Sunday, October 11, 2009

assisted suicide

A few weeks ago when I was thinking about key concepts for the topic of suicide, I thought about assisted suicide, and how often that can be a last resort. I was reading last night in George Howe Colt's The Enigma of Suicide and came across the story of a man who after a heart attack and then a stroke, became paralyzed and left in a vegetative state. This man wanted to end his life. He did not want to lay around in pain and have his family keep his life going. He eventually died of natural causes, and the family felt the burden lifted off their chests. He was free, and out of suffering.

My dad has told us that if he is ever in this sort of condition where he is hanging by a thread and the family's money is going to keep him alive, to pull the plug. He has a (unofficial) signed document that gives permission for him to keep on trucking. I feel this is noble in his sense, thinking about his family's life during this period. And if there is no recovery, why put a burden on the family.

I recently read Chuck Palahniuk's novel Diary, in which the main character's husband attempts suicide by leaving his car running in the garage. His plan fails, and he is left at a vegetative state.

2 comments:

  1. My parents both have "official" documents about this same thing - one of the things this does for us, just like for you, is keeps us from having to make the decision. Sounds a little like a cop-out when I hear myself say it that way, but really, I think that it's more about (from my perspective) recognizing my parents' right and responsibility to think about and take care of this really important and intimate aspect of their own lives...
    Makes me realize I need to get this taken care of for my kids, too -

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  2. But assisted suicide is different from "pulling the plug" in some ways.. I read an interesting story in a magazine, but I don't remember which, quite some time ago about a man whose elderly mother enlisted his help re. her suicide. She effectively did everything, but she needed his help getting things "set up" - for him it was very odd, but his mother was cheerful about the whole thing - they "practiced" several times to work out all the kinks - she wanted nothing of vegetative states, and when the appointed day came, his "job" was to go to her house after the fact. He did, knowing that, just inside the other room was his mother, or rather her body. The writing was very neutral in a lot of ways; he didn't say whether it was right or wrong, just that it was her choice, and she had trusted him enough to ask him to help her. It was really quite beautiful, to be honest - the beauty being this level of trust and love between them... I'll try to remember where I read it for you.

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