Monday, October 31, 2011
Physician Assisted Suicide
In the movie we watched on Tuesday, the thing that struck me the most was also mentioned in class after the movie and it was how Craig was not the type of person that I expected him to be before we watched the video. He did not seem depressed in any way. He seemed more of a realist than anything. Before the movie began, I expected for him to be an extreme pessimist and severely depressed to want to make a decision like he did. I think that, in part, was why he was a good candidate for the documentary. Another thing that shocked me was how no counseling or psychiatric evaluation was done on Craig before they went through with the procedure. To be honest, I think in his case it wouldn't have done any good because his disease was quickly progressing and making him endure it longer than he wanted goes against the whole point of the procedure in the first place. Overall, after watching this movie, I am not sure where I stand on the issue but I think I lean more toward it being legalized than before I watched the video. However, its something that will require great time reflecting on the different aspects such as religion and the Hippocratic oath before I could come up with a solid opinion one way or the other.
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I think you really made an interesting point when you mentioned that Craig was upbeat and joking and not somber and depressed. Before watching the documentary, I also expected him to be down and pessimistic. I would never have guessed that he would be so full of life and happy. It really shows how wrong you can be about something before you take the time to learn more about things. I strongly agree with you about counseling. I think they’re really missing by not having it. While in this particular case it wasn’t needed, in other situation it would be very useful when trying to decide what the best plan for yourself would be.
ReplyDeleteI raised this point in class, so I definitely can understand where you are coming from. I always assumed that someone who wanted to die was depressed and never realized this isn't necessarily the case. Ewert made me laugh so many times during the documentary with his silly antics and blunt realism. I saw him as a real person and not at all as a patient with a mental health disorder. I think the majority of people have the same mindset as we did when approaching the topic of physician-assisted suicide and it is very important that others see this film in order to realize differently.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It was very hard for me to watch the movie because Ewert seemed like a happy and stable person even to the end, making it very difficult to understand why he would have wanted to end his life. I do think that he made the best decision he could because of the progression of the disease and it showed the good in physician-assisted suicide. I also agree with you in that because of the movie I am more on the side of legalizing physician-assisted suicide than I was before.
ReplyDeleteI think that a primary problem with people who are activists against dignified death is that none of them have ever had a terminal illness. Prohibition is the province of those not affected by the problem. When they find themselves in constant agony, they'd probably change their minds, wouldn't they?
ReplyDelete@mwarling
ReplyDeleteI think some definitely would change their mind if they were in that situation. But some people with strict beliefs of pro-life may not.