I am retired and no longer have a license.

[TNNurse]

I remember that Nightingale oath I took as they pinned that nursing pin on me had something to do with suffering.

I would now say except for Neil Gorsuch, who believes that death with dignity is "assisted suicide", yeah that asshole needs to suffer until the very end. "I am sorry sir, I know you are in terrible pain, but this dose might kill you, you will just have to suffer until you die".

I wonder if people who insist of futile treatment for the dying are making money off the treatment.


They are dying from what is wrong with them, not from that pain medicine you stupid hateful man.


Guess you can tell it was time for me to retire.

[cyclonefence]

1. Thank god for in-home hospice care

although they'll probably find a way to eliminate that. My dying father had a supply of morphine with instructions to give him as much as he wanted, and I did.

[TNNurse]

2. You did that out of love for him.

Good for you. Wishing a dying person would linger longer for your own benefit is the least Christian thing I can imagine, but I saw it a lot in my job.

I once had an MD ask me if I would withhold aggressive treatment from a loved one. I told him I would and I had and I sleep just fine at night. I may have said that in my family we do not torture the elderly and terminally ill people.

I got my mother out of a hospital when they wanted to treat her for lung cancer. She could barely swallow, did not speak and had had several strokes and "there is no new medicine for her Parkinson's, we are out of options".
Thankfully I had the authority.

[cyclonefence]

4. My father had surgery and radiation for colon cancer

in 1983. Eight of 12 lymph nodes were cancerous. He got aggressive treatment and had another 15 good years. That part was done right.

Then the effects of the radiation caused bladder cancer, successfully treated with chemo. Another five good years.

When the bladder cancer recurred, there was no treatment except removal of the bladder, which I approved (my mother was by then deep in the toils of Alzheimer's). This was a bad decision.

He suffered greatly for the last year of his life, in and out of "rehab" and misery over having a urine bag. He came to live with us and I followed his lead on continuing treatment, which was miserable--turns out he was following *my* lead; we each were trying to do what we thought the other wanted. Finally on another trip to the ER (kidney failure) the doctor told him either my dad could be admitted for further treatment or he could be sent home. My father wanted to be taken to a nursing home out of concern for me; I told him "Daddy, we'll get you on hospice care and you can just ride this sled right down the hill. Plus, they'll give you morphine." He grinned and said "Let's go," and we did. He died in his bed in my family room within the week. It was peaceful and loving, the best outcome I could have imagined.

[Ilsa]

3. Bless you for a career in being a blessing to others.

I put my license on inactive after moving to a noncompact state, and I may do nursing again, but I don't really see it happening for me.

Anyway, you have to wonder about the limited life experience of someone who believes like Gorsuch. They must have been very sheltered or just don't care about the pain of others.

[TNNurse]

5. Perhaps the nicest compliment I ever received

was from a co-worker. She said if she or a family member was facing choices about whether to continue treatment of not, she would want me there to help. I was there when her son died and am glad that I was.

[yeoman6987]

6. I don't get his thinking here

His mother died of cancer 20+ years ago and I can't imagine she didn't suffer. Why would he want others to go through that. His mom could have died earlier without pain. Does he not love his mother enough to stop suffering?

[TNNurse]

8. Twisted beliefs

I met many people who literally tormented "loved ones" because they could not deal with losing them. I am surprised that I did not bite off the end of my tongue. I actually had a family member say about a person who was ventilator dependent (literally did not breathe if not on the machine) say "Well, where there is breath there is life". I had to leave the room in order to not scream. I was pretty direct with people and answered their questions honestly but I had to be calm to do it.

They actually think that being hooked to machines without the ability to breathe or have a blood pressure without medicine is life. All those wonderful treatments were created to keep someone alive to give them time to recover from something that is possible. They cannot fix a terminal condition.

Imagine the money that is made by futile treatments.

[yeoman6987]

12. Oh I know

My mom was on a ventilator and the doctors gave me a grave prognosis but did say they would do another operation and see what they could do. However even if the operation was a success, her quality of life would be shit. I called my bother and sister up and explained the situation and all 3 of us loved mom so much that we decided to take her off the ventilator and see what happens. She died in 3 minutes literally. Bottom line was she was not living but the ventilator was living for her. I have little regret over this decision because if she lived she would have killed all 3 of us due to her shitty and I mean shitty quality of life.

[CousinIT]

7. He is VILE. Assisted Suicide for the terminally ill and suffering shd be the law of the land.

I subscribe to Compassion & Choices which promotes this in every state. Few states have death with dignity laws. Please join them/us and help make this LEGAL in all states. Of course IDIOTS and torturers like this hideous creature could make it illegal everywhere but why make it easier for him?

https://www.compassionandchoices.org/

[TNNurse]

9. I appreciate your work

but you will not get those people on board with the word suicide. I prefer End of Life Care or Death with Dignity.

[safeinOhio]

10. I have saved up a stash of

Fatal drugs for years. They never go bad.

[TNNurse]

11. I knew lots of nurses

even young ones, who had a plan.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Abortion and euthanasia are tough choices that should be left to the individual.