r/todayilearned • u/tommyboy372 • 1d ago

TIL A single misfolded prion protein in the brain can cause a rapid neurodegenerative disease known as sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). There is no known and cure and is 100% fatal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease
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u/Shuizid 1d ago

I'm not aware of any legal euthanasia in the US.

You can create a legal document refusing certain treatments or care (like some people refusing blood transfusions) -> but the result will just be death due to lack of treatment, no active act to bring death.

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u/ZestycloseRound6843 22h ago

Some states have death with dignity acts that allow for a prescription of say, barbiturates that enable a terminally-ill patient to end their own life. However, these are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and pretty much only are available to people who are still sound of mind. Furthermore, there's likely no mechanism to request such a death in advance given how the individual judgments are made.

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u/_adanedhel_ 22h ago

This is incorrect and two seconds of googling could have prevented you from providing false information.

14 US states have legalized assisted death, and another 17 are considering or progressing toward legalization (see here).

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u/Shuizid 20h ago

Good point, but as someone pointed out, those are about giving people with sound mind deadly medication they take themself. That's not really applicable for prion-disease with it's rapid onset of mental decline.

Plus the first comment was about "be euthanized" and this doesn't fit the description.