PARIS (AP) - A woman who suffered from a painful facial tumor and had drawn headlines across France with her quest for doctor-assisted suicide was found dead Wednesday, an official said.
Chantal Sebire, a former schoolteacher and mother of three, was found at her home in the eastern French town of Plombieres-les-Dijon, a government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear.
Sebire, 52, was diagnosed nearly eight years ago with esthesioneuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer. The illness left her blind, and with no sense of smell or taste, her lawyer said. She could not use morphine to ease the intense eye pain because of the side effects.
On Monday, a court in the city of Dijon rejected Sebire's request to be allowed to receive a lethal dose of barbiturates under a doctor's supervision. It refused the request for doctor-assisted suicide because of French law and out of concern for medical ethics.
Sebire's case revived a debate in France about the right to die. She received national attention after the media published heartbreaking before-and-after pictures that made her suffering instantly apparent. The tumor had burrowed through her sinuses and nasal cavities, causing her nose to swell to several times its original size, and pushing one of her eyes out of her head.
Unlike in France, euthanasia is legal in both Belgium and the Netherlands, and Luxembourg is in the process of passing a law to allow it. In Switzerland, counselors or physicians can prepare the lethal dose, but patients must take it on their own.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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star2 "
If in the future you have a sickness that brings you unbearable pain and you want to end your life because of it, then that is your right to do so. You alone will bear the responsibility and the consequences of that decision."
Hopefully, euthanasia will be legalized and that if I am suffering from a painful terminal illness, I can then be humanely euthanized to end the suffering. The consequences of such a decision would be an end to suffering, if you are suggesting the "eternal torture treatment", logic & reason dictate that that is not likely.
scitsonga
If in the future you have a sickness that brings you unbearable pain and you want to end your life because of it, then that is your right to do so. You alone will bear the responsibility and the consequences of that decision.
In the future euthanasia will be legalized with the safegards of insuring that it is up to the individual to make that decision. But be assured of this that that will change overtime and your right to live will be given to another person, whether it be your family, the attending doctor(s) or the governement.
Some of you really dont get it. Its really quite simple- mind your own business. Euthanasia, when it becomes legal, which in time it will, because logic & reason will prevail. If your religion and world-view believe it to wrong to end ones life, then euthanasia would not be an option for you. Fine. great for you, but your world-view and religious beliefs should not limit my freedom to choose for myself. There in lies the problem, many religious folks are so zealous in their beliefs, that they believe they know the "truths" for all and thereby attempt to impose their beliefs on all others. Thus the reason I visit CP, to keep an eye on those that attempt to break down the separation of church and state in an attempt to limit my freedoms.
man1 "and by the way minding my own business would be fine but what about you minding your own business? I don't want it legal, your opinion is you want it legal....hey pot this is kettle"
Being legal would not affect you , being illegal does affect me. You statement is illogical.
star "Euthanasia, in my opinion, is man wanting to play "god" in his life or someone else's life and should not be allowed."
No, its using the tools mans has developed to end senseless suffering.....Besides, mans "plays god" everyday through the development of technology to advance mankind otherwise we would still be living in caves and scratching out a living meager existence on the savannah.
and by the way minding my own business would be fine but what about you minding your own business? I don't want it legal, your opinion is you want it legal....hey pot this is kettle
"the necessary safe guards can be put in place to insure that its up to the individual."
Do you really believe this? what if the individual can't speak or write?
"I do not want you, your or anyones religion imposing their beliefs on me. Its really quite simple on matters such as these, mind your own business. If euthanasia is wrong for you,then dont do it, but stop imposing your beliefs on others. " concerning this point of view if it becomes legal, what is to stop a doctor from doing the "humane thing" and ordering it for someone. I've been in the hospital with more than one person dying in front of me and I have seen first hand how doctors and nurses already push the "peaceful passing" of loved ones by doping them with morphine and adavan which is a cocktail strong enough to slow your breathing enough to where you suffocate...only difference is you can't move and show any signs of discomfort...do you have any idea what kind of torture it would be to slowly suffocate and not be able to respond?
scitsonga
Whether euthanasia is right or wrong or whether it should be allowed in our society or not depends on your worldview. According to your worldview I can see how you would reason that there is nothing wrong with it. After all, if there is no afterlife and no accountability to a supreme being, then who cares when your life ends. A person owns their life and he/she has a right to end it if that is what he/she wants to do.
If this is basically how you see it, then certaintly the example you gave of your friend who was immobilized in a hospital for 4 months dying from cancer of her spine would lend itself to the need to legalize doctor assisted suicide.
However, from my worldview, a Biblical worldview, I don't think that euthanasia should be legalized. Personally, I believe that it is wrong for someone to kill themselves regardless of the method and the reason;that there is a God, the creator of all things, who we all are accountable to who does punish those who have rebelled agianst Him with eternal damnation. However, I will leave my opinion there for the time being since it is not the argument that I have against euthanasia.
The laws that control the behavior of our society is either going to be controlled by your kind of worldview, and again from your perspective I can understand why you feel that way, or something along the lines of a worldview that finds self-murder repulsive and the compromise of ethical values of physicans having to destroy a life that they took an oath to try to save.
Overtime, I believe man will adopt laws that allow for euthanasia. At first, I am sure there will be "the necessary safe guards can be put in place to insure that its up to the individual." However, like all laws of this nature, they will be changed to allow for someone outside of the individual to intervene and impose their wishes on the termianally ill. Then the law will eventually be expanded to include those who society deem unfit or is in some kind of way a burden to society. Eventually the law will allow someone to decide that the elderly need to go, the mentally, intellectuall, and physcially handicap need to go, and etc.
This kind of thing happened with the abortion laws. At first the laws were somewhat limited to when a woman could have an abortion. I think, though I may be wrong, a woman could only have an abortion in the first tri-mester. This of course is not the case anymore. A woman can abort her child even when the child is coming out of the birth canal.
Euthanasia, in my opinion, is man wanting to play "god" in his life or someone else's life and should not be allowed.
1man "Ending pain in this life will not save you from pain in the next if you are not born again."
I am not "born again" and the notion of post life eternal torture defies reason & logic. If you want to believe in that stuff, fine. I don't. It should be up to the individual to decide on whether euthanasia is right for them; not you, not the church nor the state. I do not want you, your or anyones religion imposing their beliefs on me. Its really quite simple on matters such as these, mind your own business. If euthanasia is wrong for you,then dont do it, but stop imposing your beliefs on others.
"pandora's box could be opened involving the influence of euthanasia."
the necessary safe guards can be put in place to insure that its up to the individual.
A close friend was immobilized in a hospital bed for 4 months, in pain and paralyzed with cancer of the spine. I dont think she had a way to commit suicide even though all she wanted was death to take away the pain. Suicide can be quite messy and many times does not work. How about this, let the individual decide when they are ready for a peaceful and dignified death thru legalized and human euthanasia......
I think the fear behind this is that this will be taken farther than necessary...the ramifications of this could spread to those who don't want to die but are of no use to those who are entrusted with their care.....(I hate to use this example but Terri Schiavo) isn't just involving whether or not she was a vegetable; pandora's box could be opened involving the influence of euthanasia. I am hearing of a story now on K-Love about a man that was declared "brain dead" with no action or response for 6 months yet recently moved his hands and was released from care. What if brain dead meant no hope? well it doesn't. Hope is the reason that many have not ended someone's life or sometimes even allow them to take their own. Ending pain in this life will not save you from pain in the next if you are not born again. Some see this as concession in removing man's value.....that is my opinion.
star2,
A close friend was immobilized in a hospital bed for 4 months, in pain and paralyzed with cancer of the spine. I dont think she had a way to commit suicide even though all she wanted was death to take away the pain. Suicide can be quite messy and many times does not work. How about this, let the individual decide when they are ready for a peaceful and dignified death thru legalized and human euthanasia.
scitsonga
People end their life everyday (suicide) without the aid of a doctor. Why can't the terminally ill do the same? They don't need a doctor to kill themselves..
Situations like Ms. Sebire is the reason that euthanasia should be legalized. I know people that have suffered terribly from terminal cancer, all they wanted was death. Unfortunately that option was not available to them, even with pain medications, there was intense pain for long periods of time before they finally died. For me, if I were terminally ill, just knowing I have the option to be euthanized if the pain became too great would be a comfort to me. I hope that euthanasia becomes legal should I ever need it. Most of us don't think twice about ending the suffering of our pets, yet require humans to suffer long, dreadful, painful deaths. Doesn't make much sense to me.
I saw the pictures of before and after, it was pretty terrible. I cannot even imagine the pain she was going through. CNN said that this has even shaken the RCC's position on euthanasia. I will be praying for her soul.