(Famed American political commentator George F. Will – an author and libertarian-conservative columnist for The Washington Post – raised eyebrows earlier this year when he penned two pieces in support of Medical Aid in Dying. Will, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977, was once called “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America” by The Wall Street Journal. He and the Post gave FEN permission to lead with his first column [Opinion: Medical aid in dying should not be proscribed by society’s laws or condemned by its mores], and the second column is linked in his first piece. – Jay Niver, editor)
Late last year, at 3 a.m. in what is a now-normal night, Kim Hoffman awoke with “an unbelievable headache.” These are related to the 30 brain lesions, and the steroids needed to reduce the swelling of the brain. After dawn that day, she said, speaking by phone from her home in Glastonbury, Conn., “I felt a new neck lesion.” She has so many skin lesions that “it feels as though my skin is being torn like someone has a serrated knife.” What began as ovarian cancer has, she said, metastasized to “both breasts, my right lung, the lining of my spine, and many lymph nodes.” She says, “I’m a pretty sick puppy.”
When she was 16 and “a car broadsided me while I was on my bike,” her injuries were “really, really painful.” Then, however, “I knew I was going to live. The difference here is I’m not going to get better. And the pain is indescribably worse.”
Paywall prevents reading…
Unable to read the full column as it’s blocked by a pay wall at Washington Post. 🙁
Full access to both stories may depend upon the browser you use. The first of Will’s two columns has a solicitation at bottom, but the story can be fully read by scrolling through the text and ignoring to plug to subscribe. The second column (linked in the first) may have an immovable paywall that prevents access, but it will be reposted next week, hopefully with easier access. – Jay Niver, Editor
Many thanks to George Will for personally making these two columns available to The Good Death Society Blog. Doing so, clearly and courageously, demonstrates his support for the freedom of people to choose to die on their own terms. Seven out of ten Americans agree with him. Gallup public opinion polls show that a broad majority of Americans, 72%, believe that doctors should be legally allowed, at a patient’s and a family’s request, to painlessly end a terminally ill patient’s life. Mr. Will’s advocacy for Medical-Aid-in-Dying, as a leading conservative/libertarian, makes it clear that end-life autonomy is a cause that transcends political differences.
Excellent heart-rending statement. It amazes me that religions that demand religious freedom
seem to have no hesitation to impose their beliefs on others who are suffering and want nothing
more than a good-enough death. So, too the communitarians who express a social interest in keeping
terminally ill people alive in a condition they consider worse than death, but do relatively little to
address the mass suffering resulting from multiple forms social and economic exploitation;
I am thrilled that medical aid in dying is gaining popular support, and I hope that all among us
who might want to use it one day will do everything in their power to expand its availability.