NEW LAWS

A new law was passed, signed by President Obama, to make the credit card companies more responsible to their subscriber's and borrowers. The sad part of it all is that the need for new letters, documents, forms, etc is still present and likely to continue for a fairly long time. In fact, it is unlikely that there will be much relief to the consumer in less than a year.

Euthanasia has always provided man a problem. We are kinder to animals than to people. When it is clear that continued living will soon lead a long, painful route to death after the worst possible quality of life, we have had this route forced on everyone for religious beliefs that are far from universal among us.

Oregon, a progressive state in their handling of medical expenditure priorities and offering euthanasia with legal support. The state of Washington has now had their first assisted suicide.

"Buried in a housing law signed this week by President Barack Obama are protections that will help thousands of renters stay in their homes — at least for awhile — after their landlord has been foreclosed on.

The law allows tenants to remain in their foreclosed rentals through the end of their lease and then 90 days after that before being forced to vacate by the lender. Renters without leases will have 90 days, a significant improvement over what most received before: almost no notice at all."

National Parks will allow visitors to carry a concealed, loaded firearm. The law will take effect next February. It is a grave disappointment to those of us who feel that those with neither need for that kind of self-protection not opportunity to harm others is necessary.

DYING WITH DIGNITY

Not until I read this article in BBC News did I realize that assisted suicide was decriminalized in Switzerland. I learned about it on this video clip of a couple who chose Dignitas. As with all procedures not universally accepted, usually for religious reasons or those afraid of 'slippery slopes', not everyone is in favor. Unfortunately there are those who claim to being pro-life, who want to take control of the life of totally, mentally competent people who wish to no longer live their life of pain, no hope of getting any better and knowing they are in a terminal illness which will only get more debilitating and painful. While those same pro-lifers seem to give no care for the quality of life or pain level for the person inhabiting that body, they have found legal means of taking over decisions from the inhabitant of the body and make decisions prohibiting the owner giving life up for it.

Today, euthanasia is legal in the USA in Oregon and Washington State. It is also legal in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Albania and more recently, Switzerland. It is rumored that kindly physicians may occasionally help the last few hours speed up for near-death patients but nothing has been documented for obvious legal reasons. We all know what happened to Dr. Kevorkian for his humanitarian attempts.

It would seem that religion is the greatest impetus in keeping the laws from legalizing euthanasia. One wonders, in a presumably secular society (which we have thought our government to be.... should wish to be free of religion interfering with laws)why we have remained so backward in rendering a humanitarian service when requested and, more pressingly, begged for by some desperate individuals. Those who have tried to fight for the right to die through courts have usually suffered until their death in the manner they were fighting to avoid; their natural, painful death.

Perhaps the United States has too long allowed itself to be governed by religious zealots rather than people who truly have compassion for human suffering and the desire to control their own bodies. In our rush to allow freedom of religion, many of us have lost our own freedom to someone else's religion.

FOR THOSE OF US WHO WOULD LIKE TO DIE WITH DIGNITY WHEN WE FEEL READY

Jane Brody wrote on 3/18 in the NY Times:

"My Feb. 5 column, “A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit,” prompted a deluge of information and requests for information on how people too sick to reap meaningful pleasure from life might be able to control their death.

Many seeking such control are take-charge people who consider quality of life more important than quantity. They do not want their hard-earned money squandered on costly, yet hopeless, treatments. They do not want to keep their bodies alive when their minds have died. They do not want to die under circumstances they consider inhumane, hooked up to all sorts of medical apparatus, unable to control bodily functions or to communicate with loved ones." Click here for the rest of the article.

CNN wrote today on a man's desperate solution in Australia. Tony Wilson wrote about an 81 year old who built his own robot to shoot him. It worked. The article did not include instructions. A French woman, pleading to be euthanized, was told by the courts how sympathetic they were to her situation but the law did not permit assisted suicide. She died, a mother of three, at age 52 after her facial tumor left her blind, disfigured and suffering intense pain.

Indeed, there are many depressed people who would commit suicide who, when properly medicated and brought into proper chemical balance, find new joys in living. However, that is definitely not true for terminally ill people when the doctors know of no cure and the patient is agonizing in pain with no quality of life. When will society learn we need to hear people who have no hope and are asking, in their helplessness, for kindness from their fellow human beings. They should not have to suffer while people voice compassion but take no action to offer it.