Before Tom Keane lectures Massachusetts voters about the “worries” of physician assisted suicide (“Kevorkian comes to town,” Op-ed, Aug. 26), he should sit at the bedside of a loved one with a terminal diagnosis who wishes to pass on for whatever reason, whether it is quality of life, pain, or lack of mobility. I bet he would no longer fear “greedy heirs,” malevolent insurance companies, and the understandable ambiguity of a doctor’s estimate of how long one has to live. Instead, he would wish the loved one had control over his or her final moments, including when and where those final moments end.
Having watched both of my parents succumb to cancer-related illness, I find it abhorrent that neither of them had an easy way to choose when it was their time to pass. They might not have chosen to self-administer a prescription for life-ending medication, but shouldn’t they have had the option?
Comments
I think the psychological dynamics of the dying process can easily become much more complex than the proponents of this bill realize. I've also been through watching two immediate family members succumb to cancer-related illness. When it was my father, who was able to die in his own home (as I had promised him) because I was there to take care of him, I had to contend with relentless pressure from other family members and a social worker to put him in a nursing home -- "Why are you putting yourself through all that? It's idiotic!" I also had to contend with the way that some in the medical establishment start pushing family members to "let go" without taking the time to understand what's going on at particular decision points. I'm very concerned that we may, over time, create a culture in which the patient and the family are pressured away from going through the messiness and inconvenience of the final days of the natural dying process -- a culture in which many people believe that only selfish people put their loved ones through diaper-changing and everything else that comes with in-home hospice, and in which the dying person is encouraged to see him or herself as a burden on the family, a problem that can easily be solved with a little pill. The cheerful idea that this bill will give everyone "free choice" seems oversimplistic to me.
KarenvH: your response was very thought provoking. I, like the letter writer, generally feel it should be up to the person dying to have control over their end if they wish. My mom, if the dementia had not taken over, would most definitely have chosen to take that option and my husband never really wanted to die so he would not even want to discuss it. I see your point about forcing people to believe they have to take the life-ending option to "save" their families. It's just that as the survivor I would always want them alive and would want to keep them around for a little longer. The choice lets them have control separate from my wants and needs. There is a part of society that will always exploit situations to their benefit, and that will need to be addressed. But to deny people a highly desired option (one that I know my sister and brother would both utilize should it come to that; me, not so much)to prevent the possibility of something bad happening doesn't feel fair to me.