Best Of

@federica said:
My mother (93) is against voluntary euthanasia, or assisted dying. Yet she wants DNR on her medical records, should the question arise, and hopes to be able to pass away 'free of pain'. So she's not above some kind of medical application. I personally consider it to be an acceptable premise, for reasons already stated eloquently by others.

My stepfather’s death was kind of an interesting case. He had advanced Alzheimer’s, he could no longer move or speak under his own power, an electrical lifting device was needed to help him stand up. He was doubly incontinent. Then one day he could no longer poop. The doctor diagnosed an obstruction in the upper bowel, and said an operation would probably prove fatal, but without one he would die after two very painful weeks. So my mother opted for palliative care, and after a week on morphine he died.

There were options which might have extended his life by a week or so, but it would have been at the cost of considerable pain and suffering. So was that ‘taking his life before his time’ or was that ‘the most comfortable way to leave this life’? My mother has very much struggled with this question, as she was called upon to make the decision.

Over the years of his care, we watched him lose his decision making capability, he was declared mentally incompetent about three years before he died, and we watched his personality change as well, from a very sweet man to someone who could turn nasty in the blink of an eye. He even got physically violent on a few occasions. But it was all the illness talking. It was very difficult for my mother.

If the man my mother knew and loved had known what was waiting for him, might he not have opted for euthanasia? The UK health system refused to diagnose him with early Alzheimer’s when he first started noticing symptoms some 10 years before his death, sending him home with a diagnosis of ‘normal age related decline’, and by the time he was officially diagnosed he was already in an advanced stage and mentally incompetent.