Cancer Treatment Options Forum - April 15th, 2011 - 13 Comments
Is refusing chemo. for cancer considered to be a form of suicide ?
Example . . . An adult person is told that they have cancer that will spread and they’ll die if they don’t receive life saving treatment…i.e. chemo treatment, operation to remove cancer effected area, etc. That person receives news that they have cancer and they make thought out choice not to receive any life saving treatments as they are at peace with life, overall happy yet also open and ready to "move on" to the Light . . . to be back more fully with the One Light (God).
Would it matter if that person was in the 20 – 30, 40 – 50, or older age range ?
Not a supporter or believer that’s it’s okay to take ones own life through means of suicide. Yet, a person receiving information that they have cancer (or any other very severe illness) and they make choice not to receive any life saving treatments . . . would that be considered wrong to do in the minds of "society " or "wrong" in the view of the One Light (God) ?
That person discovering they had cancer would seek out operation for pains, broken bones, etc. and would take medicine for diabetis, blood preasure, etc. Yet that same person would not seek treatment for life saving treatments if it was discovered they had cancer or such. Thoughts on that ?
This is not a " religious" belief question as I understand that some religions don’t believe in medical intervention. This is more of a personally thought and moral question.
Any references, on-line sites or examples about any persons who chose not to seek out life saving procedures when they discovered that they had cancer or such ?
.
.
"Energyar…" I’ve heard that story of the man on the roof, etc. The man was on the roof calling out for God to save him and he refused aid from boat, helecopter, etc. That’s different as person with cancer was not calling out for God to save them…The man on the roof in that story was.
.
.
" ang-arch and D.A.M. . . . Choice to refuse chemo. would not be because worry about the chemo. side effects, the process or that it would cure or not. Refusal of treatment would simply be for reason that person feels at peace with life, is generally happy and at peace with thought of moving on to be one with the One Light (God) again. . . . Question here is more moral thoughts regarding a decision to refuse treatment or not.
.
No, my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer and she opted not to take chemo. She took what she needed for pain as it progressed but she didn’t want to live her last bit of time constantly in the hospital as she knew she wasn’t going to survive it. I don’t believe non treatment or treatment frustrates God’s will. If it had been God’s will for her to live, she would have.
Well no because you could be having faith in God to heal you.
I would say no. Suicide would be taking some positive action to end one’s life. Abstaining from action is not suicide.
ok so there’s this story that goes something like:
a man was trapped on the roof of his home during a great flood. a man in a boat passed and offered to help but he replied that his faith would most certainly save him. a helicopter then passed hours later as the water rose to his toes and dropped a rope. he waved them away believing that God would not forget to save him…. etc. so finally he drowned and when he awoke in front of the pearly gates, he was not at all pleased and asked God, "Why did you not come to my aid?" to which God replied, "Whatever do you mean?! I sent you a boat AND a helicopter…" just something to think about
No.
If chemo were guaranteed to work and death was guaranteed without it, you would have to ask if the person was suicidal. Given that there are adverse effects, avoidance of those effects might be a rational choice in that scenario.
Given that no such guarantees exist, refusing chemotherapy might be a sign of suicidality, but there may be other reasons — sound or unsound.
My father refused treatment for his brain cancer. It had nothing to do with religious reasoning. He was 50. He died 6 weeks after diagnosis.
I respect what someone feels they must do. It was his body, his life, his choice. I’d say the same for anyone else.
I don’t believe we have the right though to choose for someone else.
No. Principles of Bioethics demand that the autonomy of the patient be held as an equal good to beneficence (doing what you think is best for the patient). By itself, refusal of treatment is not automatically supported, however. A person who does so will need to be examined by psychiatric experts to determine that person’s mental competence to underatand and make an informed choice.
No sin in "letting nature take its course" so to speak. That’s far different than actually putting a gun to your head or poison in your veins. That would be actively ending a life. But entrusting whatever time you have left (because of cancer or whatever other reason) to God is a personal decision. As you said, if the person has peace with God about it….. It’s only in very recent history that people have any power to do anything whatever about it, and to choose not to do it "is only natural" or "going with the flow" or accepting God’s will.
If the treatment is life saving , to refuse is foolish…….all knowledge and wisdom come from God, so there is no reason why treatment which was discovered by God-given knowledge should be rejected
I suppose you could look at it that way if your reason for not doing chemo is that you WANT to die, but for the most part it is either based in the belief that you’re going to die anyway and would rather do it without having to go through chemo, or that you will be healed in some other way. In that case it would not be considered suicide in my opinion.
taking chemo treatments for cancer doesn’t mean you are cured,
the treatments can make you very sick and weak, cause hair loss, loss of appetite, can cause depression among a long list of other side effects and still doesn’t guarantee that you will survive……so i would have to say that if a person declines treatment..then that is their decision and does not mean that they are trying to commit suicide.
i think that stands true to any "adult" age range.
i think that if i had to make that kind of decision….im leaning more toward no treatment….just depends on what type it is.
i have witnessed a couple of my friends die after treatments…but i have also seen a couple of them recieve treatment and survive….tough decision!
Why are they refusing treatment? Is it because they want to die or they just don’t think going through chemo is worth it?
Interesting question…my mom made this choice nearly 12 years ago.
She was 63 when she had a hysterectomy after her doctor discovered a uterine tumor. Following surgery, the doctor informed her that she had a somewhat rare form of uterine cancer that’s particularly aggressive…and that it had already moved through the uterine walls into her abdomen (and other organs) before surgery. They didn’t catch it in time.
The prognosis wasn’t good…six weeks to six months without treatment. Treatment would need to be extremely aggressive…very strong combination of chemotherapy drugs plus radiation for at least six months…with less than a 50% chance of remission AND a 50-70% chance of relapse within a year following treatment.
My mom wasn’t in the best of health to begin with…she was at least 100 pounds overweight, high blood pressure, pre-diabetic, hypoglycemic, etc… She made the decision that she would rather live her life to the fullest for a few more months and die at home than gamble on a treatment that could make the rest of her life miserable (with much of it spent in a hospital).
She refused chemotherapy and instead sought out alternative treatments (e.g., diet)…and she asked God to heal her if it was his will. Then she put it in his hands and went on with her life.
She and my father starting spending more time together…and they did a lot of traveling to places my mom had always wanted to see (or visit again)…Vancouver, Maine, San Diego (they went to the zoo)…she went to a family reunion and reconnected with one of her sisters and tried to mend fences with her mom and another sister. She had fun redecorating her house and buying new clothes (as she lost weight due to the cancer and the new diet…the first one she ever stuck to!).
…and God gave her nearly 18 months of this wonderful journey before the cancer finally kept her largely confined to the house for the last month of her life…and when she died in October 1998, she died at home as she wanted to do.
I accepted her decision. I don’t believe it is suicide to allow a disease to run its course even if a treatment is available…and when that treatment is as controversial as chemotherapy and radiation (killing healthy cells to kill the cancer cells seems to go against the principle of "first, do no harm"), it may represent a decision NOT to commit suicide via the treatment!
HOWEVER, you may have just helped me gain a little more insight into the reasons my brother still hasn’t forgiven her for that decision…nearly 10 years after her death, he is still so angry at her for "not fighting for her life". I understand why he thought it was the wrong decision…he’s a risk taker (gambler) by nature and viewed the slim chance that she would live five years with treatment as worth the risk of dying in a hospital five or six months into treatment…my mom was the opposite of a gambler (whatever that is). Now I’m wondering if some of his anger stems from fear that she made the wrong decision in the eyes of God too.
Thanks for giving me something new to ponder (and pray about).