son who is suffering might not be able to stand the pain anymore.On the other hand, there might be some families who are hurting just because their loved one is suffering. The families of the terminally ill patients might act as an influencing factor mainly because they do not want to see a person, whom they love very much, suffer. If a person is in such agonizing pain, their family wants nothing more than to stop that pain. “Years ago when physicians ran out of superficial veins into which they could insert their needles, they did cutdowns, minor surgery to expose for their ministration the deep veins in their ankles and armpits.” (Peck 8) This procedure since then has become obsolete. But in this book I found an example of a mans reaction when his grandmother had this procedure done, Putting myself in the role of resident physicianIn charge of the case, I can only wonder, “whyIn Gods earth should I bother to try to stick a needleIn yet another vein in this poor eighty-four-year-oldWomen who is apparently senile, who probably wontsurvive anyway, and who, if by some miracle she should survive, clearly wont be any good for anythinganyway?” It seemed to me at the time of my visit that they should have pulled the plug (8).This reaction clearly illustrates the families pain in watching their loved ones suffer. They would rather end the suffering than have their loved one around for a little while longer.There is also the cost of keeping individuals on life-support systems when there is no quality of life. Many times, the individuals are in a coma and can live a long time, being totally unaware of their surroundings. Sometimes a family spends their entire life savings keeping someone alive. This takes a mental toll also, having to decide when to visit and the feelings of guilt that more cannot be done. The Hemlock Society is an organization that was established in 1980 by Derek Humphry. They support "voluntary eu...
