The Right Thing

Living, thats easy. People will tell you its hard, but they really have no clue if thats their theory. No, living is easy, its LIFE thats the hard part. Creating it, nuturing it, sustaining it.

Think about it for a second.
Out of 9 planets in our solar system, only one has managed to produce and successfully sustain life. Only our planet, from the whole of the galaxy, is known to have intelligent life forms. Now lets focus on those life forms. Is life easy to create? Some would say yes, but lets take a closer look. Women only succeed in getting pregnancy 30% of the time, and about 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Of those that carry through, theres a 30% chance the baby will have deformations, or birth defects, or mental problems, many of which impede the ability for the child to live a successful normal life.

So understandably the human race has evolved to treasure life and do anything within its powers to preserve it. But some of us would have to agree that in recent years, our medical scientists and our doctors have taken this desire to preserve life too far. In this I refer to many examples of people who are comatose, or vegetative, have no quality of life, and would be better off simply being allowed to let go, yet doctors, and our laws, world wide, are keeping them in pain and misery. A key example of the cruelty of our medical system is this poor family, torn apart over their child and sibling, being kept alive against his wishes, simply because we as a culture fear death and hence refuse to allow him the final dignity, and his final wish www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25498807-421,00

Yet another example of the inhumanity of our society is the case of 13 year old USA boy, Daniel Hauser, who has declined chemotherapy treatment for leukemia, and is currently on the run from authorities in the USA because a court has ordered that he see a doctor and receive treatment. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25515726-401,00.html Despite displaying his wished of receiving natural remedic treatments, and claiming belief that chemotherapy would kill him, the courts remain adament that Daniel will be found, and will receive treatment. What happens if Daniel is to die before they find him? His mother, whom is aiding him stay out of sight in America, will most likely be imprisoned. Are we so wrapped up in the preservation of life as a society that we would send a dying boy on the run and make him live in exhile rather than accept his choice and allow it to him?Are we as a society willing to disregard personal decission in order to make life continue? edition.cnn.com/2009/US/05/19/minnesota.forced.chemo/index Now, if as this version of events is telling us, Mr Hauser really is severely lacking in awareness of his own situation, which, personally I find vastly problematic to believe, then it is understandable that there is considerable concern, and that the American Courts would want Mr Hauser to come back, and at least learn all the details about his condition. But it will continue to remain wrong that they have ordered him back for treatment, with no mention of simply allowing him to learn all he needs to know and making his own choice. In essence, the American Courts have taken this teenagers right to personal choice away from him.

On the note of lack of personal choice, lets also spare a thought for those people who are dying, or comatose, or vegetative, or any variation of those problems, and the fact that if they do not want to remain in the state they are in, they don't really have a choice at all. My husband and I had an extremely ill son, who we opted to bring home for his own sake, and ours, and also due to what we saw as his choice. James had no working pituitary gland, and hence no thyroid hormone to keep him awake and alert, and yet he managed to remove his central IV line from his body, then had to be sedated to prevent him doing this again. I feel greatful that we had the choice with our son to do for him what was right, but I know many parents whos children are worse off than our son was, who have no choice; they have to watch their children live out their lives, trapped in their own bodies, with no ability to help them at all. And if they do help them, as some have done and others will do, then they are charged for murder. So all in all, a no win situation.

I believe, along with many others who have all been in situations that have shown them the extent of disrepair our medical system is in, that our medical law system needs some urgent reviewing. Euthanasia laws need to be made. Doctors have to be able to realize when a patient is not going to get better, when the best thing for them is to put their life in their own hands, or if that is not possible, into those of their family. And most of all, regardless of whether the condition is treatable despite its severity, our governments and medical systems have to realize, that no matter what, the choice should ultimately be left in the hands of the person who's life they are treating. Because ultimately, personal choice should matter more in this world than maintaining life at all costs, even when there is no real life left, just a husk of a body, with a person trapped inside.