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Here’s an interesting story about O’Conner’s husband who has Alzheimer’s and is currently happy with another woman (so to speak - read the article to get the whole story).
Whenever I read stories about people who are wasting away from diseases that have no cure … something about that saddens me for a reason that most people don’t talk about. Let me be very clear up-front: I love my life, I love my family and if at all possible I want to live a very long life. At the same time, I’d like to choose how I go out if I can. If I turn 80 and the doctors tell me that I have a medical issue that will cause my brain to progressively fail such that I won’t remember anything about who I am or who Liz is or who my sons are and there’s nothing that can be done to fix it … frankly, I don’t want to die like that. It’s my life, and I should be able to legally choose what I do with it. If I choose to end it peacefully, or if I choose to live though the disease, that’s my choice and both should be considered valid. Of course, if a bus plows into me … well, I don’t have much of a choice about that, do I? :) And if I get a disease that I have a chance of surviving, then I’ll do what I can to survive it. But when all options are gone, I want to legally go out my own way. Hopefully our nation will wake up to this and let its’ citizens have that choice.
Published: 11.26.2007 07:30:15 AM CST