X-Message-Number: 12010 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: a comment about pain and its alleviation Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 23:00:44 +1000 (EST) About suicide: One point that most people talking about alleviation of pain quite characteristically fail to understand is that there are far worse pains than those which can be alleviated by physical means. To know that you are helpless is painful in that way. To know that you are likely to soon die is also painful in that way. And such pains cannot be alleviated simply by adroit use of current painkillers. In fact, for someone who has actually faced the possibility of death, the entire notion of alleviating pain by careful use of painkillers is completely half-assed. The people of Oregon may know this much better than their legislators --- or than those in the US Congress. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12010