In life, we are faced with many choices.  Some of them are easy to make, and some seem utterly impossible.  When it comes to the choice of Life or Death, how do you choose?

ANCIENT HISTORY TO MODERN DAY
Euthanasia (from Greek: εὐθανασία; “good death”) may have been standard practice long before the Greeks gave a name to it, or Socrates sipped his hemlock, and it’s clear that it was not unique to that region.  The Japanese practice of Ubasute (abandoning the elderly or infirm on a mountain to die), Serbian Lapot, the Norse/Germanic Attestupa, and on and on…

In God on Trial, Rane Willerslev describes the practices of the Chukchi People of the Russian Arctic:

Among the Chukchi, human sacrifice is, as a matter of ethnographic fact, a customary practice. In the early ethnographies, it goes under the name of “voluntary death,” and it involves the killing of a close family member—often ill and aged—who expresses a wish to die (Borogas, 1904).

Willerslev argues that this Chukchi practice is really just human sacrifice, equating it with the story of Abraham’s binding of Isaac in the Hebrew Scriptures. His basis for this argument is that they are both based on faith (and/or trickery), and therefore a sacrifice, not a mercy killing.

The history of these ancient practices in our subconscious, along with our modern, societal psychological hangups around aging, have given rise to a plethora of dystopian fantasies revolving around this premise: Logan’s Run, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate Atlantis, Boomsday, to name just a few.

For “assisted suicide” (voluntary active euthanasia) and its debate, one needs only search the internet for the controversial Dr. Kervorkian.

The argument for or against legalized euthanasia could (and does) fill several million articles and blog posts, and the ethics of it leads to extremely personal and volatile discussion, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.  I am writing about voluntary passive euthanasia, as it has popped-up a lot in my life in this last year.

VOLUNTARY DEATH
 Life’s like a movie: write your own ending…

SUFFERING:
My husband’s grandmother was either 103 or 106 when she died (her birth records were lost in a fire, and being a lady, she never told her true age).  She survived 2 world Wars, 2 husbands, and witnessed the dawn of 2 centuries.  Towards the end, she was very frail, and depended on others to take care of her.  Her sight and hearing were failing, and it was extremely hard for her to get around.  Many times, she was heard  lamenting “Why won’t God take me?”

CHOOSING:
A friend of mine just lost her father. He was 98 years old. A war hero, a beloved doctor in his community, and a widower for over 30 years, his last few months were filled with friends dying, subsequent bouts of depression, and infections that caused balance issues.  One fall resulted in a broken neck that, at his age, would never heal. It required wearing an uncomfortable neck brace 24 hours a day, taking away his comfort and his ability to drive or to take care of himself.  When they found a possible melanoma on his back, he decided not to get it biopsied. “If it’s cancer, so what?” he said. “I’m 98 years old. Why fight it?”  His doctor and his daughter (a doctor herself) agreed.  When an infection caused him to be bedridden, he made the conscious decision to stop fighting altogether. He stopped eating and was given basic palliative end-of-life care so he could be comfortable. He passed away on his own terms, and in his own time, surrounded by his family.

A NEW TREND?:
Currently, a close family member and a friend’s mother (both in their 80s) are going through eerily similar circumstances. Both have different forms of cancer that have metastasized and entered their lymph nodes.  In both cases, radical radiation or chemotherapy might help, but the prognosis is not clear, and the treatments would come at a high cost (both physically and financially).  Both have decided not to undergo these treatments.  They both know the consequences, but have weighed their options and decided on quality of life over quantity of life.  Understandably, their families are devastated, but having witnessed countless others suffer during treatment only to succumb to the disease, they are (reluctantly) accepting of this decision.    

I wonder if I would make the same decision, or if I could allow someone close to me to make that decision without a fight.

PERSONAL CHOICE:
My parents both died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.  Odds are, if I live long enough, that I will face that same dreadful curse.  Should that time come, I honestly don’t know what I would choose.  Practicality says “Think of the pain (to myself) and the burden of care (to my family, to our finances) that I could avoid.” Human Nature reminds me to be scared of Death, and Hope wants to hold out for a cure that could come down-the-line.  For me, there is the added burden that Alzheimer’s is a slow and drawn-out demise.  So I would be faced with the added question of “When would be the right time to go?”  I think that would be more important than the how.

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

MISC. RELATED LINKS:
Cost of Treatment in Medical Decision Making?
The High Cost of Dying
Cost Analysis of Medical Assistance in Dying (plus this article)
The High Cost of Cancer Treatment – AARP
When Fighting Cancer isn’t Worth It
Alzheimer’s Death – Being Patient
Gene Wilder’s Wife on Caring for Someone with Alzheimer’s
Robin Williams – “The Hardest Role of His Life”
6 Questions to Ask Before Writing a Living Will

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  Do you have any experience with a loved one choosing death over suffering?  Do you judge those that consider it (voluntary euthanasia)?  Would you, yourself, consider this choice if the situation arose?  Could you choose for someone that couldn’t choose for themselves (involuntary euthanasia)?  Do you have a DNR (do not resuscitate) order or a Living Will?

 

EDIT: I promise, the next post will be something happy and uplifting.
I put that Muppet Movie video in there to lighten the mood a little bit…