Tough situation.
A dear friend of mine developed ALS (think Stephen Hawking). I'll call him B. In the early stages, I was speaking with my friend and his wife. He said that when there was no more quality of life, he would want to die. "What is no quality of life?" I asked. "When I can no longer tell my wife I love her." He was afraid he would not be able to kill himself. His wife told me that she would not be able to do whatever was necessary. I promised him I would if no one else would. Gradually he lost all ability to move and speak. (We were writing a book together, but managed to finish it telepathically it seems.) Later, B was given a communication device. He could still move his head from side to side. Moving his head would tap a device that moved a cursor across a screen to select letters. The letters spelled out words. The machine could speak the words. Eventually he couldn't even do this. When the time came, B somehow let his wife know that he wanted to end it. I think the signal involved blinking. He could still blink. She called their son in the middle of the day. He left work and went right over. They told the doctors he died naturally. How can anyone doubt that this was the right thing to do?
I've been in the same situation a couple of years ago. Euthanasia is legal here, so my grandmother signed a contract to end her life when the quality of life was reduced too far. Sadly, the doctor didn't comply with the contract as it was signed when she was showing mental issues (brain tumor). So she too had to wait for death to come, receiving ever higher doses of morphine to combat the dreadful pain she must have been in. It's a situation that helps nobody.
Unless I am missing something, it doesn't seem like he is talking about assisted suicide, he is talking about euthanasia. I know he mentions assisted suicide, but he never mentions anything about his father wanting to die. If somebody wants to die then I think they have a right to, but euthanizing someone just because you think they are suffering too much is just wrong. Even if I am laying in a hospital bed, and nobody else sees a reason to keep me alive, I still want to be given the chance to live, because I only get to do this once.
Oh, good point. My bad with the title, I didn't like his because it didn't tell the reader anything. I hate snare titles. I would assume that implicit in his post is that he would get/has permission in writing from his father, but you're right, wrong term completely.
Harsh as this is, I can't help but agree. A government has no place (imo) to decide whether a free citizen should live or die, and this is especially true when their life is nothing but pain and suffering. Side note, there is a simply spectacular film called You Don't Know Jack (Al Pacino!) on this subject. I suggest anyone interested to watch it. Great filmmaking and a handful of ye ol' Al Pacino quotes of inspiration.
He was one weird dude though, a bit death obsessed, and there are some fairly valid criticisms of the way he operated. I do however, support his cause. In the nineties he was speaking at my college. I had a show on our college radio station and when I spotted him in the student center I ran up and asked him if he would do a station ID for us. He asked what I wanted him to say and I replied "This is Dr. Jack Kevorkian for WXOU, -rock till you drop!" He declined, saying he didn't think his lawyer would approve. Can't say I blame him but it would have been sort of epic as far as station IDs go...
Wow I had never heard of that movie, too bad it isn't on netflix or I'd watch it tonight. Another popular story which shaped my early understanding and views on the issue is Of Mice and Men, when (SPOILER) George saves Lennie from an inevitable, painful death by ending his life in a state of bliss. It must be the group of people I find myself around or perhaps my age, because whenever the subject of euthanasia comes up it is almost unanimously agreed upon that it should be legal. I definitely see the legality of it coming around as the older generation dies out and the younger generation starts to vote.
cough cough Hey kid, i've got somethin for you, why dont you take a look. Note: It's very long. Watch it when you know you'll finish watching it. And I agree with you, but again it just could be the bias of our environment in part.
Written November 23. I'm glad the suffering didn't go on for months, and poor Mr Adams. Something like this hasn't personally affected me, but this article elicited a reaction from me.