Blogger's Response to: NEJM - Unanimity on Death with Dignity (choices?)

Assisted Dying - NEJM

Response posted June 2, 2015

SANDI PNIAUSKAS | Other | Disclosure: None

choices?

"Overwhelmingly Canadian patients have voiced their support for assisted-dying and yet 'we' are still not listening but using many excuses why not. It is about choice - the patients' choice as they are truly and ultimately the ones affected by the decision, that which is being made by others. Many high profile physicians (and other healthcare providers) - prior to dying - have made their opinions on the role of assisted-dying clear. We all know the names - Dr Donald Low is one. It is to understand that medicine today, as we know it, is unable, in selected cases, to resolve extreme pain and agony and yet - we wish to prolong this suffering at any cost? As a cancer survivor (3 times so far) I have personally witnessed (non- medical background) cancer friends begging to die. Begging. They have begged their 'god' to die. For anyone who has witnessed these intimate experiences - they leave terrible emotional scars. Ultimately the question remains as to why we would continue to witness these events knowing that no medical intervention is available to ease these sufferings. This is where the choice - the patients' choice - demands compassion, integrity and 'to do no further harm'."