Push-Button Suicide Machine Hits Market
“The bodies twitched for several minutes…”
What if it pulls a HAL9000 and says “I’m sorry…I’m afraid I can’t do that.”??
One press of a button and you can end your life with a swift injection of potassium chloride. That is the boast of Roger Kusch, once one of Germany’s most promising conservative politicians and now the improbable promoter of a mercy-killing machine.
If the “Perfusor”, designed to sidestep strict laws banning assisted suicide, goes into production then Germany rather than Switzerland could soon become the destination of choice for those seeking to kill themselves.
Some 700 patients, including several terminally ill Britons, have travelled to Zurich where the self-help organisation Dignitas arranges suicide. Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since 1942 providing a doctor has been consulted and the patient is aware of the consequences of his decision.
But Dignitas has come under fire for experimenting with suicide techniques. According to video evidence presented to the Zurich state prosecutor, patients have been placing plastic bags over their heads and feeding in helium gas.
In four cases being studied by the prosecutor, one patient died after nine minutes and three after between 25 and 50 minutes. “The bodies twitched for several minutes,” Andreas Brunner, the prosecutor, said. Swiss papers compared the gassing method to the techniques used in the Third Reich.
Dignitas argued that gassing was faster than poisonous injection because helium did not require a prescription, eliminating the cost and the time involved in finding a sympathetic doctor.
These revelations have struck home in Germany, where direct assistance in mercy killing is illegal and where most Dignitas clients live. The theme is highly sensitive because of the systematic euthanasia practised by the Nazis on the physically and mentally disabled.
“The machine is simply an option for fatally ill people,” said Dr Kusch, 53, presenting the green machine that looks like a cross between an electric transformer and a paint spraygun. “Nobody is forced to use it but I do believe that it will contribute to a debate that is moving thousands of people.”
The machine would be lent or rented so that the patients could insert the needles themselves and then push the button releasing the potassium chloride, used to execute Death Row prisoners in some US states. Supporters say the machine will bring about death in seconds. Death Row cases suggest the process could be longer. One of the responsibilities of the organisation lending the machine will be to consult with doctors about the exact dosage.
Merely lending the machine to a prospective suicide is not, say legal experts, against German law. Gerhard Strate, a defence lawyer from Hamburg, said: “As long as the sick person is fully conscious and aware, then lending the machine to him is no more illegal than lending him a kitchen knife or a razor blade. It becomes illegal only if the potential suicide asks someone in the room to press the button for him.”
Dr Kusch, whose doctorate is in law not medicine, was once a political star. Under Chancellor Kohl, he was head of the internal security department and in 2001 became Justice Minister in Hamburg. Tipped for high office, he became the victim of Christian Democratic infighting, left the party and set up his own grouping that actively propagated mercy killing for the terminally ill. He has now withdrawn from politics and he has established a legal practice, which will specialise in offering advice to old people worried about the legal and tax implications of ending their lives.
The tabloid Bild Zeiting denounced Dr Kusch’s machine as “perverse” and other media outlets have tentatively skirted around the taboo.
The case of Chantal Sebires has moved Germany and triggered a debate. The Frenchwoman, allergic to pain-relieving morphine, killed herself after suffering an incurable tumour. Die Welt said: “Opponents of assisted suicide stress that palliative medicine and new pain therapies make it unnecessary. The Sebires case showed that these have their limits.”
“For believing Christians the self determination of death is a violation, an attempt to interfere with the Creation which can be determined only by God,” the paper wrote on Easter Sunday, “but can believers really demand that non-believers adopt their point of view?”
(Times Online)
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What are you doing Dave?
March 31st, 2008 at 7:46 amHow much would it cost to donate one to George Soros?
March 31st, 2008 at 7:48 am“providing a doctor has been consulted and the patient is aware of the consequences of his decision.”
aware of the consequences? you mean it’s permanent?!?!?!
March 31st, 2008 at 7:53 amcrazy shit.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:03 amI watched (and was often called upon to help) my mother care for my grandmother who was terminally ill with colon cancer. It was not her mother but my Dad’s mom. She did this out of love and devotion and obligation to family. We did not place her in a home to be cared (un-cared) for by strangers. Rather we took her into our own home and lovingly cared for her until the day she died which was the night of my 16th birthday. It was hard for us all, both in watching her suffer and in physically caring for her. How easy it would have been to simply push a button and end it for her and for us, but we would have gained no moral character form it. I do not believe that it should be that easy to quit. As much as she suffered, she also cherished those days with her family by her side, following the exploits of her grandchildren as we balanced living our wild teenage years with learning the responsibility that we have toward family. She told us this many times. She thanked God that she was with us. When the time drew near for my Mom’s parents to die, they too were taken in and cared for by my parents and our family was there to help. Sure, there are times when we all want to quit life when it gets hard or hurts too much. But where do we draw the line. Where does character come from when life is so easily tossed out. So cheap. The people who make these machines will literally make a killing. Their only real concern is wealth. The press wont report on that angle. Millions of dollars are made in the abortion industry. It’s not about the poor suffering individual and their “burden” on society. It’s about money. Plain and simple. Families, please rally around your elderly and teach your children to respect their elders by caring for them. Or else, they may be renting the little green machine for you one day and by then, they might be legally allowed to push the button for you. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (by honoring our Mothers and Fathers).
March 31st, 2008 at 8:33 amSay Doc whatever happened to the Hypocratic oath to first do no harm? Ah, but that would require a working moral compass to impliment wouldn’t it? Guess that leaves him out huh?
My dad dies of liver cancer many years ago. His family was with him every step of the way. People from all across the country came to see him frequently in his last days.
No time in his life could compare to the time that he spent with family and extended family who all waiting on him hand and foot during his ordeal.
Suicide was NEVER an option. Nor should it be for anyone.
I’ve seen enough folk die in dignity and with friends and loved ones by their side to know that death is just the last phase of a life well-lived. It is an open door to eternity…whose destination can be as secure as my dad’s was. Before he died he accepted Christ.
Now…he lives in a better place….Kudos to him who had the strength of character to face such an ordeal with grace and valor.
Kudos to all who do likewise. Suicide is for cowards. Any so-called doctor that approves of it are no better than Mengele IMHO.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:54 amThere will always be those people who will feel that this is horrendous, and they are entitled to their opinions on this. But, I cared for both of my parents who were both terminally ill for several years each, with failing hearts. My father in particular, had had a massive heart attack, and we were told by the doctors, would die, unless they hooked him up to a “heart assist pump” for about a month. They actually told us, that they advised against doing this, as they said that the heart attack had damaged so much heart tissue that, if the heart assist pump did manage to pull him through, he would be a “cardiac cripple”, who would struggle to get up and walk across a room, when he had always enjoyed being active, and strong. But, my mother believed that because he had always been very strong, that if he pulled through, he would prove them all wrong and be healthy. He pulled through, but was anything but healthy. He became severely diabetic, and had to be on a NO sale, NO sugar, NO fat, diet, which he hated. He was nauseated all the time due to an enlarged liver. And, what they had neglected to mention to us, was that as he had only about half a functioning heart, that was not capable to pumping sufficient blood to any of his internal organs, they all began to gradually fail, one by one, so that his body swelled up to about twice the size it had been and he was in severe pain, from a swollen liver. He couldn’t walk without assistance, and could only sit, all day long in a chair and watch TV. That was his life. As he got progressively worse he was taken to a hospital where he was denied pain medication. We were told in both his case and that of our mother, that “Under ordinary circumstances, they could give pain medication, but as their hearts were very weak, giving them pain medication might stop their heart and kill them.” So, they did not have relief from pain, but were left to suffer in pain, by the hospital. As my father’s condition worsened, he began to bleed, from the rectum, the nose, the mouth. There was blood coming out of him profusely. It was all over the sheets, and bed, all over him. Blood and feces, had to be repeatedly cleaned off of him and the bed. And, then, he began to struggle to breath. He kept gasping and gasping, and asking for help. And, we all had to watch this, and watch him as he screamed and screamed, when the nurses and staff had to move his swollen and sensitive legs and body, and the lack of any pain medication, made him, suffer. We had on his chart, that he was to NOT be resusitated if he went into cardiac arrest. But, then found out one day when we went in to see him, that his heart had stopped overnight, and they had used the shock paddles to restart his heart. We asked them, “WHY, did you do this??? His chart clearly says, do not??” We were told that, it is standard procedure to do that if someone goes into cardiac arrest, and they had no time to read any charts. I had actually heard of an elderly woman who had “DO NOT resusitate”, tattoed onto her chest.
April 5th, 2008 at 5:30 amMy feeling, after having seen what both of my parents went through, and having seen both of them begging for someone to help them and to end their suffering, that I sincerely hope, that when my time comes, that I am terminally ill, there will be hospices available, that my family doctor can give me information on, that I could be sent to, where there will be people who WILL give me enough pain medication to make me mostly pain free, so that the time that I have with my family will be as good as possible. And, i hope that when I have become convinced that, it “is time”. There will be a doctor that I can talk to, who will agree with me, that it, “is time”. I would then like to be able to have my friends and family come in to see me, and I will be able to, “Say Goodbye” to them, and tell them all the things that I wanted to. And, then, I will be hooked up to something like this, which is much similar to the morphine button administering machines that many hospitals have, and I will be able to end my life with dignity. And, I will know that it will BE ended and not botched and me live through the attempt and be even in worse shape.
After my father’s death, my mother, brother and I, found that for months, to years, we could not sleep at night. We had flashbacks, almost like someone who had been tramatized in a war situation seeing friends die, in horrible ways. It was years before these lessened. We wanted to be able to remember our father as he HAD been, a big strong humorous man, who was capable of doing all kinds of things. But, our memories of him, because of how he died, always were of him screaming in pain, and covered in blood and feces. I HATED that, that was how I kept seeing him, over and over. I do NOT want that to ever happen to me, or to those I love.
My feeling is that the medical world has already “played God, in so many ways, that prolong the suffering of terminally ill people”. Do we not have the right, at some point to say to them, “Enough is enough!!!! I do NOT want anything more done to prolong this, and in fact, I want to end this while I am still in good enough shape so that my loved ones’ memories of me, can be good ones, and not horrific ones of me screaming in pain, and suffering. This is something, that many people, feel is needed and wanted. It is something that many people will find a way to do, even if it is illegal. Why not make it a legal “option” for those that want it?? As it requires that a doctor agree with the patient that he or she is mentally stable and also terminally ill, pretty much eliminates that people who were just depressed, or temporarily suffering, could use it.
Please, allow those who feel the need for this, to have it as an option. Those of you who do not want this, don’t have to use it. NO one would ever force you to. In Oregon, where it has been legal, it has been found that very few people do use it. For the most part, it has not changed how many people die. Many people can be taken care of at home, and die a natural death at home with loved ones, and if that is what they and their families want, then, fine. But, for those people who are suffering more than they can endure, and want to be able to stop the suffering, the same way that, most of us, would do for our beloved pet, who was suffering, I honestly feel that this ought to be a completely legal “End of Life Choice”.
I am so on the fence about this one. On one hand I prayed for my Grandfather to die after multiple strokes first took his mind and then finally left him completely unconscious. Then there is the lady in France where a nose tumor turned her into something hideous and kept her in constant pain.
My grandfather lingered and died finally a few weeks later. The lady in France asked the government to let her die. They didn’t so she shot herself I believe. I know she suicided and I cannot blame her.
I on the other hand could not ever conceive of taking my own life. I’d have to be pretty bad off because of the simple pleasure I get from even reading a book. I kind of like it here.
I loved the post about about taking the grandparents in when it was “their time” and having everyone around them. That’s how I want to go.
Lastly, I do not think that other people should be involved in a suicide. Doctors, health care workers or government employees should certainly not be involved. I know it’s not involuntary, but it comes too close. I remember hearing about Germany making it legal to euthanize babies who have no chance. That may be kind or not, but it takes the responsibility away from the individual and even the parent in some cases.
Here is my monster in the closet: Alzheimer’s. Being in a state like that scares me more than anything. I have seen it up close many times. To lose my mind and what intelligence I have and become incontinent and unable to talk, think of feed myself would be a fate worse than death, but then again, how do you off yourself if you can’t remember that you wanted to?
April 15th, 2008 at 3:29 pm