Reply #68: starvation is not a slow, painful death, our experience [View All]

[amazona]

I started to post this, then deleted it, but now I feel I better post it.

My friend's father had terminal cancer. Long story. No chance of recovery. He begged to die. But he's Catholic. And some of the family members didn't want him to die. So round for round and they are not letting him die...for two years...and keep in mind, this is cancer, he's freakin' conscious and screaming in pain for a lot of this time.

Finally, a Catholic priest is willing to step forward and reassure the reluctant family members that it is OK to let him go and it is not suicide and they are not condemning him to hell if they let him pass from this horrible pain. By this point, because of the cancer, it was eating that was agony for him, and it was being fed by a tube down his throat that caused him great pain.

"Starving" to death was, by contrast, a relief for him and the family. He passed with his family around him. He was no longer in agony.

So this experience tells me that when it's your time, starvation is not painful. It is peace.

We are all going to die. Now we have the technology to make every death an extended agony. Starvation by contrast is a peaceful, planned way to go. Maybe not for everyone. But for some, it is the right choice.

I am no expert and this is not "assisted suicide" nor was it even "suicide." It was acceptance of what God and nature intended. So maybe my reply is not the most expert but maybe it will shed a tiny ray of light until someone more expert does reply.