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from the but-what-dreams-may-come-when-I-have-shuffled-off-this-mortal-coil? dept.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health, writes at The Atlantic that there is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. "It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic." Emanuel says that he is isn't asking for more time than is likely nor foreshortening his life but is talking about the kind and amount of health care he will consent to after 75. "Once I have lived to 75, my approach to my health care will completely change. I won’t actively end my life. But I won’t try to prolong it, either." Emanuel says that Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible. "I reject this aspiration. I think this manic desperation to endlessly extend life is misguided and potentially destructive. For many reasons, 75 is a pretty good age to aim to stop."
(Score: 2) by mendax on Tuesday September 23 2014, @03:39PM
I think the touchstone on this subject for me is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Half a Life". For those who don't know the series, read the summary here [memory-alpha.org]. But in my own life, I am facing this kind of situation myself.
My mom keeps a suicide kit of drugs that she can take which will kill her most effectively. Her greatest fear is being confined to a nursing home because her health will not allow her to live at home any longer. She'll live with deteriorating health so long as she can still do the things in her life that make it worth living. But once that threshold has been reached, she's ready for the end.
My mom is in her late 70's and doing pretty well given the pharmacy of drugs she's taking, but her health has been getting better recently due to losing weight which allowed her to get off some of the drugs. But I'd be the first person to give her the stash of pills (if I knew where they were) if she asked me. At her age, I think she's earned the right to say when enough is enough.
Now my dad, who is 80, is a different story. He has lived a life of humility and is usually optimistic and positive in his outlook for life. He will look for the positives in any situation. While this outlook on life is terrific and it makes him content with life, in the end it only increases the suffering that he will eventually have to endure. I admire the Buddhist qualities in him that have allowed him to come to some state of Enlightenment, allowing him overcome much of the suffering that life brings, but how much suffering is too much? There are some wonderful stories about the Buddha when he was the same age. He knew his body was failing him and he was close to death. He accepted it and died.
In short, a person ought to be able to die when he's ready to die, when he or she is able to consciously and rationally make the decision, when the quality of life is outweighed by its suffering.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Tuesday September 23 2014, @06:14PM
a suicide kit of drugs
This would be a good thread to publish the contents of this kit.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Tuesday September 23 2014, @08:58PM
She won't tell me what it is or where. But I suspect it's probably a bottle of morphine tablets. That's how I would do it if I were in her shoes. I'd be unconscious before I suffocate.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.