Scott Adams (Dilbert): "I hope my father dies soon."

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BRUTALITOPS

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I hope my father dies soon.


And while I'm at it, I might want you to die a painful death too.


I'm entirely serious on both counts.


My father, age 86, is on the final approach to the long dirt nap (to use his own phrase). His mind is 98% gone, and all he has left is hours or possibly months of hideous unpleasantness in a hospital bed. I'll spare you the details, but it's as close to a living Hell as you can get.


If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.


Because it's not too soon. It's far too late. His smallish estate pays about $8,000 per month to keep him in this state of perpetual suffering. Rarely has money been so poorly spent.


I'd like to proactively end his suffering and let him go out with some dignity. But my government says I can't make that decision. Neither can his doctors. So, for all practical purposes, the government is torturing my father until he dies.


I'm a patriotic guy by nature. I love my country. But the government? Well, we just broke up.


And let me say this next part as clearly as I can.


If you're a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide, or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your fucking guts and I would like you to die a long, horrible death. I would be happy to kill you personally and watch you bleed out. I won't do that, because I fear the consequences. But I'd enjoy it, because you motherfuckers are responsible for torturing my father. Now it's personal.


I know that many of my fellow citizens have legitimate concerns about doctor-assisted suicide. One can certainly imagine greedy heirs speeding up the demise of grandma to get the inheritance. That would be a strong argument if doctor-assisted suicide wasn't already working elsewhere with little problems, or if good things in general (such as hospitals and the police) never came with their own risks.


I'm okay with any citizen who opposes doctor-assisted suicide on moral or practical grounds. But if you have acted on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a slow, horrible death too. You and the government are accomplices in the torturing of my father, and there's a good chance you'll someday be accomplices in torturing me to death too.


I might feel differently in a few years, but at the moment my emotions are a bit raw. If I could push a magic button and send every politician who opposes doctor-assisted suicide into a painful death spiral that lasts for months, I'd press it. And I wouldn't feel a bit of guilt because sometimes you have to get rid of the bad guys to make the world a better place. We do it in defensive wars and the police do it daily. This would be another one of those situations.


I don't want anyone to misconstrue this post as satire or exaggeration. So I'll reiterate. If you have acted, or plan to act, in a way that keeps doctor-assisted suicide illegal, I see you as an accomplice in torturing my father, and perhaps me as well someday. I want you to die a painful death, and soon. And I'd be happy to tell you the same thing to your face.


Note to my government: I'll keep paying my taxes and doing whatever I need to do to stay out of jail, but don't ask me for anything else. We're done now.




[Update: My father passed a few hours after I wrote this.]
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http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/i_hope_my_father_dies_soon/
 
And to think, I was this pissed just over dignity. When my stepfather actually said, after a long and painful illness, that he wished God would hurry up it was personal. I've long been an advocate of euthanasia or "assisted suicide"... we don't give people the dignity we give the family pet rat at this point of their lives.
 
Damocles said:
And to think, I was this pissed just over dignity. When my stepfather actually said, after a long and painful illness, that he wished God would hurry up it was personal. I've long been an advocate of euthanasia or "assisted suicide"... we don't give people the dignity we give the family pet rat at this point of their lives.
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But the Republicans said Jesus gets to make that decision....!
 
Jarod said:
But the Republicans said Jesus gets to make that decision....!
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Really dimwit? When was that added to the Republican platform? Or is this another of your fabulous strawmen you love to fabricate?

You're truly one of the most dimwitted partisan dumbasses I have seen.
 
Truth Detector said:
Really dimwit? When was that added to the Republican platform? Or is this another of your fabulous strawmen you love to fabricate?

You're truly one of the most dimwitted partisan dumbasses I have seen.
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So its not the Republicans who are against physician assisted suicide?
 
Jarod said:
So its not the Republicans who are against physician assisted suicide?
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I'm all for it and about as Conservative as they come dimwit.

Once again you answer a question with a question so let's try this again...and again...and again until you arrive at a credible answer:

When was that added to the Republican platform? Or is this another of your fabulous strawmen you love to fabricate?
 
Damocles said:
And to think, I was this pissed just over dignity. When my stepfather actually said, after a long and painful illness, that he wished God would hurry up it was personal. I've long been an advocate of euthanasia or "assisted suicide"... we don't give people the dignity we give the family pet rat at this point of their lives.
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It's not that easy. It can get real complicated. My brother signed the paper work that they were not to resuscitate him should he die...and even though his last 6 weeks of life were pretty much devoid of any meaning at all. It was pretty much all pain and suffering. He clung on to the bitter end. Six long weeks.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
It's not that easy. It can get real complicated. My brother signed the paper work that they were not to resuscitate him should he die...and even though his last 6 weeks of life were pretty much devoid of any meaning at all. It was pretty much all pain and suffering. He clung on to the bitter end. Six long weeks.
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It is pretty simple; family should have a say, as should the person who is suffering. Why is it "hard" or "bad" to permit people to die with dignity and without suffering?
 
Truth Detector said:
It is pretty simple; family should have a say, as should the person who is suffering. Why is it "hard" or "bad" to permit people to die with dignity and without suffering?
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Remember when Jeb Bush and the religious right fought hard to keep Terri Schiavo breathing even though her cerebral cortex was liquid?
 
Republican Senator Bill Frist diagnosed brain activity from the floor of the Senate.
 
Jarod said:
Remember when Jeb Bush and the religious right fought hard to keep Terri Schiavo breathing even though her cerebral cortex was liquid?
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Remember that this was a family's desire to keep her alive, AT THEIR COST, against the wishes of doctors and Government? Bush and Conservatives fought for the FAMILY'S rights to keep a beloved member of their FAMILY alive over the efforts of Government, the Jurists and Doctors.

Once again counselor; you read but fail to comprehend the issues.

Again; when was that added to the Republican platform? Or is this another of your fabulous strawmen you love to fabricate?
 
It is always a joy to see people so anxious to see others murdered. It always seems to be the unborn or elderly.

Good times. Good times.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it is all about their dignity and lack of suffering, but what you people really want to prevent is YOUR suffering. Not theirs. It is painful for you to see them that way and you want to end it. You tire of having to visit them because it is a chore and you would rather be doing something else rather than visiting someone that you don't know is responding to you. But, as long as you can say you are "doing it for them", you don't have to admit to your own selfishness.
 
Truth Detector said:
Remember that this was a family's desire to keep her alive, AT THEIR COST, against the wishes of doctors and Government? Bush and Conservatives fought for the FAMILY'S rights to keep a beloved member of their FAMILY alive over the efforts of Government, the Jurists and Doctors.

Once again counselor; you read but fail to comprehend the issues.

Again; when was that added to the Republican platform? Or is this another of your fabulous strawmen you love to fabricate?
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No, her closest family member, her husband said it was his wife's desire not to live in a PVS, he was offered a million dollars to back off from that position, he refused.
 
I Love America said:
It is always a joy to see people so anxious to see others murdered. It always seems to be the unborn or elderly.

Good times. Good times.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it is all about their dignity and lack of suffering, but what you people really want to prevent is YOUR suffering. Not theirs. It is painful for you to see them that way and you want to end it. You tire of having to visit them because it is a chore and you would rather be doing something else rather than visiting someone that you don't know is responding to you. But, as long as you can say you are "doing it for them", you don't have to admit to your own selfishness.
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Having watched my father slowly die, I would ask you; have you ever watched a loved one beg to be put out of their suffering or lay in a vegetative state slowly disintegrating until there is nothing left but skin and bones?

You're trying to conflate the death of an innocent fetus that has no choice to an adult that knows what they want and would like the CHOICE. There is a VAST difference my friend. I am all for saving a fetus; just as I am all for assisted suicide if it is the choice of the ADULT suffering.

I used to think that dying of a massive heart attack was a bad thing; after seeing the hospice patients in my dad’s wing of the hospital, I decided that there are worse things….like laying in a puddle of your own vomit, or saliva having a catheter and intravenous feeding tube attached to you laying helpless waiting for a long and painful death.
 
Jarod said:
So its not the Republicans who are against physician assisted suicide?
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Physician-assisted suicide, together with euthanasia, was placed on the public ballot inWashington State, in November 1991, and in California, in November 1992. Both times, voters turned
down proposals to legalize physician-assisted dying (USA Today, August 9, 1993:13A). In September
1993, by a vote of 5-4, Canada's Supreme Court denied a woman's request to end her life by assisted
suicide (NY Times, October 1, 1993:A8).

Neither Washington nor California are bastions of the right-wing are they?...Nor Canada, as far as I know.

When the voters accept it....they will accept it, but it certainly should not be mandated by the government.
 
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Jarod said:
No, her closest family member, her husband said it was his wife's desire not to live in a PVS, he was offered a million dollars to back off from that position, he refused.
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But it was never in writing. So we should just take someone else's word for it? Seems like a proverbial slippery slope if you ask me.

He like many others was seeking to end his own suffering, not hers. There was another option but he like others chose death.

Sad. Very sad
 
I Love America said:
But it was never in writing. So we should just take someone else's word for it? Seems like a proverbial slippery slope if you ask me.

He like many others was seeking to end his own suffering, not hers. There was another option but he like others chose death.

Sad. Very sad
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I thought you said it should be up to the family? And let me ask you, what other option was there?
 
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