The problem of "quality of life"

[catholictiger]

as you probably know our country has greatly lost a respect for life. We are willing to fund the killing of innocent unborn humans. We go to war unjustly and are willing to kill innocent humans just becuase it could save lives in the future. I could go on all day about how we don’t respect life.

But i want to now focus on the intent of this thread, i don’t know if you followed the Terri Schavio case when it was at the height of its controversy but ill go ahead and explain it briefly below.

If you didn’t know about this Terri Schavio story, in 1990 Terri Shavio suddenly collapsed for unknown reasons even to this day, but she was rushed to the hospitable put on a ventilator and kept alive but she didn’t stay on that long she came out of the coma and was taken off the ventilator only a few days later. She then started to receive therapy to get her back to the way she was or at-least improve her condition. She was on a feeding tube at this time. Then things went from good to horrible Terri’s husband said that she told him that she wouldn’t want to live this way before she collapse even though non of the family had ever heard he say that. Because of this she was forced to stop therapy and the legal fight to save her life started. Till 2005 they fought to keep her alive but then the supreme court ruled in favor of mr Shavio and they took Sherri off the feeding tube and i think about 14 days later she passed.

I don’t want the Terri Schiavo case to be the focus of this thread but it does show a classic example where the quality of life was used to put value on someones life. Mr Schiavo along with the USSC let the quality of life determine whether Sherri was a human person.

This isn’t the only case where the “quality of life” is a problem, in many cases today people are left to die even though in their mind they may not want to. Now its very difficult to prove this becuase you don’t know what people are thinking when they are in a commam. I’ve seen plenty of cases where people on the verge of having the plug pulled, and they showed one small sign that they wanted to live even though their family and care takers believed that he probably won’t to live in this condition. This is a case of someone using the “quality of life” to determine if a person should live or not. This is also proof that using the term “quality of life” is very very dangerous and should be avoided all together.

Now let me make this clear I believe if a person should have the full ability to say i refuse to have medical treatment if my life suddenly ends.

But back to the problem of “quality of life” when we start to say that we are going to determine whether to kill someone or not simply based on how their so called “quality of life” is we are running into problems. If we say someone who is on a feeding tube wouldn’t want to live this way you are pretty much saying that someone who struggles to find food in Africa wouldn’t want to live that way, but i think we all this claim is bogus. We can’t put values on peoples life like “quality of life”. If we do we are going to kill people who have the will to live. We may also kill people who may come out of commas who’s lives could improve if we keep them on the life supporting treatments.

We as a society need to stop using this term “quality of life”. When it comes to end of life issues doctors must have this view. I am going to do everything i can do to keep someone alive only if this person says that if I am in a condition that requires extraordinary care to keep me alive i do not want to live.

Also this is something the pro life movement needs to get behind. Being pro life means more then just defending the lives of the unborn it means defending every single life from conception to natural deal.

God Bless

and Padre Pio Pray for us.

note: sorry if any parts of my post are confusing or don’t make since i have weak writing skills and my spelling and grammar needs work. I actually have a disability that is responsible for this but it doesn’t at all take away from my intellect, i believe im a very intelligent person (even though i still have alot to learn) but it may not always show in my posts.

 

[Student09]

The “will to live” can be a tricky thing. If a depressed but otherwise healthy teenager says, “I wish I were dead,” their parents are not going to say, “Oh, ok,” and give them a fatal injection. Rather, they will (hopefully) do or say something to try to help them want to live. But people are trying to pass laws so that if a seventy year old Alzheimer’s patient says, “I wish I were dead,” the family doctor can say, “Ok,” and kill them.

Why is it that in the first instance, we understand that the phrase “I wish I were dead” is a cry for help - for help in continuing to live -, but in the second instance, we take the person at his word?

 

[catholictiger]

The “will to live” can be a tricky thing. If a depressed but otherwise healthy teenager says, “I wish I were dead,” their parents are not going to say, “Oh, ok,” and give them a fatal injection. Rather, they will (hopefully) do or say something to try to help them want to live. But people are trying to pass laws so that if a seventy year old Alzheimer’s patient says, “I wish I were dead,” the family doctor can say, “Ok,” and kill them.

Why is it that in the first instance, we understand that the phrase “I wish I were dead” is a cry for help - for help in continuing to live -, but in the second instance, we take the person at his word?

you are right but my post is mainly foucused on the statement the quality of life of someone i personally think its a horrible thing do, you should determine if someones life is worth saving or not based on their quality of life. being a living human being should be enough to defend it.

 

[Edward_H]

I think the “quality of life” concept is deceptive and is designed to turn the focus from the eternal to the temporal life.

I wish the test or criterion were instead “opportunity to love”. A person in a vegetative state can still be loved. They themselves may/may not be able to love in return…in some cases we don’t know…they could be praying their hearts out for others - that is loving others - and we have no way to know.

But if a person is still capable of being loved: fed, massaged to avoid bed sores, prayed for, visited, talked to, held, then they must be loved. This is the test. Love, not some murky concept of “quality”.

QOL is a sham concept.

A person who is loved - cared for in the best way possible - by definition is being treated with dignity. We are doing all we can for them. This is the way it must be.

Just think about how Mother Teresa would respond to someone in a vegetative state - she would immediately check on their fluids, their bed sores, pray for them, talk to them, smile at them. Immediately with the intensity of love that she had so admiringly.