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.
“We have a long way to go to educate the public about choices in dying, about defining ‘life’, and about making the end less agonizing for patients and their families.”
When a friend once confessed, “Jim, I don’t think I could do what you’re doing,” I immediately blurted, “I don’t think I could not do what I’m doing!”
A friend’s .357 “solution” reinforced his decision to learn from right-to-die groups.
“Medical aid in dying should not be proscribed by society’s laws or condemned by its mores.”
People with disabilities speak up for MAiD; some “rights” groups would deny them choice.
Passing a MAiD law is hard enough. Then try to implement it.
