Assisted Dying

Choices about Assisted Dying.

• Are there any circumstances under which assisted dying should be allowed?

• If so, what are those circumstances?

• If so, how do we regulate it?

• Should people have a choice?

Discussion:

Normally I do not express personal opinions pro or con any choice since this blog is only intended to stimulate discussion by asking challenging questions, however, in this case, I do have a personal bias.

Over the last two decades, I have witnessed the death of both my parents and both my wife's parents.  Three of the deaths involved very serious strokes with a medical prognosis of an extremely low quality of life possibly requiring full life support.  The fourth involved terminal cancer. Ages ranged from 75  to 94 years.  Two involved a Living Will or Medical Directive specifying palliative care only if the medical prognosis was a very low quality of life (with the living will giving specific examples of what would be considered a very low quality of life).

In all four cases, after extensive consultation with family and medical staff, the patients were provided palliative care only.  Death occurred within a few days to a few weeks.  Assisted dying was not an option.

While death was apparently pain-free, there was evidence of some distress with all the patients.  It is my belief that if euthanasia was an option, all four parents would have chosen it for a variety of reasons.

• Assisted dying would reduce the pain of the family having to watch a slow death
• Assisted dying would have freed resources which may have helped to save a life of someone who did have a prospect of a longer and higher quality of life.
• Assisted dying may have created the possibility of viable organ donations to help improve or save another life (all had given permission for organ transplants).

Assisted dying is an emotionally charged subject and one in which opinions are often strongly polarized.  For those who approach the subject from a religious perspective, we have to ask ourselves "Are we going against the will of God by intervening in the death process with extraordinary medical procedures?".  Given enough money and time, we will approach the possibility that we can keep a person alive (technically speaking) for a long period of time, and maybe, almost indefinitely.  "Is that the will of God?"

The money spent on prolonging low-quality life in the developed world could improve and save countless lives in poor countries around the world.  Is it our choice to let those people die so that we can prolong a low quality of life for a few (often against their own wishes)?  "Is that the will of God?"

Our choices in life are often not easy but it can help one's perspective to project well into the future - 100 years or more.  The current rate of growth in health care costs is not sustainable over the long term.  We will have to make some tough choices in the future.  Assisted dying is one of those choices.

The Living Wills and how the medical community handled them did provide a sense that there is a well thought out process with appropriate checks and balances - a process which could also work for assisted dying.

A website which tries to provide a non-biased discussion is  http://euthanasia.procon.org/

Terrorism

Choices about Terrorism.

• What are the root causes of terrorism?
• Can terrorism be eliminated?
• If not, how we deal with it?

Discussion:

• Today, it is apparent that conventional armed forces are not effective in containing or resolving terrorism.
• Should our armed forces continue to be used to fight terrorism?
• If not, what sort of social and police initiatives are required to end terrorism?
• It seems that terrorism is as much a cultural issue as anything else (all cultures have the potential for creating terrorists, albeit some more than others). You do not change culture with guns.
• Could the money spent on fighting terrorism using conventional armed forces be better spent elsewhere?
• By the end of the twentieth century, terrorists were able to kill dozens if not hundreds or even thousands of people primarily through suicide bombings.
• In the twenty-first century, technology is progressing so rapidly that terrorists will soon have the ability to kill millions using biological or genetic means. It may even be possible to effectively wipe out all human life on our planet using such means, and yet we continue to invest billions in jets, submarines and other conventional weapons. None of these weapons are likely to be effective against the use of such technology. We can make a choice to proactively consider radically different options.
• With current technology or technology soon to be available, it will be possible to record the location of 100% of the population 24 hours a day. It will also be possible to record everything people say 24 hours a day. And in the not too distant future, it will be possible to capture videos of everyone 24 hours a day. And all of this can be done wireless and securely encrypted. Human eyes would never have to see this data unless a criminal act was being committed. Computers could monitor all the data and flag only those criminal acts or plans to commit criminal acts and only under those circumstances would there be human intervention, which in itself would be monitored and subject to accountability.
• Radical, yes! But our choice may be to risk the death of millions or implement some sort of secure monitoring system.
• As the technology to have such monitoring either exists today, or will exist very soon, so too the technology exists, or will exist very soon, to implement such a system securely with extremely effective safeguards against abuse. In fact, the monitoring system is a self correcting system since it would flag any abuse of the system.
• Such a system could even pay for itself since the number of crimes and their related costs would likely decrease dramatically.
• We have a choice of considering such radical solutions or wait until some horrendous terrorist event occurs and then react to that event with subsequent knee-jerk solutions that are not well thought out and which are likely to be much less secure and subject to abuse. The history of 9/11 teaches us that.

What do you think? Are there other radical choices we should consider? Ask yourself "What are my choices?"

Morals / Ethics

Choices about morals and ethics.

• How we create moral and ethical standards for our society?
• How and where we teach moral and ethical standards?

Discussion:

• Are morals and ethics different? Probably. There seems to be debate in our society about this.
• It is accepted by many that ethics means what is right/wrong based on reason while morals refers to what is considered right/wrong behavior based on social custom. If that is the case, then the question about morals becomes a question about social customs and how they are formed.
• Are morals and ethics determined only through religion? Many religious fundamentalists say that religion is the only source of morals and ethics while others would say that religions do not have a monopoly on morals and ethics. And thus the debate easily becomes polarized.
• Whatever their source, morals and ethics should have a sound philosophical basis.
• Peter Singer at Princeton University, amongst others, provides some interesting and challenging reading in the philosophy of morals and ethics.
• How do individuals and society develop their morals and ethics or social customs or cultures?
• How and where should morals and ethics be taught? In schools, at home, in church, at work or all of these? It seems we are stuck between doing nothing and a polarized debate.
• How do we make choices?
• Are we even conscious of the moral and ethical choices we make on a daily basis?

Ask yourself "What are my moral and ethical choices in life?"

Values

Vision:

A world where the values “honesty” and “respect” influence the behaviour of everyone on earth to a much greater degree than they have done historically.

Discussion:

• There are several human values that we could focus on, but it is easier for people to focus on one or two items at a time.
• Honesty and Respect seem like a good starting point.
• We could choose to invite the leaders of all religions, political parties, corporations, and other influential organizations to affirm publicly that they believe in and support the values of “honesty” and “respect”.
• Even in a world were it is difficult to achieve broad agreement on religious, political, business or social philosophies, it is hard to imagine that the vast majority of people all around the world could not agree on these two fundamental human values.
• Of course, human nature seems to be such that many things in life can be interpreted or applied in extreme ways, at least by a few. Any vision is likely to break down when taken to the extreme. Healthy debate will be required to establish what is extreme and what is not.
• With wide acceptance around the world, it would be much easier to focus on these two values on a personal basis and in our homes, our schools, our churches, our businesses, and virtually any other organization in a way that is acceptable, meaningful, and consistent.
• Human beings, unlike virtually any other life form, are sufficiently self aware and have the intellectual capacity to establish and live by a set of values and to make choices that can shape our own evolutionary destiny.
• It seems to be more challenging for human beings to live by these values and make choices day in and day out consistent with these values, than not live by these values. We have all seen how easy it is for human beings to not live by these values, from simple disrespect between individuals to atrocities involving genocide, and war.
• Human beings have an enormous capacity for good although from what one sees and hears in the media, one might conclude that the capacity for “good” is overwhelmed by our capacity for “evil”. But perhaps our view is distorted by this media. It appears that we are more interested in news about evil or bad things than good things, and thus, that is what gets reported on a disproportionate basis. We could make a choice to challenge this focus on the negative.
• By starting with two simple values that are widely accepted by individuals, religions, political parties, businesses, and other organizations, it will be easier to develop a global culture reinforcing these values. In time, perhaps there will be fewer and fewer bad things happening on earth.

What do you think? Ask yourself "What are my values choices in life?"

List of Choices

The following is a list of choices that apply to us individually or to us as part of a group or society. In a democratic society, you have the right (and some would say the obligation) to make your choice known whether by voice or in writing, or by a formal voting process. In non-democratic societies, it is often difficult to openly discuss and express choices in life, but none-the-less, you still can make some choices.
Over time, this blog will discuss each of these choices plus others suggested in comments from readers.

Choices which are more Global or National in nature:

1. Choices about values 
1. How we define values? 
2. What are our key values? 
3. Are honesty and respect key values?
2. Choices about morals
1. How we set moral standards for our society?
   
2. Where and how we apply moral and ethical standards?
   
3. How and where we teach moral standards? 
3. Choices about ethics
   
1. How we set ethical standards for our society?
   
2. Where and how we apply ethical standards?
   
3. How and where we teach ethical standards?
   
4. Choices about food
   
1. Should we eat meat?
   
2. How much to eat?
   
3. Which foods affect our health?
   
5. Choices about religion
   
1. Do all religions have some validity?
   
2. Are all religious activities beneficial to individuals and to society?
   
3. How we choose which religious activities or even which religions are not beneficial to individuals or society?
   
4. How do we deal with those non-beneficial behaviours?
   
6. Choices about sovereignty
1. Is sovereignty absolute or should some laws / regulations apply globally?
   
7. Choices about what political system we live by
1. Should we have a political system that applies globally? 
2. Is there a universal political system that is the best system for everyone?
8. Choices about separation of church and state
1. Should church and state be constitutionally separate?
2. Do we teach morals and ethics which are common to all religions in our schools?
9. Choices about distribution of wealth
   
1. Locally?
   
2. Nationally?
   
3. Globally?
   
10. Choices about charity
    
1. How we decide how much to give to charity?
   
2. Where our donations are focused - locally, nationally or internationally?
   
11. Choices about taxes
    
1. What we tax?
   
2. Who we tax?
   
3. When we tax?
   
4. How much we tax?
   
5. Where we spend & redistribute tax dollars?
   
12. Choices about regulations in all aspects of society:
    
1. What should we regulate?
   
2. How much we regulate?
   
3. What incentives should we apply?
   
4. What penalties should we apply?
   
5. What guidelines should we use to determine who, what, when, where, and how we regulate?
   
13. Choices about accountability of the media
    
1. Should all or some forms of the media be accountable?
   
2. If yes, which forms and to whom should the media be accountable?
   
14. Choices about privacy
    
1. How much privacy for individuals do we protect vs how much privacy for individuals do we give up for the security of the many?
   
15. Choices about security
    
1. How much should we spend on security?
   
16. Choices about aggression
    
1. How we decide what is acceptable and what is not acceptable aggressive behaviour?
   
2. If we can modify the aggressive behaviour of individuals, should we?
   
3. If yes, what forms of behaviour modification should we use? Physiological? Pharmaceutical? Castration? Genetic modification?
   
4. If yes, under what conditions and to what extent should we use such behaviour modification?
   
17. Choices about the laws we set for our society
    
1. Should some laws be global?
   
18. Choices about enforcement of the laws of our society
    
1. What forms of enforcement should we use?
   
2. Should enforcement be global?
   
19. Choices about the purpose of police
    
1. What is the purpose of police?
   
2. What is the optimum size of police forces?
   
3. What guidelines / regulations should we have for police forces?
   
20. Choices about the purpose of armed forces
    
1. Do we have armed forces?
   
2. What is the size of armed forces?
   
3. What powers do armed forces have?
   
4. Are conventional armed forces effective against terrorism?
   
5. If not, how should our armed forces change?
   
21. Choices about arms we design and manufacture
    
1. Do we design any arms at all?
   
2. If we do, which arms should we design and manufacture?
   
3. Do we sell any arms at all?
   
4. To whom and under what circumstances we sell arms?
   
22. Choices about the environment
    
1. How much we change the environment?
   
2. How much we pollute the environment?
   
3. Should environmental controls apply globally?
   
23. Choices about education
    
1. What we teach?
   
2. Who we teach?
   
3. How much we spend on education?
   
4. How we education the teachers?
   
5. How we maintain teaching skills of teachers?
   
6. Should we have minimum standards our teachers are required to meet?
   
7. How often we assess teachers against our standards?
   
8. What happens when a teacher falls below standard?
   
24. Choices about health care
    
1. What services do we provide?
   
2. Under what conditions do we provide health care services?
   
3. How much we spend?
   
4. On whom we spend?
   
5. When we spend?
   
6. How and where do we deliver health care?
   
25. Choices about wellness
    
1. How we define wellness?
   
2. How much we spend on wellness?
   
3. How much we spend on wellness relative to health care?
   
26. Choices about smoking
    
1. Should smokers pay more for health care?
   
2. Should smoking be banned in all public places?
   
27. Choices about alcohol
    
1. How much alcohol is too much to drive?
   
2. If technology exists to stop cars from starting if driver alcohol levels are too high, should that technology be mandatory for all cars?
   
28. Choices about illegal drugs
    
1. Which drugs should be illegal?
   
29. Choices about exercise
    
1. How much?
   
2. How often?
   
3. What type of exercises?
   
30. Choices about how much we spend on babies
    
1. How much we spend on saving babies who are very premature, or severe genetic illnesses, or have severe mental disabilities?
   
31. Choices about how much we spend on elderly
    
1. How much we spend on saving elderly people with severe mental disabilities?
   
2. How much we spend on saving elderly people with poor health and very low quality of life?
   
32. Choices about assisted dying 
    
1. Are there any circumstances under which assisted dying should be allowed?
   
2. If so, what are those circumstances?
   
3. If so, how we regulate it?
   
4. Should people have a choice?
   
33. Choices about farming
    
1. What we farm?
   
2. What extent we farm?
   
3. Where we farm?
   
4. To what extent we use fertilizers or other chemicals?
   
5. Use of genetically modified crops?
   
34. Choices about harvesting
    
1. What we harvest?
   
2. To what extent we harvest?
   
3. Where we harvest?
   
35. Choices about animal rights
    
1. Do animals have any rights?
   
2. If so, what are those rights?
   
36. Choices about energy
    
1. What levels of pollution are acceptable for energy production?
   
2. What choices we have with energy production and usage?
   
37. Choices about transportation
    
1. What levels of pollution are acceptable for transportation?
   
2. What modes of transportation should we use?
   
38. Choices about technology
    
1. Should we limit technological changes?
   
2. Is it possible to limit technological changes?
   
3. If yes, how we choose which technologies can and cannot be developed?
   
39. Choices about terrorism
    
1. What are the root causes of terrorism?
   
2. Can terrorism be eliminated?
   
3. If not, how do we deal with it?
   
40. Choices about genetic engineering
    
1. Yes or no?
   
2. Guidelines / Regulations - what, where, when, how much?
   
41. Choices about artificial intelligence
    
1. Yes or no?
   
2. Guidelines / Regulations - what, where, when, how much?
   
3. Will artificial life forms develop self awareness?
   
4. If they do, what will our relationship be with them? Slave, servant / master, master / servant, equals?
   
42. Choices about climate change?
    
1. Is climate change at a critical stage requiring urgent global action? 

Choices which are more Local or Personal in nature:

1. Choices about personal values, morals and ethics
   
2. Choices about treating yourself and others with respect
   
3. Choices about being honest with yourself and others
   
4. Choices about what foods we eat
   
5. Choices about how much food we waste
   
6. Choices about what home we live in
   
7. Choices about decorating our home
   
8. Choices about maintaining our home
   
9. Choices about what vehicles we drive and how much we drive
   
10. Choices about how much energy we use
    
11. Choices about how much water we use
    
12. Choices about what clothes we buy and wear
    
13. Choices about how much exercise we have
    
14. Choices about using drugs - non-prescription, prescription and illegal
    
15. Choices about personal health
    
16. Choices about safety
    
17. Choices about education of self and family (formal and informal)
    
18. Choices about helping others
    
19. Choices about voting
    
20. Choices about religion
    
21. Choices about what work we do
    
22. Choices about what we choose for entertainment
    
23. Choices about what we read
    
24. Choices about balance in work and personal and family life
    
25. Choices about balance in anything we do (or do not do)
    
26. Choices about what TV we watch
    
27. Choices for parents about how to be good parents
    
28. Choices about how we spend our money
    
29. Choices about how we save and invest our money
    
30. Choices about donations
    
31. Choices about planning for the future
    
32. Choices about vacation
    
33. Choices about speaking out relative to things you think are right or wrong
    
34. Choices about artistic matters
    
35. Choices about critical thinking
    

Our Choices In Life

Everyone has choices in life.

The choices we make in life define the quality of life we will have, and in most cases, will define the quality of life other people and other life forms will have now and in the future.

Choices are time dependent. All choices will have some impact. Some choices will impact the short term, and some the longer term. Some choices will have a small and more local impact, and some will have a large and more global impact.

Virtually all choices are linked, or in other words, there is an interdependence between choices in life.

The choices we make in life define who we are as individuals, who we are as a society, and who we are as a species, as human beings.

All choices have some qualifiers. A consistent value based approach will us help in defining these qualifiers.

Values should have wide and fundamental appeal to human beings around the world. High level values should be seen as applying for many generations but at the same time not be so dogmatic or rigid that they cannot evolve with our increase in wisdom over time.

For many, the number and complexity of choices is overwhelming, and the natural response is to abdicate personal responsibility for making choices. But it does not have to be overwhelming. Simply by having a dialog about choices in life with family and friends or even strangers, you will dramatically improve your ability to make conscious choices in life. Others may prefer to think about these choices in quiet contemplation. Both are good and both will lead to greater wisdom.

This blog does not claim to define what are the right or correct choices in life. It is intended to act as a catalyst for discussion about the choices in life we all have. This blog is driven by the following belief: The more people who consciously think about and discuss their choices in life, the better we will be able to make wise choices in life, and as a result, the better our world will be in the future.

Each individual has a responsibility to ask themselves “What are My Choices in Life?”. Some individuals have more choices than others but virtually everyone has more choices than they realize. Each individual also has a responsibility to make choices in life. What are your Choices In Life?

Each blog will discuss a possible choice you have in life and over time these blogs will cover many different choices. What do you think about these choices? Do you have comments about these or other choices. Share your thoughts via comments and with family and friends. It is impossible to deal with all of these choices at once. Pick one or two and think about and discuss them. Then move onto others. By participating in such discussions you will help make our world a better place for all.