I am thinking about it in context that’s why I said it’s putting them in a really bad position. I’d really like to know the answers to those questions because the situation described in the post I responded to makes me real uncomfortable with the whole thing. There shouldn’t be a scenario where a doctor has to say “you have to finish it” when they’re assisting you with ending your life. The mental toll of that would be horrible.
Let’s look at it another way - what does a doctor do when a dying patient begs them for help? All they can do is make it as painless as possible, which is what the cocktail is for
To put it another way, this isn’t some ethical struggle, it’s advising a patient to properly take their medicine. It’s normal, they’ve probably done it thousands of times. People don’t like drinking medicine, and people in a lot of pain often act like children. They’ll resist taking it, lie, hide, or just whine, despite understanding it’s necessary
It’s basically reflexive healthcare providers to encourage patients to immediately power through - if you stop halfway and think about it, you can start gagging at the thought and make the whole experience worse
Plus, these people have already gone through a process and had people sign off, and you just asked them multiple times if they were sure. I don’t think it’s likely to change their mind after tasting it
But if they refuse to finish it, that’s that. The doctor can’t force them, giving medicine needs informed consent (outside of a few specific situations). If they revoke consent, all they can really do is try to talk you out of it
This situation doesn’t bother me much, but I’m a bit curious as to a couple others…
Let’s say they start drinking, but then immediately vomits. They’ve now taken an unknown dose, what then? Do you run to get a second batch? Is there one in the room?
If you want to read up on it, I’m guessing this is Canada. They’ll have FAQs for the public somewhere
To be clear I’m not saying the doctor is in the wrong here. I’m just criticizing the method. Having the patient drink it is putting them in a difficult position that I would think could be easily avoided with a different method that wasn’t dependent on the faculties of someone who is facing their imminent death.
I am thinking about it in context that’s why I said it’s putting them in a really bad position. I’d really like to know the answers to those questions because the situation described in the post I responded to makes me real uncomfortable with the whole thing. There shouldn’t be a scenario where a doctor has to say “you have to finish it” when they’re assisting you with ending your life. The mental toll of that would be horrible.
Let’s look at it another way - what does a doctor do when a dying patient begs them for help? All they can do is make it as painless as possible, which is what the cocktail is for
To put it another way, this isn’t some ethical struggle, it’s advising a patient to properly take their medicine. It’s normal, they’ve probably done it thousands of times. People don’t like drinking medicine, and people in a lot of pain often act like children. They’ll resist taking it, lie, hide, or just whine, despite understanding it’s necessary
It’s basically reflexive healthcare providers to encourage patients to immediately power through - if you stop halfway and think about it, you can start gagging at the thought and make the whole experience worse
Plus, these people have already gone through a process and had people sign off, and you just asked them multiple times if they were sure. I don’t think it’s likely to change their mind after tasting it
But if they refuse to finish it, that’s that. The doctor can’t force them, giving medicine needs informed consent (outside of a few specific situations). If they revoke consent, all they can really do is try to talk you out of it
This situation doesn’t bother me much, but I’m a bit curious as to a couple others…
Let’s say they start drinking, but then immediately vomits. They’ve now taken an unknown dose, what then? Do you run to get a second batch? Is there one in the room?
If you want to read up on it, I’m guessing this is Canada. They’ll have FAQs for the public somewhere
To be clear I’m not saying the doctor is in the wrong here. I’m just criticizing the method. Having the patient drink it is putting them in a difficult position that I would think could be easily avoided with a different method that wasn’t dependent on the faculties of someone who is facing their imminent death.