Panel Day

After hearing the panelists the other day, i have grasped a deeper knowledge of P.A.S and how it's perceived by different people. Dr. Babbott, a retired medical doctor at Fletcher Allen Hospital, talked about interesting views of P.A.S. Instead of just falling to one side, he used the law to determine which side he favored. For example, if the state didn't allow physician assisted suicide then Dr. Babbott did not agree with P.A.S in that state, though if it was permitted in another state he did agree with the practice of P.A.S. Personally, I was looking for a general yes or no response to the topic from most of the panelists but it was intriguing to hear how the law had a lot of influence on some of their decisions. Dr. Macaulay, had a different perspective. He thought that P.A.S is unpractical in today's society. Although it is a huge aspect from some people, there is such a small portions of people that are actually in a situation which P.A.S is an option. From a practical view, i completely agree with him. There are so many other bigger problems we have than P.A.S. I do think that P.A.S should be an option but it shouldn't be a main problem in our society. Dr. Babbott brought with him another panelists, Marnie Wood. She had no medical background but had an inspirational story of her life that related to P.A.S. In short, her sister had ALS and Marnie had to take care of her till she died. And the thought of having P.A.S as an option almost relieved her. It's interesting to view this type of scenario because I've been in a similar one but it was opposite to what Marnie was thinking. My grandfather had parkinson's and my family never knew if tomorrow would be his last day. However, my mom, who made most of the decisions, wanted to be with him as long as she could even though my grandfather wasn't the same person as he used to be at that state of being. I feel it really depends on your background and your emotions that pulls you toward one decision than another. I very much enjoyed hearing the panelists views on the topic, they were most knowledgeable.