 |
|
A demonstration earlier this year in Canberra
taught people how to test the purity of euthanasia drug Nembutal.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/victorias-proposed-euthanasia-laws-are-flawed-20160620-gpn9p2.html]
Pentobarbital (INN, AAN, BAN, USAN) or pentobarbitone (former
AAN and BAN) is a short-acting barbiturate.
Pentobarbital can occur as both a free acid and as salts
of elements such as sodium and calcium. The free acid is only slightly soluble in
water and ethanol.
One brand name for
this drug is Nembutal, coined by John S. Lundy, who started using it in
1930, from the structural formula of the sodium salt—Na (sodium) + ethyl
+ methyl
+ butyl + al
(common suffix
for barbiturates).
Nembutal is trademarked and manufactured by the Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck (now
produced by Akorn pharmaceuticals) and is the only injectable form of
pentobarbital approved for sale in the United States.
In high doses,
pentobarbital causes death by respiratory arrest. In the United
States, the drug has been used for executions
of convicted criminals. Lundbeck (one of many manufacturers) does not permit its
sale to prisons or corrections departments to carry out the death penalty.
|
What
They’re Not Telling You About Assisted Suicide
May 31, 2017 by Bradley Mattes
Advocates of physician-assisted suicide want you to
believe that this process of ending life is peaceful and serene. First the
caring physician prescribes a lethal dose of medication that you take home and
ingest. Then minutes later you make a peaceful transition to “the other side.”
What they’re not telling you — and some say they’re
hiding — is that there’s an unknown, horrifying dark side to these lethal
drugs.
Contrary to expectation, some patients and those
around them at the time of an assisted suicide have come face-to-face with the
unexpected — a process that goes desperately wrong.
In some cases, the drugs don’t work and the patient
wakes up wondering why he or she is still alive.
The family of 42-year old David Prueitt alerted the
Associated Press to his failed assisted suicide attempt. He took the prescribed
lethal medication as instructed with his family at his side. It was unforeseen
that David would be unconscious for 65 hours, then wake up unscathed.[1]
At other times the patient will linger for days
before finally succumbing to the lethal prescription.
One patient died after ingesting the medication,
but it took her a US record of 104 hours to expire. George Eighmey,
Compassion’s executive director in Oregon, said, “The doctors we talked to said
it’s likely she just had a very strong heart.”[2]
There are occasions when the patient has severe,
adverse reactions to the drugs. These incidents have horrified and traumatized
family and friends who witness the dramatic aftermath.
In one case the patient took the lethal meds as
normal with no doctor present but began to exhibit physical symptoms. Alarmed
and unable to handle the situation, his wife called 911 and an ambulance took
him to a local hospital where they revived him. After which they transferred
him to a nursing home.[3] His health condition ultimately claimed his life.
Not the kind of death either one of them had
envisioned.
The Netherlands has decades of experience with
assisted suicide and euthanasia. One of those who have practiced it for many
years is Dr. Pieter Admiraal. He has warned about the risks and shortcomings
associated with assisted suicide. “In spite of these measures [preparations],
every doctor who decides to assist in suicide must be aware that something can
go wrong, with the result being a failure of the suicide. For this reason, one
should always be prepared to proceed to active euthanasia. In other words, the
doctor should always have at hand thiopental and muscle relaxant.”[4] (Emphasis
mine)
The New England Journal of Medicine researched 114
cases of assisted suicide in The Netherlands[5] and found that:
- 9 percent of the patients experienced
complications including spasms, vomiting or extreme gasping.
- 14 percent of the cases encountered problems such as an inability to induce a coma or that the patient awoke after in a coma.
- 14 percent of the cases encountered problems such as an inability to induce a coma or that the patient awoke after in a coma.
- 19 percent of patients experienced a longer than
expected time to die, lasting as long as seven days.
- 18 percent of the cases resulted in the physician
directly intervening to administer lethal medication to kill the patient by
direct euthanasia.
In a study of physician-assisted suicide in the
United States, Emanuel et al. reported that the process failed 15% of the
time.[6]
There has been at least one documented case in
Oregon when the assisted suicide attempt failed and a family member took
matters into his own hands. His brother-in-law “helped” him die. “It doesn’t go
smoothly for everyone,” the relative explained. “It would not have worked
without help.”[7]
The process of intentionally taking the life of a
chronically ill or vulnerable person can be wrought with traumatic and
unintentional circumstances. Evidence shows that assisted suicide can and does
add trauma and stress to what would have been a natural and peaceful death.
Use our resources to help educate yourself and
others. The lives we save someday may be our own.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Associated Press, Assisted suicide attempt
fails, March 4, 2005.
[3] David Reinhard, The pills don’t kill: The Case,
part one, Oregonian, March 23, 2000 and The Cover-Up, part two, Oregonian,
March 26, 2000.
[4] Admiraal, P.V., “Toepassing van euthanatica,”
Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd, 2/11/95, p. 267 [5] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200002243420805
[6] Emanuel EJ, Daniels ER, Fairclough DL,
Clarridge BR. The practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the
United States: adherence to proposed safeguards and effects on physicians. JAMA
1998;280:507-513
[7] Oregonian, 1/17/99 and 3/11/99
For the most vulnerable,
Bradley Mattes
President, Life Issues Institute
Life Issues Institute is dedicated to changing
hearts and minds of millions of people through education. For 25 years,
organizations and individuals around the world have depended upon Life Issues
Institute to provide the latest information and effective tools to protect
innocent human life from womb to tomb.
No comments:
Post a Comment