8 years ago
5
'No One Should Have The Right To Prolong My Death'
Jennifer Glass was a newlywed when she was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. "I'm doing everything I can to extend my life," she says, while advocating for a right-to-die law in California.
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I saw both of my parents die from cancer. My father died from pancreatic cancer, slowly suffocating while fully conscious. You could see the terror in his eyes as he struggled to take one more breath. My mother died after four years of being completely disabled due to paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration, again slowly suffocating to death. I think it is barbaric that we let people go through this when there are alternatives. What's the point of living a few more days so you can go through a horrible agony?
This is changing, however slowly.
If you wish to die, do so. Why make it an issue?
Primarily because the logistics of ending your life if you are that bad off generally involve another person doing something to facilitate it. Many jurisdictions will spend varying amounts of time and money going after those facilitators. Simply publishing guides on how to request the right drugs that make it easy from your doctor have even been the subject of legal inquiry. As with most real issues in the US, it varies widely by state with some having some physician assisted provisions, while others still have felony suicide statutes on the books.
Don't make it sound more difficult than it is. If one is determined then he/she is dead. Just not all have the luxury of ease and convenience of the death of choice. If one can communicate then he/she can control any form of unwanted medical treatment(s). The list of available chemicals to summon death is endless as are their applications.