Identical twins die after seeking euthanasia when they discovered they would go blind and never see

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent

Identical twins die after seeking euthanasia when they discovered they would go blind and never see each other again

45-year-old twins were born deaf and requested to die after being told they were both going blind

John Hall
Monday 14 January 2013

A pair of identical twins have died after seeking euthanasia when they discovered they were both going blind.

The 45-year-old twins were born deaf and requested to die after being told they would never see each other again.

In a unique case under Belgium’s euthanasia laws, doctors at Brussels University Hospital ended the twins’ lives by lethal injection on December 14.

The brothers, who have not been named, had spent their entire lives living together and both worked as cobblers.


Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/identical-twins-die-after-seeking-euthanasia-when-they-discovered-they-would-go-blind-and-never-see-each-other-again-8451217.html

[Ferretherder]

1. This is a heartbreaker....

...so sad.

[ChazII]

2. Speechless. n/t

[leftynyc]

3. Very torn on this story

When the issue is a terminal disease where all that can be looked forward to is a shortened life in pain, I can understand asking a physician to help out. But asking a doctor to do this feels very wrong. Couldn't they have found a way to do this themselves without getting a doctor involved?

[ChiTownChavista]

9. It's their life, it's their choice.

Best to let them do so as easily as possible. I wish we had the same support here for those that are suffering.

[leftynyc]

10. Definitely their choice

But getting a doctor involved in something like this just feels wrong. No terminal disease, no physical pain involved. I just don't know. Although I agree, we treat our pets better than our humans on this subject.

[panzerfaust]

11. As a physician ... It would violate my deepest ethical precepts to deliberately kill a patient.

That is not to say that I have not encouraged the withdrawal of care in hopeless situations, nor that I have not prescribed doses of opioids for the relief of terminal pain which may well have, whilst ending suffering, hastened death.

Nor do I believe that suicide is always wrong or irrational - though most are.

Faced with the same future as these two unfortunate brothers, I may well have also not wished to live. However, I would kill myself, and not put the burden on another person to do so.

To deliberately and with conscious intent kill a patient is not something that I would do, nor do I think that it is something which we, as a society, have the right to ask of anyone - especially not of a physician.

[leftynyc]

12. Exactly

I think putting the burden on the doctor was wrong.

[Smilo]

4. God bless them and the doctor

unless we walk in their shoes, how can we know.

[AnneD]

5. While my sympathy was with the twins.....

your post did give me a chuckle. My bad.

[KamaAina]

6. GD's all over this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022188903

I submit that many people have lived fruitful lives while deafblind, notably Helen Keller, and the chef in Seattle who recently closed his pricey restaurant to focus on his high-end catering business. I might also point out that when someone without a disability expresses a wish to die, we generally offer him/her counseling, rather than the syringe.

[dmallind]

7. And how many endured horrendous and hopeless lives?

That's like saying we should all be able to run 4 minute miles because a few people can. It's also a bit ironic to project concern for disabled rights while not respecting the reasoned decisions of disabled people about their own damned lives - depriving them then of the most basic right of all, self-determination.

What's wrong here is not that they were "offered the syringe", but that so few people except those in truly harrowing circumstances are offered the same dignity and choice. You are right in that there should be no distinction; this option should not be restricted to terminal cases in shrieking constant agony and (in as far as I know this unique case, sadly) those with multiple profound disabilities.

[Paladin]

8. I Respect Their Decision. Blessings On Both Of Them. (nt)