Of the people I asked about their perspectives on birth, everyone said that they did not want to think about having children for a long time. The two girls and three guys said they wanted to wait until they were in their thirties and the third guy said he wanted to wait until he was in his forties. The reasons for waiting ranged from wanting to have a good career to feeling like they need to have a lot of experience to be able to be good parents. They also said they would need to be making a good income because children cost a lot of money. They have seen what they cost their parents. One girl said she would not even want to have children unless she met someone she thought would be a great father. She also said she had read that early marriages especially with children usually end in divorce.
Regarding the stage of pregnancy the girls said they would not look forward to getting huge and being scared about the pain of childbirth. One girl said she thought that today when most women want to have a career and would also need to work for the family to have enough money having a baby is a huge decision and that it is a much bigger decision for a woman than for a man. The guys did not have much to say about the stage of pregnancy. One said he was glad he was male and did not have to worry about getting pregnant. A girl who heard him say this said, “I hope you are the subject of an experiment gone rogue and that you will be the first man to get pregnant. You won’t realize that you are pregnant until it is too late to have an abortion and you will be having triplets.”
Regarding avoiding getting pregnant, they all believed in being careful about birth control if they were in a serious relationship. Not one of them is in a serious relationship. They are also not against abortion. I asked if they thought it is more important for a baby to be wanted than to be born to a woman who was not ready to be a mother. They all thought it was important for a baby to be wanted. One girl said her parents are Catholic and that her mother is not against abortion even though her grandmother (her mother’s mother) is. No one thought that Roe vs. Wade should be reversed so that abortions would be illegal because women would continue to have them anyway. One of the girls knew that when abortions were illegal, there were dangerous abortions performed and some girlds died. One of the guys said that he didn’t think that men should be against abortion since they were not the ones who had to go through pregnancy and having a baby change their lives. When I said that having a baby should change the father’s life too, he said “Oh yeah. Guys our age and even five years older aren’t ready to be thinking about being dads." Obviously this makes birth control/abstinence highly important.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
HW # 34 - Some Initial Thoughts On Birth
In the article “Mothers-to-Be Are Getting the Message” about how a text messaging program called text4baby can help educate pregnant women and new mothers
on taking care of their babies, the reason it says a program like this is needed is that “the United States ranks 30th in the world in infant mortality rates – between Poland and Slovakia.” It also says that “28,000 children born in the U.S. each year die before their first birthday – and many more face disabilities and serious life-long health problems, often because they are born prematurely or at low birth weights.” This probably sounds surprising to middle and upper middle class white people. Black people know all about it. My father’s sister who grew up in Detroit got pregnant in high school. The baby died. She didn’t tell anybody about it until she was six months pregnant. Then her mother took her to a doctor but that was a late time to start getting medical care.
I bet that most of the 28,000 babies who die in this country have poor mothers and a lot of them are minorities. This makes sense because if the mothers were white and middle class it would be some kind of emergency or embarrassment for America. The two reasons I can think of that causes all these deaths are the education system and the health care system. If girls have better education, they are not going to want to get pregnant in high school. If there is free health care the way there is in a lot of other countries the girls or women can have regular doctors. Poor people don’t have regular doctors. A lot just go to emergency wards of hospitals if they are really sick, hurt or dying. Having this text4baby health care advice for pregnant women and mothers sounds like a great idea but especially for poorer people who don’t have regular doctors and who don’t buy a lot of books to tell them what to do.
Questions I would like to explore in this unit:
How is the health care for pregnant women who are poor in countries with low infant mortality rates?
What is the health care like for babies once they are born in countries with low infant mortality rates?
A lot of black children have been raised by their grandmothers. I don’t know if this is still happening as much as it was when my dad was growing up. Is it? (My father’s sister is bringing up her grandchild because the father of the child who was her son is dead. The mother disappeared.)
Is a reason why male conservatives are so against abortion that they want to be able to control women?
What percentage of babies are born as a result of an unplanned pregnancy and how do their grades as they grow up compare with babies whose parents had the intention of having them?
on taking care of their babies, the reason it says a program like this is needed is that “the United States ranks 30th in the world in infant mortality rates – between Poland and Slovakia.” It also says that “28,000 children born in the U.S. each year die before their first birthday – and many more face disabilities and serious life-long health problems, often because they are born prematurely or at low birth weights.” This probably sounds surprising to middle and upper middle class white people. Black people know all about it. My father’s sister who grew up in Detroit got pregnant in high school. The baby died. She didn’t tell anybody about it until she was six months pregnant. Then her mother took her to a doctor but that was a late time to start getting medical care.
I bet that most of the 28,000 babies who die in this country have poor mothers and a lot of them are minorities. This makes sense because if the mothers were white and middle class it would be some kind of emergency or embarrassment for America. The two reasons I can think of that causes all these deaths are the education system and the health care system. If girls have better education, they are not going to want to get pregnant in high school. If there is free health care the way there is in a lot of other countries the girls or women can have regular doctors. Poor people don’t have regular doctors. A lot just go to emergency wards of hospitals if they are really sick, hurt or dying. Having this text4baby health care advice for pregnant women and mothers sounds like a great idea but especially for poorer people who don’t have regular doctors and who don’t buy a lot of books to tell them what to do.
Questions I would like to explore in this unit:
How is the health care for pregnant women who are poor in countries with low infant mortality rates?
What is the health care like for babies once they are born in countries with low infant mortality rates?
A lot of black children have been raised by their grandmothers. I don’t know if this is still happening as much as it was when my dad was growing up. Is it? (My father’s sister is bringing up her grandchild because the father of the child who was her son is dead. The mother disappeared.)
Is a reason why male conservatives are so against abortion that they want to be able to control women?
What percentage of babies are born as a result of an unplanned pregnancy and how do their grades as they grow up compare with babies whose parents had the intention of having them?
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Extra Credit for Semester Assignment
This weekend my brother’s girlfriend arranged for me to visit her best friend’s father, who has lung cancer. It wasn’t as weird as an arrangement as it sounds because I have met this man several times. His wife and daughter had to go to a wedding, and he did not feel up to going. I was told I could be helpful heating some soup for his lunch both days and just keeping him company for an hour or two.
When I arrived at their apartment on the Lower East Side, I was a little nervous because I had seen him about two months ago, and he was walking around and acting normally. He was much thinner now, and he was breathing incredibly heavily. I would have been terrified if I had not been warned about his condition. There was a wheel chair, but he was sitting in a straight backed chair, because he said it sitting up straight helped him breathe more easily. His wife showed me how to heat the soup and give it to him with a straw because that made it easier for him. She said that on of their friends would be coming in two hours and said that it would be great if I could have a conversation with him about sports, which he loves, and what is going on in my life. I asked if he needed any medicine, but she said that had been taken care of and that I didn’t have to worry about him getting to the bathroom on his own or anything like that. Their daughter told me that the doctors had told him that he had about six months to live. He had been operated on for lung cancer a year ago and seemed cured. Sadly, it had come back. I expected him to be in worse shape I guess.
He asked for some water before I sat down so that he could speak more “fluidly” with me. I started by saying I was so sorry that he was having such a bad time. He told me that he had probably smoked one too many cigarettes in his twenties, thirties, and forties, and that he was probably lucky to have made it to the age of 70. He has a great sense of humor which made my visits a thousand percent easier. I asked if he had seen the Jets game. He said he hadn’t because it would hurt too much to watch “that cheat” Bill Belichick win another game versus the Jets. That’s when I knew I had found a friend. I responded that I felt the same way about game 7 of the NBA finals between the Lakers and the Celtics. I knew that if I watched, I would jinx the Lakers and the Celtics would come out on top. I then talked about how the approximately 10 NY Knicks games I’ve been to in my entire life have all been victories. It would only make sense to give me season tickets. He agreed. It was very interesting how he could keep up a conversation for hours about current players when most elderly people I have met seem frozen in the land of Magic and Bird in the 80s as well as Jordan and Pippen in the 90s.
I had another visit with him today, and we began with sports again. He asked me about my soccer, and we started talking about the U.S. looking a lot stronger in the last World Cup. Then he told me that his daughter had mentioned my Illness & Dying Unit at school, and he wondered if he could tell me anything that might be helpful. I must have looked uncomfortable because he said, “Hey, one day you could be in my place. Do you smoke?” I said that my coaches would have kill me if I did. Then he said that it was helpful to him to be helpful to me. The terrible thing about being sick is that you feel you can’t be useful. I told him a little about the class and what we had learned about negative practices in this country concerning death and dying. He said that health care was a racket because of the greed of the insurance and drug companies and that he would never want to be on life support. I asked if he had a Living Will. He said he got one when he was first diagnosed with lung cancer. He also has an organ donation card figuring that some of his organs, especially his eyes, could help someone else. He thinks everyone should have a Living Will and made his wife and daughter get one. Then he had a coughing fit, and I went to get some water and a straw. I asked if he should take a rest from talking, and he asked if I would like to read some sports news to him. I read an article from the news paper and then I went to online to ESPN. His wife returned in time for me to get to soccer training, and they both thanked me profusely. I said that I should be thanking them. I had had a really nice time, and I meant it.
When I arrived at their apartment on the Lower East Side, I was a little nervous because I had seen him about two months ago, and he was walking around and acting normally. He was much thinner now, and he was breathing incredibly heavily. I would have been terrified if I had not been warned about his condition. There was a wheel chair, but he was sitting in a straight backed chair, because he said it sitting up straight helped him breathe more easily. His wife showed me how to heat the soup and give it to him with a straw because that made it easier for him. She said that on of their friends would be coming in two hours and said that it would be great if I could have a conversation with him about sports, which he loves, and what is going on in my life. I asked if he needed any medicine, but she said that had been taken care of and that I didn’t have to worry about him getting to the bathroom on his own or anything like that. Their daughter told me that the doctors had told him that he had about six months to live. He had been operated on for lung cancer a year ago and seemed cured. Sadly, it had come back. I expected him to be in worse shape I guess.
He asked for some water before I sat down so that he could speak more “fluidly” with me. I started by saying I was so sorry that he was having such a bad time. He told me that he had probably smoked one too many cigarettes in his twenties, thirties, and forties, and that he was probably lucky to have made it to the age of 70. He has a great sense of humor which made my visits a thousand percent easier. I asked if he had seen the Jets game. He said he hadn’t because it would hurt too much to watch “that cheat” Bill Belichick win another game versus the Jets. That’s when I knew I had found a friend. I responded that I felt the same way about game 7 of the NBA finals between the Lakers and the Celtics. I knew that if I watched, I would jinx the Lakers and the Celtics would come out on top. I then talked about how the approximately 10 NY Knicks games I’ve been to in my entire life have all been victories. It would only make sense to give me season tickets. He agreed. It was very interesting how he could keep up a conversation for hours about current players when most elderly people I have met seem frozen in the land of Magic and Bird in the 80s as well as Jordan and Pippen in the 90s.
I had another visit with him today, and we began with sports again. He asked me about my soccer, and we started talking about the U.S. looking a lot stronger in the last World Cup. Then he told me that his daughter had mentioned my Illness & Dying Unit at school, and he wondered if he could tell me anything that might be helpful. I must have looked uncomfortable because he said, “Hey, one day you could be in my place. Do you smoke?” I said that my coaches would have kill me if I did. Then he said that it was helpful to him to be helpful to me. The terrible thing about being sick is that you feel you can’t be useful. I told him a little about the class and what we had learned about negative practices in this country concerning death and dying. He said that health care was a racket because of the greed of the insurance and drug companies and that he would never want to be on life support. I asked if he had a Living Will. He said he got one when he was first diagnosed with lung cancer. He also has an organ donation card figuring that some of his organs, especially his eyes, could help someone else. He thinks everyone should have a Living Will and made his wife and daughter get one. Then he had a coughing fit, and I went to get some water and a straw. I asked if he should take a rest from talking, and he asked if I would like to read some sports news to him. I read an article from the news paper and then I went to online to ESPN. His wife returned in time for me to get to soccer training, and they both thanked me profusely. I said that I should be thanking them. I had had a really nice time, and I meant it.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
HW # 33 - Comments from T/W teams
For Ben
Your summary of the worst aspects of health care in this country is just right. It seems that that it all comes down to the fact that many Americans are so selfish that they don't want their taxes to go towards helping everyone get better care. Just as you say we should spend money on prevention. For example, spending money on getting people to eat better and get more exercise obviously makes much more sense than huge expenditures on terminally ill patients. The corrupt health care system that is in place in America must be replaced with a system that mirrors that of Canada, France, and England(as you say). I liked the way you presented you findings in a clear & concise manner that made your argument strong. Good job.
For Natalie
I think you've summarized the problem areas concerning death and dying in our culture. You are definitely right that socialized medicine is a hard sell in this country, especially when the Republicans are the majority in the House of Representitives. I still hope we come around to having the government pay for health care instead of having it be a means of insurance and drug companies making huge profits. Your other big point about ideally having people feel that they have had fufilled lives so that when they reach the age of 75 or so, they are more accepting of death and their time to go. Staying alive on life support with no quality of life whatsoever is so depressing and such a waste. People should go home to die. Most of us wouldn't put a dying dog on life support. We would just make it as comfortable as possible. I hope everyone will hold me to this belief when my time comes.
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From Ben
"The way that dominant social practices around illness and dying connect with dominant social practices around dying has to do with making money." This quote from your post does a great job of summing up the American health care system. Although in places like England, the incentives are actually a bit more noble as far as care distribution goes, it is the perfect way to describe health care in America. Nixon said himself that making sure patients get less care is a good thing if it means more profit is getting reeled in. I also liked the way you connected the illness and dying unit to the food unit that we are doing now Good job!
From Natalie
I liked how in your last paragraph you talked about how people should be reacting. I think the big question is, why aren't they? I think though that in America you might come across more people focused on funding the army than their own insurance, because they will take their health for granted. The American mindset at the moment seems to be set more on protecting our "great" country instead of improving it. I wonder if it would be possible to convince the majority otherwise.
From Mom
I think this post captures the main points about what is wrong with health care in this country. You make the case well about its flawed focus on giving the most expensive care to the terminally ill as opposed to investing in prevention measures not only to keep people from getting sick but also to make them have more productive lives. You are obviously referring to your brother’s work in Harlem and Northern Manhattan to try to help reduce epidemic levels of childhood obesity and asthma. The fact that so many poor kids are eating badly and getting almost no exercise shows what an unfair and backwards thinking health care system we have. They are developing health problems that can last their whole lives. I think you should have added that obesity will affect the quality of their lives by making it less likely that they can participate in sports and other activities and more likely that they will be sick more often and require more expensive treatment as they get older.
From Demetri
The part of your post that made the biggest impression on me were the obesity statistics for poor kids in Manhattan. Being obease when your kid marks you for your whole life. I think you are right that it is crazy not to want to spend money to make these kids healthier instead of spending monet on ternminally ill people especiallly old ones.
Your summary of the worst aspects of health care in this country is just right. It seems that that it all comes down to the fact that many Americans are so selfish that they don't want their taxes to go towards helping everyone get better care. Just as you say we should spend money on prevention. For example, spending money on getting people to eat better and get more exercise obviously makes much more sense than huge expenditures on terminally ill patients. The corrupt health care system that is in place in America must be replaced with a system that mirrors that of Canada, France, and England(as you say). I liked the way you presented you findings in a clear & concise manner that made your argument strong. Good job.
For Natalie
I think you've summarized the problem areas concerning death and dying in our culture. You are definitely right that socialized medicine is a hard sell in this country, especially when the Republicans are the majority in the House of Representitives. I still hope we come around to having the government pay for health care instead of having it be a means of insurance and drug companies making huge profits. Your other big point about ideally having people feel that they have had fufilled lives so that when they reach the age of 75 or so, they are more accepting of death and their time to go. Staying alive on life support with no quality of life whatsoever is so depressing and such a waste. People should go home to die. Most of us wouldn't put a dying dog on life support. We would just make it as comfortable as possible. I hope everyone will hold me to this belief when my time comes.
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From Ben
"The way that dominant social practices around illness and dying connect with dominant social practices around dying has to do with making money." This quote from your post does a great job of summing up the American health care system. Although in places like England, the incentives are actually a bit more noble as far as care distribution goes, it is the perfect way to describe health care in America. Nixon said himself that making sure patients get less care is a good thing if it means more profit is getting reeled in. I also liked the way you connected the illness and dying unit to the food unit that we are doing now Good job!
From Natalie
I liked how in your last paragraph you talked about how people should be reacting. I think the big question is, why aren't they? I think though that in America you might come across more people focused on funding the army than their own insurance, because they will take their health for granted. The American mindset at the moment seems to be set more on protecting our "great" country instead of improving it. I wonder if it would be possible to convince the majority otherwise.
From Mom
I think this post captures the main points about what is wrong with health care in this country. You make the case well about its flawed focus on giving the most expensive care to the terminally ill as opposed to investing in prevention measures not only to keep people from getting sick but also to make them have more productive lives. You are obviously referring to your brother’s work in Harlem and Northern Manhattan to try to help reduce epidemic levels of childhood obesity and asthma. The fact that so many poor kids are eating badly and getting almost no exercise shows what an unfair and backwards thinking health care system we have. They are developing health problems that can last their whole lives. I think you should have added that obesity will affect the quality of their lives by making it less likely that they can participate in sports and other activities and more likely that they will be sick more often and require more expensive treatment as they get older.
From Demetri
The part of your post that made the biggest impression on me were the obesity statistics for poor kids in Manhattan. Being obease when your kid marks you for your whole life. I think you are right that it is crazy not to want to spend money to make these kids healthier instead of spending monet on ternminally ill people especiallly old ones.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
HW # 32 - Thoughts following illness & dying unit
The way that dominant social practices around illness and dying connect with dominant social practices around dying has to do with making money. Insurance companies and drug companies and many doctors earn billions with the system the U.S. has now. Many people would not have any health insurance without the Obama plan, which Republicans are busy trying to take away. Many people are spending more than they can afford on insurance and cannot afford to go to the dentist because most health plans don’t have dental coverage. Too may people have to go to the hospital’s emergency room, where the cost of care is hugely expensive. They go there because they don’t have a regular doctor. If they had one, they could get all their shots and have preventive care and they wouldn’t need to go to emergency room except in an emergency, which is the whole idea of having them. Regarding elderly people and dying people, we have learned that too many are kept on expensive life support systems instead of being allowed to die earlier but with a better quality of life at home or in a hospice instead of being drugged up and attached to tubes. Timothy Egan says in “The Way We Die Now” that “1 percent of the population accounts for 35 percent of health card spending.” Health care should not be a business that gives care to a few and not to everybody. It should also not make companies and some doctors so rich. If it’s a for profit system, then it won’t be fair because the cost will be too high for most people.
In the same way that poorer people can’t afford good health care, they also can’t afford good food. In inner cities there are hardly any stores with fresh produce and what there is expensive. Healthy food in general is expensive. Junk food is all that is affordable. We learned about the big industrial food companies that put high fructose corn syrup in most processed foods now even though it is a cause of obesity and diabetes. The corn syrup is government subsidized. If the government is going to subsidize something, it should be something good like health care and green markets in poor neighborhoods. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three people in the U.S. will have diabetes by the year 2050 if the food situation stays the way it is. Also in Harlem and Northern Manhattan more than 40% of children are obese or overweight and have asthma which is related to obesity. 27% of pre-school children there are obese. These children also don’t get good health care (New York City Department of Health http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/dpho/dpho-harlem-obesity.pdf )
People should not mind paying taxes to help everyone have good health care. They should be angry at insurance companies and drug companies that are only interested in charging as much as they can. People should not want their taxes to subsidize corn syrup so that huge food companies can get richer. If we think taxes should go for the military to have national security and a safer society, why wouldn’t we want taxes to support health care to make a healthier society.? Even for people who are 100% selfish, shouldn’t they think it would be better to live in a more productive society instead of one where people are diseased and unable to contribute to it?
In the same way that poorer people can’t afford good health care, they also can’t afford good food. In inner cities there are hardly any stores with fresh produce and what there is expensive. Healthy food in general is expensive. Junk food is all that is affordable. We learned about the big industrial food companies that put high fructose corn syrup in most processed foods now even though it is a cause of obesity and diabetes. The corn syrup is government subsidized. If the government is going to subsidize something, it should be something good like health care and green markets in poor neighborhoods. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three people in the U.S. will have diabetes by the year 2050 if the food situation stays the way it is. Also in Harlem and Northern Manhattan more than 40% of children are obese or overweight and have asthma which is related to obesity. 27% of pre-school children there are obese. These children also don’t get good health care (New York City Department of Health http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/dpho/dpho-harlem-obesity.pdf )
People should not mind paying taxes to help everyone have good health care. They should be angry at insurance companies and drug companies that are only interested in charging as much as they can. People should not want their taxes to subsidize corn syrup so that huge food companies can get richer. If we think taxes should go for the military to have national security and a safer society, why wouldn’t we want taxes to support health care to make a healthier society.? Even for people who are 100% selfish, shouldn’t they think it would be better to live in a more productive society instead of one where people are diseased and unable to contribute to it?
Friday, January 21, 2011
HW # 31 - Comments 3
For Ben
I think the point you make in your post that there is no such thing as a perfect health care system is a good one. It is important because as you say at the end a system that covers all the people has to be better than America’s system “where approximately 50 million people are not covered by health insurance at all.” It’s also really important because the people in this country who want to shoot down Obama’s health care program always focus on the flaws instead of on the main point which is that it is unjust that certain people can get health care and certain people can’t. Your American friend’s reaction that in England care is better than ours is the reaction I think everyone has who goes there from this country and needs a doctor. Mainly the opponents to Obama’s program just don’t want to have to pay taxes that will help other people. In England and France people don’t feel that way. I read somewhere that they think of “we” and in America we think of “I.” It seems as though it would be dangerous to live in a country where so many people could get really sick and infect other people or make healthy people feel guilty for not helping them. Great job.
For Natalie
I really liked your comment on the sign you saw in the nursing home while you were waiting for the social worker to take you to the two patients. The sign was essentially saying not to be too optimistic or too pessimistic, and that “It is a time for hope.” You said you thought it was a time for acceptance: “For with acceptance they are able to live out the last of their days fully.” At first I thought that actually hope would be good. Hope to get better and out of there as fast as possible. Then I read that the first patient had been in for 13 years and the second for 8 years! Then I had to disagree with acceptance just speaking for myself. I was back to the idea of hope that death would come as quickly as possible. I think you showed courage going into the nursing home to interview two strangers and that you wrote up the interviews in a really interesting way. The first woman seemed to be happy there. I could see that being with people might be better than being stuck at home with one nurse if you couldn’t move around. The second woman was pretty happy too. She even had a job telling others about her religion. They were lucky they had family members to visit. Both stories mad me feel a little glad I am a male and less likely to live longer than a female, only in the sense of not wanting to be stuck in a nursing home for so many years. Excellent job.
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From Natalie
I thought this was really interesting. It's funny how the majority supports euthanasia for those in dire pain, but most states don't allow it. I like how you supported this claim with your own poll. "The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds." I think this is a really good conclusion to your findings. It seems to make sense. Nowadays I believe that people are more content with their lives, making them more ready to accept when their time comes.
From Ben
"The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds."
I think this is an extremely valuable insight, because it also brings up the idea that all human's desire eternal existence, and yet your studies indicate that most people would be willing to give that up just because they are in pain. My favorite part of your project is the amount of evidence you used and how thorough your analysis was. Great job!
From Mom
My husband and I do not have Living Wills and after reading your post about euthenasia in the sense of it meaning a "good death" in ancient Greek, I think we should. I was surprised that so many people living where your grandmother lives have one. That statistic of 72% of Americans being in favor of euthanasia for terminally ill people who want to end their lives was surprising considering how religious this country is. I suppose that most religions think that suicide is a sin and obviously murder (by the doctors giving the injections or the pills) is a sin. Choosing to end your life if it is too painful or too dependent on other people sounds like a reasonable and also unselfish thing to do. Being an organ donor is a generous thing to do, and I understand that many old people's organs can be life saving to younger people.
From Dmitry
I don't know if I knew what euthanasia was befor but I thought what you said was interesting. Even though I might be sad if someone like my aunt got drugs from a doctor to kill herself if she was really in pain and wanted to die I guesss I would understand. What you wrote made me think i would want to get drugs from a doctor if I was in pain and wouldn't get any better.
I think the point you make in your post that there is no such thing as a perfect health care system is a good one. It is important because as you say at the end a system that covers all the people has to be better than America’s system “where approximately 50 million people are not covered by health insurance at all.” It’s also really important because the people in this country who want to shoot down Obama’s health care program always focus on the flaws instead of on the main point which is that it is unjust that certain people can get health care and certain people can’t. Your American friend’s reaction that in England care is better than ours is the reaction I think everyone has who goes there from this country and needs a doctor. Mainly the opponents to Obama’s program just don’t want to have to pay taxes that will help other people. In England and France people don’t feel that way. I read somewhere that they think of “we” and in America we think of “I.” It seems as though it would be dangerous to live in a country where so many people could get really sick and infect other people or make healthy people feel guilty for not helping them. Great job.
For Natalie
I really liked your comment on the sign you saw in the nursing home while you were waiting for the social worker to take you to the two patients. The sign was essentially saying not to be too optimistic or too pessimistic, and that “It is a time for hope.” You said you thought it was a time for acceptance: “For with acceptance they are able to live out the last of their days fully.” At first I thought that actually hope would be good. Hope to get better and out of there as fast as possible. Then I read that the first patient had been in for 13 years and the second for 8 years! Then I had to disagree with acceptance just speaking for myself. I was back to the idea of hope that death would come as quickly as possible. I think you showed courage going into the nursing home to interview two strangers and that you wrote up the interviews in a really interesting way. The first woman seemed to be happy there. I could see that being with people might be better than being stuck at home with one nurse if you couldn’t move around. The second woman was pretty happy too. She even had a job telling others about her religion. They were lucky they had family members to visit. Both stories mad me feel a little glad I am a male and less likely to live longer than a female, only in the sense of not wanting to be stuck in a nursing home for so many years. Excellent job.
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From Natalie
I thought this was really interesting. It's funny how the majority supports euthanasia for those in dire pain, but most states don't allow it. I like how you supported this claim with your own poll. "The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds." I think this is a really good conclusion to your findings. It seems to make sense. Nowadays I believe that people are more content with their lives, making them more ready to accept when their time comes.
From Ben
"The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds."
I think this is an extremely valuable insight, because it also brings up the idea that all human's desire eternal existence, and yet your studies indicate that most people would be willing to give that up just because they are in pain. My favorite part of your project is the amount of evidence you used and how thorough your analysis was. Great job!
From Mom
My husband and I do not have Living Wills and after reading your post about euthenasia in the sense of it meaning a "good death" in ancient Greek, I think we should. I was surprised that so many people living where your grandmother lives have one. That statistic of 72% of Americans being in favor of euthanasia for terminally ill people who want to end their lives was surprising considering how religious this country is. I suppose that most religions think that suicide is a sin and obviously murder (by the doctors giving the injections or the pills) is a sin. Choosing to end your life if it is too painful or too dependent on other people sounds like a reasonable and also unselfish thing to do. Being an organ donor is a generous thing to do, and I understand that many old people's organs can be life saving to younger people.
From Dmitry
I don't know if I knew what euthanasia was befor but I thought what you said was interesting. Even though I might be sad if someone like my aunt got drugs from a doctor to kill herself if she was really in pain and wanted to die I guesss I would understand. What you wrote made me think i would want to get drugs from a doctor if I was in pain and wouldn't get any better.
Monday, January 17, 2011
HW # 30 - Illness & Dying - Culminating Experiential Project
Euthanasia is an ancient Greek word meaning “the good death,” with “eu” meaning good
and “thanatos” meaning death. It was first used by Francis Bacon, the English philosopher who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries and who developed the scientific method, to describe a way to die peacefully and well. The scientific method is a way of investigating anything being observed based on measurable evidence that will lead to a hypothesis that can be tested. It seems to me that observing a dying person who is in physical or mental pain or is in a coma with no hope of coming out of it or whose mind has gone would lead to thinking that giving a lethal injection from a doctor to end suffering is a good thing.
I became interested in euthanasia as a subject to explore when the sick person I had gone to see as an assignment for this course died recently. Gloria was our neighbor and an extremely kind person who bought rocks I painted when I was three and kept them in her room. A week after my visit she went into the hospital because of lung failure. Her daughter told me that she had a Living Will, which said that she did not want to be resuscitated if her heart stopped or if she stopped breathing and put on life support. Gloria was in pain, and the painkillers had bad side effects. She had also been told that she was going to die. She wanted the doctor to stop treating her so that she would die quickly. Her daughter was a Catholic, who believed that any form of unnatural death was a sin.
According to Euthanasiaprocon.org, the reasons that people who are terminally ill like Gloria request physician-assisted death are in three categories:
Illness related, which includes pain, the side effects of painkillers, loss of bodily functions, and exhaustion with pain or discomfort
Loss of sense of self, which includes desire for control over life and body functions and beliefs held for a long time about a good way to die
Fear about the future, which includes fear about the quality of life if dying will take a long period of time, fear of being a burden to family members and friends, and fear of knowing about other negative experiences of dying.
There are several forms of euthanasia: There is active euthanasia when a patient requests that a doctor end his or her life with a lethal injection; there is physician-assisted suicide when a doctor gives a patient drugs to enable the patient to end his or her life; there is passive euthanasia when life support treatment is ended or when drugs or other treatments are no longer given; and there is non-voluntary euthanasia when patients are incapable of expressing a view about having their life ended because they are in a coma, to young (a baby, for example), severely brain damaged, senile or mentally retarded; or severely mentally ill (Euthanasia.com).
At this time euthanasia is illegal in the United States. There are three states that have legalized physician-assisted euthanasia, and they are Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The patient must be the one to administer the lethal drug. The Netherlands and Belgium are the only two countries in the world where euthanasia is legal. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Albania and Luxembourg. In Switzerland doctors are not punished for assisting with suicide even though euthanasia is illegal (Religioustolerance.org)
Most religions are against euthanasia. In addition to the Catholic Church, the Jewish religion, Islam, and Hinduism are against active euthanasia and physician-assisted euthanasia. They consider active euthanasia to be murder and physician-assisted euthanasia to be suicide with the doctor committing an act of murder. Hindus consider fasting acceptable in extreme cases to be accompanied by spiritual practices that help self-awareness and give strength to help the dying person have a dignified death. In general, they are against euthanasia because it could interfere with reincarnation and hold up the process of the person’s next birth. Buddhists are more lenient than Hindus, but they are also concerned that active or passive euthanasia means that the patient is not in
a good mental place and could be reborn in another state of despair. Buddhist monks who committed suicide to protest the Viet Nam war were not at risk in the next life because they were dying in an enlightened state. In Christian religions most are against euthanasia except for the Methodists and Unitarians, who support physician-assisted euthanasia and are against prosecution of the doctors. In more liberal Episcopal and Presbyterian churches and in Quaker churches, physican-assisted euthanasia can be acceptable if it is the patient’s choice (Euthanasiaprocon.org).
Although a survey by the Pew Research Council in 2002 showed that 87% of Americans
were religious, a 2005 Harris Poll showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.” From my research and a conversation with a doctor, I have learned that the discussion of euthanasia is a complicated one because people are so afraid that legalizing it could lead to abuse. For example, it could start to be used too frequently without careful enough checking about what the patient really wants in order to save money on expensive life-support systems. There is also a big moral argument about active and passive euthanasia for terminally ill patients who want to die. Some people believe that active euthanasia is an act of murder by the doctor, but that passive euthanasia where the doctor allows the patient to die from a lack of treatment is not. Other people believe that active euthanasia is a kinder alternative because an injection will end life quickly and stopping treatment can cause a much longer time of suffering. These people feel that withdrawing feeding tubes and starving patients can be crueler that giving a lethal injection or pill.
I decided to ask my grandmother who lives in an assisted living apartment building if she would give a questionnaire I created to people who lived in her building. The questionnaire asked about their feelings on the subject of euthanasia and Living Wills. Here are the results of the questionnaire which 22 people completed.
Quality of Dying Questionnaire completed by 20 people aged 75 and above
1. Do you have a Living Will?
Of the 20 people asked, 18 said yes and 2 said no.
2. If not, would you consider having one?
The 2 who did not have a Living Will said they had been meaning to get one.
3. Do you have a Health Care Power of Attorney?
Of the 20 people asked, 15 said yes.
4. If not, would you consider having one?
3 people said they were planning to get one.
2 people said they had to find out more about what it is.
5. Have you taken any other measures to help you have the end of life you would prefer? If so, what have you done?
9 people said no to the first question.
5 people said they had organ donor cards.
6 people said they had “Do not Resuscitate Bracelets.” These are issued by the state.
6. If you were terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or conscious with irreversible brain damage, and you lived in a state that has legalized active euthanasia, would you want a lethal injection by a doctor? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said they did not want to be a burden to their families and friends and 4 said they did not want money to keep being wasted on them.) (Of these 3 said they know of cases where a doctor had given a lethal injection at the patients request even though giving it was against the law.)
2 said they were unsure
7. If you were terminally ill, in pain or great discomfort, but fully conscious with all your mental faculties, and you lived in a state that has legalized physician-assisted suicide would you want your doctor to give you a lethal pill? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said again that they did not want to be a burden and 4 said they did not want money to be wasted on them.)
2 said maybe
8. In this country only three states have physician-assisted suicide: Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
5 said maybe
9. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize active euthanasia (lethal injection by a doctor) for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
4 said maybe
1 said no “on religious grounds”
10. Do you have an organ donor card? Did you indicate in your Living Will if you have one that you would like to be an organ donor?
15 said no (of these 7 thought their organs were too old to be good)
5 said yes
From the questionnaire I learned that in my small study a surprisingly high percentage of the elderly people had Living Wills and would be in favor of legalized active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide because they did not want to be a burden on families or the government. It was also interesting to hear about the “Do not resuscitate bracelets” and the fact that some of them knew of doctors who had assisted illegally in suicides at the patient’s request). I forgot to ask about their religion in the questionnaire. My grandmother said that there are quite a few Catholics and several Jewish people and at least two Buddhists in the group. It was also interesting that quite a few thought their organs were too old to be useful to other people. I believe that my extremely small study goes along with the Harris Poll that showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.”
The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds. They are more concerned with their quality of life at the end or “quality of dying”and do not want to be kept alive if they feel they are a burden and cannot have their dignity. Living Wills and Health Care Power of Attorney forms are important to fill out so that we can all keep control over the end of our lives.
and “thanatos” meaning death. It was first used by Francis Bacon, the English philosopher who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries and who developed the scientific method, to describe a way to die peacefully and well. The scientific method is a way of investigating anything being observed based on measurable evidence that will lead to a hypothesis that can be tested. It seems to me that observing a dying person who is in physical or mental pain or is in a coma with no hope of coming out of it or whose mind has gone would lead to thinking that giving a lethal injection from a doctor to end suffering is a good thing.
I became interested in euthanasia as a subject to explore when the sick person I had gone to see as an assignment for this course died recently. Gloria was our neighbor and an extremely kind person who bought rocks I painted when I was three and kept them in her room. A week after my visit she went into the hospital because of lung failure. Her daughter told me that she had a Living Will, which said that she did not want to be resuscitated if her heart stopped or if she stopped breathing and put on life support. Gloria was in pain, and the painkillers had bad side effects. She had also been told that she was going to die. She wanted the doctor to stop treating her so that she would die quickly. Her daughter was a Catholic, who believed that any form of unnatural death was a sin.
According to Euthanasiaprocon.org, the reasons that people who are terminally ill like Gloria request physician-assisted death are in three categories:
Illness related, which includes pain, the side effects of painkillers, loss of bodily functions, and exhaustion with pain or discomfort
Loss of sense of self, which includes desire for control over life and body functions and beliefs held for a long time about a good way to die
Fear about the future, which includes fear about the quality of life if dying will take a long period of time, fear of being a burden to family members and friends, and fear of knowing about other negative experiences of dying.
There are several forms of euthanasia: There is active euthanasia when a patient requests that a doctor end his or her life with a lethal injection; there is physician-assisted suicide when a doctor gives a patient drugs to enable the patient to end his or her life; there is passive euthanasia when life support treatment is ended or when drugs or other treatments are no longer given; and there is non-voluntary euthanasia when patients are incapable of expressing a view about having their life ended because they are in a coma, to young (a baby, for example), severely brain damaged, senile or mentally retarded; or severely mentally ill (Euthanasia.com).
At this time euthanasia is illegal in the United States. There are three states that have legalized physician-assisted euthanasia, and they are Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The patient must be the one to administer the lethal drug. The Netherlands and Belgium are the only two countries in the world where euthanasia is legal. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Albania and Luxembourg. In Switzerland doctors are not punished for assisting with suicide even though euthanasia is illegal (Religioustolerance.org)
Most religions are against euthanasia. In addition to the Catholic Church, the Jewish religion, Islam, and Hinduism are against active euthanasia and physician-assisted euthanasia. They consider active euthanasia to be murder and physician-assisted euthanasia to be suicide with the doctor committing an act of murder. Hindus consider fasting acceptable in extreme cases to be accompanied by spiritual practices that help self-awareness and give strength to help the dying person have a dignified death. In general, they are against euthanasia because it could interfere with reincarnation and hold up the process of the person’s next birth. Buddhists are more lenient than Hindus, but they are also concerned that active or passive euthanasia means that the patient is not in
a good mental place and could be reborn in another state of despair. Buddhist monks who committed suicide to protest the Viet Nam war were not at risk in the next life because they were dying in an enlightened state. In Christian religions most are against euthanasia except for the Methodists and Unitarians, who support physician-assisted euthanasia and are against prosecution of the doctors. In more liberal Episcopal and Presbyterian churches and in Quaker churches, physican-assisted euthanasia can be acceptable if it is the patient’s choice (Euthanasiaprocon.org).
Although a survey by the Pew Research Council in 2002 showed that 87% of Americans
were religious, a 2005 Harris Poll showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.” From my research and a conversation with a doctor, I have learned that the discussion of euthanasia is a complicated one because people are so afraid that legalizing it could lead to abuse. For example, it could start to be used too frequently without careful enough checking about what the patient really wants in order to save money on expensive life-support systems. There is also a big moral argument about active and passive euthanasia for terminally ill patients who want to die. Some people believe that active euthanasia is an act of murder by the doctor, but that passive euthanasia where the doctor allows the patient to die from a lack of treatment is not. Other people believe that active euthanasia is a kinder alternative because an injection will end life quickly and stopping treatment can cause a much longer time of suffering. These people feel that withdrawing feeding tubes and starving patients can be crueler that giving a lethal injection or pill.
I decided to ask my grandmother who lives in an assisted living apartment building if she would give a questionnaire I created to people who lived in her building. The questionnaire asked about their feelings on the subject of euthanasia and Living Wills. Here are the results of the questionnaire which 22 people completed.
Quality of Dying Questionnaire completed by 20 people aged 75 and above
1. Do you have a Living Will?
Of the 20 people asked, 18 said yes and 2 said no.
2. If not, would you consider having one?
The 2 who did not have a Living Will said they had been meaning to get one.
3. Do you have a Health Care Power of Attorney?
Of the 20 people asked, 15 said yes.
4. If not, would you consider having one?
3 people said they were planning to get one.
2 people said they had to find out more about what it is.
5. Have you taken any other measures to help you have the end of life you would prefer? If so, what have you done?
9 people said no to the first question.
5 people said they had organ donor cards.
6 people said they had “Do not Resuscitate Bracelets.” These are issued by the state.
6. If you were terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or conscious with irreversible brain damage, and you lived in a state that has legalized active euthanasia, would you want a lethal injection by a doctor? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said they did not want to be a burden to their families and friends and 4 said they did not want money to keep being wasted on them.) (Of these 3 said they know of cases where a doctor had given a lethal injection at the patients request even though giving it was against the law.)
2 said they were unsure
7. If you were terminally ill, in pain or great discomfort, but fully conscious with all your mental faculties, and you lived in a state that has legalized physician-assisted suicide would you want your doctor to give you a lethal pill? What would be the main reason?
18 said yes (Of these 14 said again that they did not want to be a burden and 4 said they did not want money to be wasted on them.)
2 said maybe
8. In this country only three states have physician-assisted suicide: Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
5 said maybe
9. Would you be in favor of having all the states legalize active euthanasia (lethal injection by a doctor) for terminally ill patients who have requested it?
15 said yes
4 said maybe
1 said no “on religious grounds”
10. Do you have an organ donor card? Did you indicate in your Living Will if you have one that you would like to be an organ donor?
15 said no (of these 7 thought their organs were too old to be good)
5 said yes
From the questionnaire I learned that in my small study a surprisingly high percentage of the elderly people had Living Wills and would be in favor of legalized active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide because they did not want to be a burden on families or the government. It was also interesting to hear about the “Do not resuscitate bracelets” and the fact that some of them knew of doctors who had assisted illegally in suicides at the patient’s request). I forgot to ask about their religion in the questionnaire. My grandmother said that there are quite a few Catholics and several Jewish people and at least two Buddhists in the group. It was also interesting that quite a few thought their organs were too old to be useful to other people. I believe that my extremely small study goes along with the Harris Poll that showed that 72% of Americans were in favor of euthanasia for “dying patients in severe distress who wanted their lives ended.”
The significance of my findings could be that since people are living longer and longer, they are more interested in not dragging out a painful dying experience or a dying when they have lost control of body functions or their minds. They are more concerned with their quality of life at the end or “quality of dying”and do not want to be kept alive if they feel they are a burden and cannot have their dignity. Living Wills and Health Care Power of Attorney forms are important to fill out so that we can all keep control over the end of our lives.
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