Do the Terminally Ill Have a Right to Die?

reply to post by Happy1


I have a living will for myself and my spouse has one as well. Unfortunately een if my Mother had one it wouldn't assist in this situation....she is just slowly dying...as much as a terminal cancer patient would be dying but possibly even slower. As her brain dies and the dementia progresses she has gradually lost bodily functions. Her brain is dying from front to back....initially it was like a lobotomy patient...just a happy spacey unfocused affect...now there really isn't much but a scared vacant look on her face. The U.S. Heathcare system doesn't have an "assisted suicide" option for patients in this situation. To my knowledge Oregon is the only state in the U.S. that has an "assisted suicide" program but the patient must be mentally competent and declare thier wishes on two seperate visits to the MD each 30 days apart and after the patient has been diagnosed as being terminally ill....so this isn't as option for my mom.

The caretakers for patients in this situation take a toll but even family memers that are not direct care takers suffer. My sister worked with my mom at my mother's business for years. She quit when she observed mom making questionable financial decisions....less than 3 years later the business went bankrupt (most likely mom's dementia was already impairing her decisions). My sister really couldn't handle being near my mom once her condition got really bad - it threw her into a deep depression...not being able to do anything to help mom escape the misery of her situation. I lost my sister to suicide in 2011 - probably due to a number of factors but I am sure that watching my mom's decline and fearing that she might someday wind up in the same situation factored into her decision to take her life. The median age for our population in climbing...there need to be more options for people who want to die with dignity.