder."
Peter Chesterfield died of cancer on the 11th February 2005 -
Peter Jones (Warrington)
My name is Peter Jones, I am 53 years old and just over two years ago, after a year of tests, I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
My life has been spent out side working with my hands as a car mechanic then a milkman, finally moving indoors as a facilities manager.
Throughout my personal and working life I have evaluated my choices and then made the decisions I knew were right for me. The final decision I want to be able to make for myself is how and when I die but I am denied this by the current and outdated laws in this country.
Having choice is a critical factor in allowing me to live as long as possible and remain emotionally strong for my self and my family. In order to have the choice I am joining Dignitas. But this means I would have to go outside the UK to Switzerland to die in a strange land, in a strange flat, with the threat of prosecutions hanging over any family member who accompanies me. I would rather die at home in comfortable and familiar surroundings with family around me.
MND is taking me away from my family a little bit more each day, as the things I could do yesterday I can not do today. I can not change my MND - it will not go away, but the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill would at least help me to stay with my family as long as possible, and allow a man with a sound mind make a sound decision about how and when he finally leaves his family for good -
Reg Crew (Liverpool)
by Win Crew
My husband Reg suffered from Motor Neurone Disease. In January 2003, Reg, myself and my daughter Jan were forced to travel to Switzerland to seek an assisted death, because the alternative - to remain, and suffer, and die, in this country, would have been too horrendous.
My husband suffered terribly as a result of MND. Only weeks after the diagnosis he was unable to move his arms, depending on family and carers to feed him, wash him, dress him. This progressed to his legs, and in no time at all, he could neither feed himself nor go to the toilet, and he had to sleep and live in a chair. He was barely able to support his own head, and was told by doctors that he would soon have to be fed from a peg. He was given an informative video to watch, which outlined this process.
As each day passed, Reg found his life increasingly unbearable - a living hell. Palliative care did little for him. His dignity was stripped away, each time the disease closed down another part of his body, and so was his independence. Reg loved life, but not in the incapacitated shell of his former self. Motor Neurone Disease robbed him of his autonomy.
Although I am a Roman Catholic, like many others in my position, when Reg said he wanted medical assistance to die, to avoid a long and painful death, I felt this was the right thing to do. I agreed with him that the disease should not rob him of the ability to choose the manner of his inevitable death.
Because assisted dying is illegal in the UK we were forced to travel to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland for Reg to get his last wish. The journey to Switzerland was terrible for us all and it is unkind to force people in RegÂ’s position to travel overseas to get their last wish.
Reg always said he loved his country and wanted to die at home. He felt it was grossly unfair that he had been called up to do National Service and was prepared to die for his country but then wasnÂ’t allowed to choose the manner of his death.
For several months after my return, I had the threat of legal action hanging over me but what alternative was there?
Hundreds upon hundreds of people from all over the UK have written to me with letters of support to say how unjust the current law is and that it must be changed to give people like Reg the option of requesting a dignified death.
Please help Dignity in Dying change in the law so that other people do not have to make that same desperate journey to Switzerland. -
Roger Carr (Cambridge)
Alison's story
I was married to Alison for over 30 years. Many years before Alison was taken ill we had made a pact that if either one of us became terminally ill then we would want help to die. We both believed that there had to be quality of life.
Alison developed breast cancer and despite having a mastectomy and chemo therapy the cancer returned. Despite all the efforts of the doctors and nurses the cancer continued to spread. When it affected the spine her pain became so severe and no amount of pain control could alleviate her discomfort - at this time she was taking about 100 units of morphine a day.
She was fearful of being taken into hospital or a hospice and so my mother and I nursed her at home. It was a very happy time that we had together and it gave us time to say goodbye to each other properly. When Alison decided the time had come I sat with her whilst she took an overdose.
When I reported the manner of her death to the authorities I was arrested and locked up in a police cell (within 4 hours of Alison's death). My offence was that I had not stopped her from committing suicide. I was arrested, because the police had no other option but they were most apologetic because they could imagine themselves being in a similar situation. Fortunately I was only in custody for some 20 hours although I did remain on police bail for a further 8 months.
I did not care about the fact that I was facing a custodial sentence in prison of up to 14 years when all that mattered was that Alison's wishes had been granted.
Although I miss her terribly I have no regrets about what happened that day. -
Steve Barksby (Manchester)
Have you seen a friend or a member of your family die the kind of death you wouldn't yourself want? Because I have.
I have seen many of my friends die from AIDS. Some have endured loss of appetite, fatigue, forced feeding, suffocation, dementia, pipes and tubes in and out of every orifice, needing 24-hour care.
I have thought about this long and hard and have made the decision that if my health deteriorates and I feel I no longer have the quality of life I need, I want to be able to say goodbye properly to my friends and relatives and have the death of my choice.
I have been living with an AIDS diagnosis for 7 years now. I do not want to be made to suffer the indignities I have seen my friends endure. -
Vicki Wood (Devon)
When I attempted to help my beloved husband end his interminable suffering from Multiple Infarct Dementia and Parkinson's, I did so because I knew it was what he wanted. I was trying to carry out his wishes based on his prior strongly stated requests, also expressed in his Living Will. This was his choice and I helped only out of love and respect for him.
It is too late for Tim now - he suffered more than enough before he eventually died. But I beg the politicians and doctors to get to grips with the problem and discuss it fully and openly. And for ordinary people to speak out to change the law.
It is inhumane that the law prohibits people seeking help to die from a doctor, within proper safeguards. But for as long as these situations continue to happen, and intelligent people are not allowed personal choice over dying with dignity when there is no longer any hope of improvement or recovery, I do not believe this country can call itself civilised. -
Waltraud Coles (Durham)
Waltraud's story - dying in slow motion
My wife, Waltraud, died in February 2005 aged 54. The cause of her death was an infection which her body, weakened by the combination of 19 days starvation and very advanced secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, could not resist. Her actual death, in her sleep and at home, represented the kind of end we both believed anyone in her situation should have the right to choose. We had few grounds for hope.
Waltraud was a very courageous, well-informed, completely law-abiding person. She knew alsothat her illness would, step by step, destroy but not end the quality of her relatively young life. Her decision to starve was both considered and brave. She knew it was the only lawful option.
Whilst accepting her long illness and certainty of a premature death as part of life's lottery, Waltraud was furious that something entirely avoidable, namely the current law, forced her to endure the ordeal of what she called "dying in slow motion".
She was not suicidal, but saw a fatal overdose as an option to be seized whilst she could do this unassisted. She planned it but then lost the use of her hands by the time she was ready. It represented a darkest hour for us both.
Waltraud thought of every legitimate way of dying, and ensured her Living Will was effective in practice. We were indebted to Dignity in Dying (VES as it was) for intervening to make a care agency respect her living Will to prevent interference from others if she were choking. Waltraud found it empowering to harness her articulacy about her personal suffering and her outrage at her lack of choices about dying to successive VES campaigns.
Twelve days before she died Waltraud asked me to record what were literally her last words to anyone.
"Society is making me die in this abysmally cruel way. Society is anybody who cannot be bothered to lift one single finger to change this (current) inhumane law, and thus give completely helpless people like myself, in the very advanced phase of a degenerative illness, no other legal option (than starvation) when we want to end the unbearable daily ordeal which is all that is left of our 'life'."
Oliver Coles -
correction, it is the master of the academy of medicine not the chairman, the top person of the academy. don't think there is chariman, there is chairman for the committes, but the overall in charge is the master. it is the master I meant to mention above.Originally posted by qlqq9:May be he is speaking in his capacity as a Finance Minister? Notice he engages in money talks most of the time if not at all times.
Oh yes, now that you mentioned about that chairman of academy of medicine, ya, i know his existence - not a good person. I have unpleasant encounters with him. He is another heavy weight in the medical field. Involved in matters related to gahmen. so . . . . .. !?! -
if u notice whatever it is, most of the time in the contents of his speech $$$$ matters.Originally posted by Fingolfin_Noldor:If he is, he's doing, as usual, a bad job of putting forward his points.
Who the heck is his speech writer anyway? Or does he even have any? -
he talks as if doctors are blind, not taking necessary precaution and so on to treat patients. don't treat drs like idiots. Doctors know best when to and when not to. Who is he to talk about such matter? He has no medical background.Originally posted by Fingolfin_Noldor:I have a feeling our dear PM is going to force doctors to make a decision when the patient is deemed too ill to treat and ignore the concerns of the immediate family members.
This sounds more like forced euthanasia rather than euthanasia with choice.
It makes no sense for the PM to "advise" them to not prolong their life unless he is intending to resort to some measure to force them to comply.
Has he decided when to declare when one should die and one not?
And Crazy Monkey, those euthanasia cases in countries where it is authorised are decided upon by either patient or the immediate family, and if I am not wrong, the patient must consent to it.
When in future, if he is terminal ill, we shall say to him don't waste the hospital's time, $$$ and resources, please opt for blah blah blah to release him from pain on earth!
Let's just wait and see if he makes euthanasia a must for terminally ill patients, unless the patients opt out. -
erm.. when he is ill in future, his hospital bills are covered.. dun forget..Originally posted by qlqq9:he talks as if doctors are blind, not taking necessary precaution and so on to treat patients. don't treat drs like idiots. Doctors know best when to and when not to. Who is he to talk about such matter? He has no medical background.
When in future, if he is terminal ill, we shall say to him don't waste the hospital's time, $$$ and resources, please opt for blah blah blah to release him from pain on earth!
Let's just wait and see if he makes euthanasia a must for terminally ill patients, unless the patients opt out.
-
I mean if - if in future he instructed hospitals to make it such euthanasia is a must for terminally ill patients unless patients opt out, like what they do to the organs of the dead currently, then we shall say to him happy euthaniasia to end his suffering.Originally posted by 4getmenot:erm.. when he is ill in future, his hospital bills are covered.. dun forget..
Of course, as PM he is covered for medically. -
No wonder our society has turn more and more heartless... Funny when we were constantly told we should contribute and help each other... That Singaporeans should be more caring when words like these are coming out from our leaders... Yup... 'Solving' of society problem by setting the 'norm'. Always easier said by the people on top than to be carried out by the people below... Because ultimately guess who would be the ones being stabbed...? Also, the reason why people are no longer willing to produce for the future of Singapore... If they can say something like this today... Who can guarantee they won't say those who are handicapped or not contributing to the society should be get rid of in the future....? Talk about human ethics... Pouring out and throwing people around like they're jsut statistics and numbers alone ain't gonna work... Each one of them are flesh and blood... And LIKELY CONTRIBUTED for what SINGAPORE IN TODAY....
And CrazyMonkey... Quit spamming the thread with your biased articles... I can find equal number of stories about how people are glad to have their dear ones around till the day they die if not more... This is not about quantity... This is about quality.... -
Originally posted by Devil1976:
ppl shd have a right to choose. one day if your love one is suffering terribly and wish to end it would you want to see them suffer ?
No wonder our society has turn more and more heartless... Funny when we were constantly told we should contribute and help each other... That Singaporeans should be more caring when words like these are coming out from our leaders... Yup... 'Solving' of society problem by setting the 'norm'. Always easier said by the people on top than to be carried out by the people below... Because ultimately guess who would be the ones being stabbed...? Also, the reason why people are no longer willing to produce for the future of Singapore... If they can say something like this today... Who can guarantee they won't say those who are handicapped or not contributing to the society should be get rid of in the future....? Talk about human ethics... Pouring out and throwing people around like they're jsut statistics and numbers alone ain't gonna work... Each one of them are flesh and blood... And LIKELY CONTRIBUTED for what SINGAPORE [b]IN TODAY....
And CrazyMonkey... Quit spamming the thread with your biased articles... I can find equal number of stories about how people are glad to have their dear ones around till the day they die if not more... This is not about quantity... This is about quality....[/b]
and its not spamming. its stories of individual who wants a choice. -
With the high costs of medical treatment in Singapore and the joke of a medical coverage, one wonder is it a choice of choosing to die, or not having the financial means to have treatment?
The biggest joke is that despite Singapore's aim to be a medical hub, it is actually behind countries like Thailand. Any visitors to Bangkok's private hospitals HAVE to admit they administer better treatments, better service, a better environment at less than half the price.No MRI on weekends, blame it on 'bad luck'
MY FATHER, Ang Teong Hui, was admitted recently to Changi General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mild stroke. However, his condition deteriorated and he fell into a coma on the same day.
The doctors did various tests on him and took scans of his brain where they eventually found the cause of his deteriorating condition.
However, the last scan - an MRI - was done a day after he was admitted, after the doctors felt that he might not pull through and needed the scan urgently.
When asked why the scan was not done earlier, the doctor replied that it was bad luck on my father's part as MRI scans were not done on weekends.
After my father was transferred out of the intensive-care unit to a normal ward, we asked one of the nurses why such a piece of state-of-the-art equipment was not used on weekends.
The nurse replied that it was unfair to recall the doctors just to do the scan because weekends were supposed to be their rest days.
Well, if it was unfair for the doctors to work on weekends, was it fair for my father to be denied treatment on a weekend, especially when the situation was so crucial?
My father died on Oct 8, aged 53, and there is nothing my family and I can do to bring him back. But I would like to make it known to Changi General Hospital and the relevant government departments that attitudes such as those mentioned above were incorrect.
Ang Yu Ying (Ms)
The Straits Times
Oct 29, 2004 -
All in all, euthanasia is up to the patient. But should we let the government decide whether we live or die?
-
Doctor prescribed unsuitable rash cream
I AM writing to highlight a very unpleasant experience I had with Thomson Paediatric Centre at Thomson Medical Centre.
On Feb 1, I brought my then four-month-old baby to see the pediatrician for a rash on his cheeks. The consultation with the doctor was over in about five minutes as he had to rush off elsewhere.
The doctor prescribed Elidel (pimecrolimus) cream 1% for the rash and told me to apply it twice daily on the affected area. Although this cream cost me $50, I did not mind as I thought it should be good for my son. But this was not the case.
Imagine my shock when I found out through the Internet that Elidel is not approved for use for children below two-years-old.
The possibility of carcinogenicity of Elidel aside, our Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration concur in the recommendation against the use of Elidel for children younger than two-years-old.
In addition, both authorities recommend that Elidel should be used only if other creams have not worked.
It was my baby's first visit to the doctor concerning the rash on his face. Yet he was given a cream that is not meant for babies of his age. The doctor also did not caution me on the use of the cream.
I e-mailed Thomson Medical Centre my complaint on Feb 11. To date, it has not responded.
I am disturbed by the lack of consideration in prescribing Elidel for babies against the HSA's recommendations and the medical centre's slow response in this matter.
Are there any measures to ensure that such strong medication is not prescribed carelessly? I hope the relevant authorities can look into this matter to protect other babies and parents who may be none the wiser about this.
Ruth Tan Yueh Herng (Ms)
The Straits Times
Feb 23, 2006 -
High prices for common drugs in HDB heartland
MY CHILD was sick, down with a bad cough, sore throat, runny nose and a slight fever on Feb 16. At 9pm, our family doctor had left so we went to another private clinic - 'Street 11 Clinic' at Block 139 Tampines Street 11.
After a brief consultation, she was given these medicines cough syrup (one bottle, 'Dhasedyl, 90ml'); a packet of 'Danzen' (20 tablets, 5mg) for the throat; 'Telfast D' (10 tablets) for runny nose and antibiotics 'Klacid MR' (five 500mg tablets for throat and nose).
I was astonished when I received the bill. These medicines cost me $80. I am puzzled at the high cost because I believe that my daughter's symptoms were fairly common and she was treated by a locum.
I feel the clinic had either overcharged and jacked up the price of common drugs, or did it give me unnecessarily expensive drugs for a common illness
I asked the receptionist for a breakdown of the cost of the various medicines. To my surprise, the staff informed me that the five antibiotic tablets alone cost $37.
I believe Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had mentioned that affordable medicines be provided for patients at reasonable prices. Yet the clinic in our heartlands is charging drugs such as 'Klacid MR' at an exorbitant price. This is a worrying problem which I hope can be addressed to benefit the masses.
Gan Siok Wah (Mdm)
The Straits Times
Feb 23, 2006 -
Sick child waited 1 1/2 hours to see A&E doc
ON THE day the letter, 'Three-hour wait at KK's A&E Department' (ST, March 7), was published, my son too came down with vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.
He experienced excessive thirst but would throw up shortly after drinking water. As he was showing signs of dehydration, my wife and I decided to take him to a hospital after midnight.
Unfortunately, having missed reading the papers that day, we took him to KK Hospital in the belief that we could get immediate help at the 24-hour children's emergency ward. How wrong we were.
Despite being put on the 'priority' list, it was only 1 1/2 hours later that we finally saw the doctor. The check-up was simple and was over in 15 minutes.
We decided to admit him for observation, and for him to get some rest. Then came more drama. The admission process took some 40 minutes. I was asked to sign in some 10 different places, and the staff (whose English was hardly comprehensible) was going back and forth photocopying forms.
Apparently, we could not send our son up to the room before all the forms were completed. It was close to 4am before he got to his bed. My wife fell sick the next morning.
It seems hospitals here take more care of paperwork and payments than of the sick. The fact is that there will always be many cases which, although not life-and-death situations, cannot exactly wait until the next day. What should we do in such cases?
I would also like to know if the Ministry of Health could publish statistics on waiting times in A&E wards. Also, whether there are any guidelines governing this.
Agus Tirtoredjo
The Straits Times
March 23, 2006 -
This country is going to the dogs, with this inept and calculating bunch of monkeys running the show.
-
Originally posted by bigmouthjoe:High prices for common drugs in HDB heartland
MY CHILD was sick, down with a bad cough, sore throat, runny nose and a slight fever on Feb 16. At 9pm, our family doctor had left so we went to another private clinic - 'Street 11 Clinic' at Block 139 Tampines Street 11.
After a brief consultation, she was given these medicines cough syrup (one bottle, 'Dhasedyl, 90ml'); a packet of 'Danzen' (20 tablets, 5mg) for the throat; 'Telfast D' (10 tablets) for runny nose and antibiotics 'Klacid MR' (five 500mg tablets for throat and nose).
I was astonished when I received the bill. These medicines cost me $80. I am puzzled at the high cost because I believe that my daughter's symptoms were fairly common and she was treated by a locum.
I feel the clinic had either overcharged and jacked up the price of common drugs, or did it give me unnecessarily expensive drugs for a common illness
I asked the receptionist for a breakdown of the cost of the various medicines. To my surprise, the staff informed me that the five antibiotic tablets alone cost $37.
I believe Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had mentioned that affordable medicines be provided for patients at reasonable prices. Yet the clinic in our heartlands is charging drugs such as 'Klacid MR' at an exorbitant price. This is a worrying problem which I hope can be addressed to benefit the masses.
Gan Siok Wah (Mdm)
The Straits Times
Feb 23, 2006 -
Originally posted by bigmouthjoe:High prices for common drugs in HDB heartland
MY CHILD was sick, down with a bad cough, sore throat, runny nose and a slight fever on Feb 16. At 9pm, our family doctor had left so we went to another private clinic - 'Street 11 Clinic' at Block 139 Tampines Street 11.
After a brief consultation, she was given these medicines cough syrup (one bottle, 'Dhasedyl, 90ml'); a packet of 'Danzen' (20 tablets, 5mg) for the throat; 'Telfast D' (10 tablets) for runny nose and antibiotics 'Klacid MR' (five 500mg tablets for throat and nose).
I was astonished when I received the bill. These medicines cost me $80. I am puzzled at the high cost because I believe that my daughter's symptoms were fairly common and she was treated by a locum.
I feel the clinic had either overcharged and jacked up the price of common drugs, or did it give me unnecessarily expensive drugs for a common illness
I asked the receptionist for a breakdown of the cost of the various medicines. To my surprise, the staff informed me that the five antibiotic tablets alone cost $37.
I believe Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had mentioned that affordable medicines be provided for patients at reasonable prices. Yet the clinic in our heartlands is charging drugs such as 'Klacid MR' at an exorbitant price. This is a worrying problem which I hope can be addressed to benefit the masses.
Gan Siok Wah (Mdm)
The Straits Times
Feb 23, 2006 -
its a private clinic. let market forces decide. doctor can charge $100 if he wants to. he probably put himself out of business.