Given the fact of our mortality, whether we want it or not, aren’t we all members of a Date with Death Club?
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“Last words—it doesn’t happen like the movies. That’s not how patients die.” — Bob Parker
“We are notorious for ignoring and denying death; we keep death out of sight and out of mind, postponing any serious considerations until death comes knocking at our door. This approach inevitably leaves us unprepared and frightened when we are faced with our own mortality. We seldom get around to asking ourselves seriously,“Will my death be good? Will it be wise? Will it matter?”
“We’re literally legislating what states of life are worth protecting, which is very, very similar to the abortion debate.”
What is death? In a post Roe world, right to life groups may have some new thoughts on this.
It should be clear, as we argued in the first part of this two-part post, that the word “suicide” is not always appropriate. In this second part of our post, we offer a candidate word.
The distress and pain that surrounds the suicide of a healthy person is different in kind and in degree from the distress and pain of the hastened death of a dying person. Vocabularies need to account for the difference between a killing and a death.
I hope others might be inspired to hold frank and open conversations about fundamental questions most of us will face. It would be so much less lonely for us all.
Your emotional reaction to a dread disease diagnosis can have major implications for whether your treatment preferences will be accepted.
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