Euthanize me. Some of you that read me regularly just got erections at that thought. I just had a discussion with a friend that is struggling with the decision to euthanize her dog. Her labrador retriever is well over ten years old and has reached the point where he is no longer able to enjoy his life. If you have ever had a beloved pet that needed to be euthanized you know how difficult a decision that is. I have been there many times, last year I had to put down my Great Dane Watson. He fell victim to the tainted dog food and spent 24 hours in the emergency vet before he had to be euthanized. It destroyed me. I even have difficulty writing about it now. I have no doubt that it had to be done, but it didn’t make losing him any easier. Except for one thing. I know I spared him a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.
Our pets actually have it easier than we do with the regard that they can be euthanized without penalty to the doctor administering the injection. As human beings we are forced to endure painful, demeaning deaths at the hands of a debilitating disease. I know the prevailing belief is that you should fight until the end, because you never know what cure is going to be discovered and you may be cured of your ill. I also think that is the most naive bullshit when you’re wasting away in a hospital bed wasting away from 220 lbs to 125 lbs and you’ve become tolerant to every form of pain killer known to man.
I’m in the camp of let me choose when and how I want to go. Don’t burden my family with the obligatory visitations and exorbitant hospital bills. Just give me a syringe and walk out of the room. As much as you may love someone and want them to continue living, when the words “I just wish it was over” hit your ear, you realize that the have been deprived of perhaps the most important choice of their life. In a country that is supposed to cherish freedom we take the freedom of choice from people at the worst possible time. Lets get government out of personal choice, allow us to choose dignity and a life less painful for everyone involved.