[Acrylic-bob]

An opinion from another side of the debate. I found this in the blog of a medical student.

"I work in a place where the mortality rate is extremely high. It gets hard, especially when the time comes to tell the fmailies of the passing of their loved ones, but by far the worst moment was, when, i ndesperation, a mother asked my consultant and I who were studying her son's case notes to relieve his sufferring. It came as a shock at first, but for something I've always thought would be a straightaway 'no', I found it very hard to deny her anything in that state. Her only son was dying of a disease which I am bound by oath not to divulge. He was in great pain, contrary to popular belief, pain is very dectable to the naked and even untrained eye. To see a mother have to watch her son die, its heartbreaking, and its very hard to say no.

For that simple reason, I am not against euthanasia. I may have left out the religious aspect of it, but only because I believe the practice of medicine should be as independent of religion as possible, to the patients concern. I am a Roman Catholic by birth, and I believe in one God, but if a patient does not, it is not the duty of the doctor to force it upon him/her as a choice of whether to continue sufferring or not. True, it is similar to playing God, and I would not do it if given the chance, my point is that euthanasia, for all the media portrays it to be, is more often than not, an act of extreme mercy rather than a murderous one.

In all its belittling of the medical profession when we go wrong, the media conveniently forgets that doctors are human, with the enhanced ability to empathize with patients, so much so that most would give up their family time, sleep and other activites to help save the lives of strangers they are morally bound to help. We are not gods, we're not perfect, and we cannot always make the right decisions. Performing euthanasia may be socially frowned upon, but many like to forget the fact that the doctor is in a very difficult situation when approached. The guilt of performing an act is always there, and it doesn't matter how good you are, you make on wrong move, and a life is either gone, or another person has to live with the consequences of your actions for the rest of his/her life. Its not easy to make decisions, and the ones on euthanasia are right up there with the most difficult ones.

My response to the mother?

"We can never give up hope."

No one who has not experienced the situation will ever know how insincere and empty that answer sounds."