Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
I think we're letting ourselves live too long with no opportunity for a reasonable quality of life.
I remember my friend's grandma in her 90s telling us, 'you don't want to reach my age...all your friends are dead.'
I remember my uncle saying about his mom how he'd put a pillow over her head 'if he loved her more' once she lost her marbles due to dimentia.
My wife's grandma had signed a do not recussitate order, but ended up recussitated in the hospital before the order had made its way into the medical system. She was so fataing mad to have to keep living with her crappy health. She was crying, 'what am I doing here?'
Out of compassion, we don't let dogs and cats live in the same conditions we guilt the elderly into existing with for years on end.
Basically, once someone becomes a great grandparent they are redundant, super old, not relevant and they know it. I've yet to talk to one that isn't ready to go. Very few thrive in these old folks homes. They're just pergatories.
It also costs a fortune to keep these people in their barely-alive condition, takes a ton of resources and is ill-conceived. The kindest thing we could do is provide access to euthanasia and let people call it a day easily and without guilt.
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I lost my grandfather this past October at the age of 86. I was fortunate to have the chance to fly out to Kelowna and see him one last time the week prior.
Note I didn't say I was 'lucky', as luck had nothing to do with it; I knew when he was going to go. My grandfather got the option -- similar to what you're talking about -- to go on his own terms. He'd spent the last several years doing dialysis for his failing kidneys. He was healthy for most of his life, but he just got to that point in life where things start breaking down like an off-warranty Land Rover. He was finally ready and he made the decision to discontinue his dialysis, which gave him a window of about 7 days before he would just go to sleep and not wake up again. Any medical interventions were solely to keep him comfortable and pain free.
It isn't quite the 'access to euthanasia' that you're talking about, but he got to go with dignity, fully coherent and sharp as a tack. I would want that for myself and for my loved ones too, because I've seen people with dementia or terminal cancers, and it is absolutely heart wrenching to watch them suffer. Not everyone would take the option if presented, and there's nothing wrong with that. But having the option to go on your own terms seems like the compassionate thing for us as a society to allow.