<div>Wow thanks GreenBubble!<br> </div>
<div>My cousin just ended the good fight against cancer. She had "kicked it" and then headed back to work and it came back. So she called it quits at work. From there on, though, the fight was down hill. Rare was the good news. But she fought the good fight till the end. Thankfully died a peaceful death in the hospital.
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<div>My parents have always told us they do not want to be kept alive by machine. If they cannot operate a "normal" life they do not want to be kept alive via machine. As you can imagine this has given me an already pointed opinion. Many have accused me of being cold, but my opinion is from my parents desire not to be a vegetable in some bed.
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<div>I'd rather we see making the person's final days pleasent and enjoyable than keeping them under a needle futily.</div>
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<div>G-d bless you all!</div>
<div>Lance<br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/14/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List</b> <<a href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</a>> wrote:</span>
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<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Frank</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Allow me to present an opinion from the the perspective of an Orthodox Jew. (I speak only for myself, but I think that my opinions on the subject represent the rulings of the great rabbis of this generation.)
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<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Despite what anyone else says, our bodies do not belong to us. They are on loan from G-d for however long He sees fit to entrust them to us. We are given the responsibility to care for it and to keep it in good repair. We do not have the right to throw up our hands and stop taking care of it.
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<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">Under Torah Law, we are required to do anything and everything to keep a person alive -- regardless of the so-called quality of that life -- even for a few minutes. This includes violating the Shabbos or Kosher laws.
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<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">That said, when a course of treatment involves considerable risk and/or great pain, a person has the right to choose which path to take. With chemotherapy, in particular, you cannot know, beforehand, whether the chemo will extend life or cut it short. It
</font></span><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">is a race -- will the poison kill the cancer, or the person, first. </font></span><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="2">The person has to decide, together with his family, and in consultation with his rabbi, which way to go.
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<p dir="ltr" align="left"><font size="5"><font face="Script"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-us">greenBubble</span> </font></font></font></p></div>
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<div lang="en-us" dir="ltr" align="left"><font face="Tahoma"><font size="2"><b>From:</b> gcfl-discuss-bounces_milton.freund=<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:siemens.com@gcfl.net" target="_blank">
siemens.com@gcfl.net</a> [mailto:<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:gcfl-discuss-" target="_blank">gcfl-discuss-</a><span><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff"> </font></span></font></font>
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<div>Things have been rather quiet lately. I have a few thoughts that maybe would get a discussion going.</div>
<div>In the last little while we have had two neighbors die after long illnesses and many and long hospital stays and doctors visits. I now have a brother in law who is fighting a losing battle with prostate cancer. In each case there was no chance of recovery to full health.
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<div>The question I have is this: Should we run up huge hospital/doctor bills in and effort to stay alive when the illnesses are terminal? What would be appropriate or not appropriate? Who should make the decision--the person or the family or both?
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<div>I am struggling with this somewhat and would like to know your thoughts and maybe get some new insight.</div>
<div>Frank</div></span></div></div></blockquote></div>