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Sat 17 May, 2003 03:25 pm
My family felt that deathbed promises were a form of emotional blackmail to be eschewed by the dying and held non-binding by the living.
I have seen several Websites devoted to exacting deathbed promises by putting them in writing and having them witnessed.
What do you feel about Deathbed Promises? Will you make them? Do you honor them?
Noddy, I would hope I would never attempt to extract a deathbed promise from those I love. I think it is very selfish, unless of course, the dying person is trying to protect someone he/she loves.
There was a woman in Ireland who was dying, she made her sons promise they would not throw their retarded brother out on the street after she died, they said they would not.
Well, as the story goes, they did throw their brother out, and as Irish tales go, the mother came back and haunted them by destroying all the furniture, breaking all the mirrors, and destroyed the house.
Of course, we all know how Irish tales go:)
If a person were on his/her deathbed, I would not get into arguments with him/her. Once they are gone, I would use my judgment about the situation. I certainly would not be consider myself bound by making a promise to a dying person out of kindness for their situation.
If I were dying, I would NEVER manipulate a person to promise something that they would agree to just because I were dying. that ain't cricket!
I'd asked my clergy person.
In the law, statements made while dying or when the speaker believe s/he was going to die (even if s/he made a full recovery) are considered to be one of the standard exceptions to the Hearsay rule and, hence, are admissable in court, assuming they follow other applicable evidentiary rules (e. g. relevancy).
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