Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Euthanasia.
Just got home from work. Yeah, it was 4 hours, but I'd love to see anyone do 4 hours of just changing incontinence pads and not feel a bit sick from seeing too much poo.
Anyway, I've always been curious about euthanasia. We've talked about it ad nauseum in our bloody ethics class about weather it is ethical or not - and it always comes back to 'the law says no'. But just some interesting stuff about euthanasia:
* In Australia, it's illegal. But there was a statistic going around at my placement that they did a survey of GPs in Victoria. The survey said that 60% of all GPs said that they have assisted in a suicide = euthanasia.
* In 1995, the Northern Territory legalised euthanasia, but as it is a territory of Australia and not a state - and does not have sovereignty in making laws - it was overruled by the Federal Government. Some cases did get through and plenty of people from around Australia were lining up to get in.
Now in all honesty, I don't know where I stand about euthanasia.
On one hand, I see with absolute regularity people who are pretty much vegetables. They can't talk, move, write, "enjoy life" (that's subjective) or engage with others on any level. They just wear a nappy, get washed every day and are just waiting to die. Is that sad? Totally.
But if these people had the choice to have an advanced directive and have written in there to be euthanaised, would they? Who knows. But should the choice be readily available to them in that directive?
Yes, that choice should be there.
In the Scriptures it talks about the body being a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that your body is God's, I think... 1 Corinthians, it's somewhere in there. Also, patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. So I don't think suicide is the option.
But what happens when your body is at a point of emaciation where you can't do anything? You're just a Terry Schiavo, in a persistent vegetative state and can't do anything and it's 99.99999% likely you'll never recover and suffer pain for the next year (or even 5, 10, 20 years) and never talk again? Would you want to take your own life if the choice was there?
I have no idea where to stand. The choice should be there but it's a massive slippery slope.
I don't know. This is another rant. Blah. Just let me know what you think.
Anyway, I've always been curious about euthanasia. We've talked about it ad nauseum in our bloody ethics class about weather it is ethical or not - and it always comes back to 'the law says no'. But just some interesting stuff about euthanasia:
* In Australia, it's illegal. But there was a statistic going around at my placement that they did a survey of GPs in Victoria. The survey said that 60% of all GPs said that they have assisted in a suicide = euthanasia.
* In 1995, the Northern Territory legalised euthanasia, but as it is a territory of Australia and not a state - and does not have sovereignty in making laws - it was overruled by the Federal Government. Some cases did get through and plenty of people from around Australia were lining up to get in.
Now in all honesty, I don't know where I stand about euthanasia.
On one hand, I see with absolute regularity people who are pretty much vegetables. They can't talk, move, write, "enjoy life" (that's subjective) or engage with others on any level. They just wear a nappy, get washed every day and are just waiting to die. Is that sad? Totally.
But if these people had the choice to have an advanced directive and have written in there to be euthanaised, would they? Who knows. But should the choice be readily available to them in that directive?
Yes, that choice should be there.
In the Scriptures it talks about the body being a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that your body is God's, I think... 1 Corinthians, it's somewhere in there. Also, patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. So I don't think suicide is the option.
But what happens when your body is at a point of emaciation where you can't do anything? You're just a Terry Schiavo, in a persistent vegetative state and can't do anything and it's 99.99999% likely you'll never recover and suffer pain for the next year (or even 5, 10, 20 years) and never talk again? Would you want to take your own life if the choice was there?
I have no idea where to stand. The choice should be there but it's a massive slippery slope.
I don't know. This is another rant. Blah. Just let me know what you think.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Ugh
It's like a truck hit me today when I was told that an assignment was due at the end of this week, not next week. Great.
Oh well, just more work to be done. Have placement over the next 2 days and I'm not sure what to think about that. I hope it does fly by, though. I hate it when it drags.
Oh well, just more work to be done. Have placement over the next 2 days and I'm not sure what to think about that. I hope it does fly by, though. I hate it when it drags.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Life sans-Facebook
It feels good right now. I've been getting a lot done. Goes to show how much time I've wasted over the past 3 years on that site. I still have Twitter, but it's hardly as much fun as Facebook. So yeah, feels good for now.
Submitting Ethics assignment now. 1 out of 3 done. Got my Reflective Crap for Nursing 3 to do now (2000 words, all referenced) and then the Nursing Group Presentation (20 minutes) then a Psychology test on the same day (online, 100 questions = 3ish hours), then my last 2 days of clinical placement, then Miranda's here!
Stressful? Nah. It's a CHALLENGE. *plays inspirational music*
Submitting Ethics assignment now. 1 out of 3 done. Got my Reflective Crap for Nursing 3 to do now (2000 words, all referenced) and then the Nursing Group Presentation (20 minutes) then a Psychology test on the same day (online, 100 questions = 3ish hours), then my last 2 days of clinical placement, then Miranda's here!
Stressful? Nah. It's a CHALLENGE. *plays inspirational music*
Lots of uni work.
I got my second High Distinction from uni but my first in an assignment which is worth over 50% of the total mark for a subject. Did I deserve it? Honestly, no.
I rambled so much in that essay and talked a load of crap. I wrote it in half a day. It's somewhat incoherent in some parts. I read it now and it still doesn't make sense. But somehow I got 100%, as the lecturer told me. How I did it, I don't know. Heck, I'm not exactly nice in her class anyway so it's not like I'm the teachers pet.
I've got a lot of uni work ahead of me over the next 2 weeks so it's going to be guns blazing for these fingers. Maybe my knack to write total and utter crap is an asset. Maybe I should be a sports journalist. Winningest.
Speaking of 'winningest', I think that word should be blown up. I'd never heard of the word until I hit the US, and even then it's only used in sports writing. I do read the sports 'section' of the 'Tiser here, but I've never once read it used here. Why?
BECAUSE IT'S A STUPID WORD.
I rambled so much in that essay and talked a load of crap. I wrote it in half a day. It's somewhat incoherent in some parts. I read it now and it still doesn't make sense. But somehow I got 100%, as the lecturer told me. How I did it, I don't know. Heck, I'm not exactly nice in her class anyway so it's not like I'm the teachers pet.
I've got a lot of uni work ahead of me over the next 2 weeks so it's going to be guns blazing for these fingers. Maybe my knack to write total and utter crap is an asset. Maybe I should be a sports journalist. Winningest.
Speaking of 'winningest', I think that word should be blown up. I'd never heard of the word until I hit the US, and even then it's only used in sports writing. I do read the sports 'section' of the 'Tiser here, but I've never once read it used here. Why?
BECAUSE IT'S A STUPID WORD.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Graffiti.
I love graffiti art. It's so fluid, urban and chaotic. It's also vivid and - at least for me - peaceful.
Going to uni in the city for a year and a bit meant I'd see a boatload of simply amazing graffiti down the alleyways and side streets of Adelaide, and I honestly miss it. Now the council have their lovely and geriatric Graffiti Removal Unit, the city is clean, spotless - lifeless.
Oh and I mean true graffiti art, not just tags like this crap stuff:
Yuck. Also, it's easy to write a tag - it takes 2 seconds, hence the incomprehensibility of what has been written. Graffiti art can take days to do and looks amazing in the finished product.
Seeing business like pizza bars, deli's, real small businesses that employ graffiti artists to jazz up one side of their otherwise white wall of the exterior of their building make them look fresh, funky and bloody terrific.
I wonder what the other half will think of my love for this...
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