A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit (Right to Die)

The New York Times ^ | February 5, 2008 | JANE E. BRODY

[SubGeniusX]

After reading the Personal Health column on Nov. 27 on preventing geriatric suicide, Gloria C. Phares, a 93-year-old retired teacher in Missouri, wrote:

“I was healthy until 90, and then Boom! Atrial fibrillation; deaf, can’t enjoy music or hear a voice unless 10 inches from my ear; fell, fractured my thigh and am now a cripple; had a slight stroke the day after my beloved husband died after 61 years of marriage.

“I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing. I very much want to die, but our society doesn’t let me. Oh for a pill to ease myself out and end my pain, pain, pain.”

As this column said in November, untreated depression is a common cause of suicide in older people, though by no means the only one. But when I spoke to Mrs. Phares’s son Michael, with her permission, he assured me that she was not depressed, just tired of living what she views as a pointless and painful existence. He suggested to her, not entirely in jest, that she move to Oregon or the Netherlands, where physician-assisted suicide is legal.

Modern medicine can keep people alive into their 9th and 10th decades, when in years past they would have succumbed to any number of conditions. Now a small but growing number of these people are asking why. What is the point of living so long if you can no longer enjoy living? What is the point of living until your mind turns to marshmallow and you are reduced to an existence that is less than human?

[amchugh]

Do you feel that it is similarly immoral to intercede medically to extend the life of someone who is dying with antibiotics, ventilators, etc...? After all, if God has set our number of days, perhaps extending them becomes immoral. Because the flip side of the moral argument you are making seems to be the theology of extremist Christian Science. That is, that prayer is the appropriate substitution for medical care.

Is passive euthanasia acceptable to you? For example, if I leave a medical do not resuscitate in the event of heart attack directive, is that suicide?

Anyway, I reject your ‘rules’ as your opinion, and not the business of the state.

My opinion is that the business of the state is whether relatives or doctors are actively murdering the elderly without their consent.

[amchugh]

Do you feel that it is similarly immoral to intercede medically to extend the life of someone who is dying with antibiotics, ventilators, etc...? After all, if God has set our number of days, perhaps extending them becomes immoral. Because the flip side of the moral argument you are making seems to be the theology of extremist Christian Science. That is, that prayer is the appropriate substitution for medical care.

Is passive euthanasia acceptable to you? For example, if I leave a medical do not resuscitate in the event of heart attack directive, is that suicide?

Anyway, I reject your ‘rules’ as your opinion, and not the business of the state.

My opinion is that the business of the state is whether relatives or doctors are actively murdering the elderly without their consent.

[hoagy62]

Okay...I think I am ‘getting it’.

I apologize for my extreme views. I was feeling rather depressed and ornery that day.

Let me just say it this way: I hate abortion. It’s wrong. I do not believe in suicide or physician-assisted suicide. I don’t believe in pulling the plug on the old or the infirm.

That’s basically it. If I offended, I am sorry.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

I aint touching that with a ten foot cat.

[amchugh]

I wasn’t offended, and didn’t see anything in your statements that required an apology, but thanks for being civil when you are arguing about something you feel passionately about.