Share Your Ideas, Insights On This Tragic Problem
Most of us are luckier than Deborah Rockstrom.
Most of us are spared the stress, pain and torment that apparently led Rockstrom to actions most of us, lacking her experiences, would deem unthinkable.
Police reports say Rockstrom suffocated and fatally drugged her severely disabled daughter, the victim of an accidental gunshot wound to the brain.
Bagpipes readers are being enlisted to share their experiences and their views. This isn’t just about mercy killing; it’s about understanding and easing the pressures felt in households where a loved one, of any age, has diminished capacities and round-the-clock care needs.
For every Deborah Rockstrom there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands who endure similar conditions without resorting to such desperate measures.
People whose vigorous, alert loved ones wither. People with no way of knowing if those loved ones want to die - or whose personal values wouldn’t let them comply anyway. People who feel intense guilt just for wanting a break from the unrelenting demands of perpetual care-giving.
Love, exasperation, hopelessness - often they’re ingredients for tragedy.
Bagpipes is looking for creative ideas and for personal insights. How does it feel? What resources are missing, or misused? How can a friend or neighbor help? How can the law be improved?
Call or fax your thoughts as explained below. Representative responses will be published Thursday.
Choosing, abusing and excusing
Public opinion gets results. Rage over highway slaughter has produced a decline in drunken driving. Awareness of the hazards of smoking, including the second-hand variety, has produced a decline in smoking (except, sadly, among teenagers).
No, those practices haven’t been eliminated, just reduced.
So, a weekend news story noted that a north Spokane bar ranks No. 1 in the state for the number of drunken drivers who tell police that was the last place they drank. And, smokers around the nation are joining in a class action lawsuit against the cigarette makers whose product, they contend, has harmed them.
Who’s accountable for these social problems, the abusers or the industries that profit from the abuse? Share your opinions with Bagpipes.
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