Omit the names
I understand the need to report about the number of fatal traffic accidents and why they occurred: We need to be aware of this. I am referring to the Jan. 7 article “2017 a deadly year on roads.”
But please be more sensitive and more aware of the people who read your paper. We are fortunate enough to live and work with people we know and care about, and the pain you undoubtedly caused already-grieving families by printing names and ages of our loved ones is unforgivable.
Wouldn’t an easy-to-read pie chart showing age, gender, etc., have been a more appropriate tool to get the message across? What is to be gained by listing names and ages of those we are still grieving for?
Robin Van Cleave
Kurtistown
Euthanasia not new
Death with dignity has been around for many decades. When you and your doctor both see you are dying or might suffer so much that you’d reasonably want to end your pain by ending your life, the doctor has long been able to give you a pain medication of the type and quality that allowed you to end your life painlessly and pleasantly.
For example, I have witnessed doctors explaining to patients that their pain medication should be taken 2 teaspoons at a time, and that a second 2-teaspoon dose can be taken if needed for extreme pain, but that the patient should be very careful never to take much more because 12 teaspoons worth within a six-hour period are guaranteed to end anyone’s life, and to do so in a very pleasant manner which they are unlikely to notice or object to if an overdose is taken.
They will simply feel intoxicated in a pleasant way, euphoric and at peace, and then slip into sleep, and after awhile their breathing would slow, and then stop.
I’ve been at the bedside of loved ones who have made this choice and there was no struggle within the body, no gasping for breath, “just getting high and floating away.”
The dignity of this traditional answer to this need for “chosen euthanasia” is that no formal legal choice has to be made, no lawyers hired or paid, no “government in your life” and no action by your doctor that is morally or legally objectionable or dangerous. All they did was provide you with a suitable pain medication for this. Not all of these medications are appropriate, as some will cause many people to vomit before they get a fully lethal dose, and that can leave them with brain damage, but still alive!
Good doctors and demanding patients have long ago found an answer to this problem. You don’t need the government’s permission or control. You just need a good doctor and the right prescription.
Carl Oguss
Hilo