euthanasia

In keeping with current solemnity here at the Hairy Chasms, I'm posting part of an email I received from my e-friend Julie. You may not know this, but Julie (check out her blog!) is a medical professional. She writes:

Now, to euthanasia: damn, i dunno.

Sometimes in my world there are people who get resuscitated who should never have had their sternums compressed, but once you start, it's not legal to stop. So we have a shell, alive, but not living. I think the person should have the choice. Stay or go, as you wish, darling, and here, let me just nudge that plug wire under your chin or into your teeth so you can decide to pull it or not, because I can't pull it for you, but i understand your right and need to do with your life as you see fit.

I guess. i've had a septic, brain injured five year old die in my arms because her foster mother pulled her tube without permission, and the reinsertion she did with her finger caused my Alice to die two days later. Alice had been in a persistent vegetative state since she was four months old and someone - daddy, grandma? - threw her against a wall. I loved that child like she was my own, and two deaths later I quit pediatric hospice for psych, where if someone dies they probably wanted to.

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