DL Open Thread Tuesday November 30th 2021
Nearly three years ago my Mom was able to die with dignity in her own home in a way that was nearly identical to her expressed wishes. It was pure luck.
She had an end of life directive and a DNR that kept her out of the hospital. That wasn’t the lucky part. Her body closing up shop the way it did, that was lucky. She would have hated hanging in a liminal state for months after her aneurysm. Because of the nature of the aneurysm, she didn’t have to. We had a nice day and night with her looking at photo albums and watching home movies, then she started drifting off. A painless week later she was gone. Lucky.
Delaware doesn’t have a “death with Dignity Law” right now, but it should.
In 1997, only Switzerland allowed their residents to decide if they wanted to end their life, but compassion for end-of-life sensibilities has seen that number rise dramatically across the West.
Since 2015, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, five Australian states, ten American states, and D.C. have legalized assisted dying. Countries that are largely Catholic such as Ireland, Chile, Italy, and Uruguay are currently crafting legislation to follow suit.
This one hits home for me, my wife passed after nine years of dementia, it destroyed the women I loved and damn near got me as well. My son and I kept her at home until the end. Who did this serve and why was it necessary? There was no pleasant ending other then the end of a very long nightmare for all of us. It would have been painful, but not as painful as what happened instead.
Tower Hill alumnus Dr. Oz enters the Pa. Senate race as a Republican.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3luT8JfDKU
An admission: I check out the number of page hits each day that each article gets.
Sometimes I notice a pattern that raises questions. Like today.
Pretty much every post that mentions either of the Clatworthys (John or Ray) has been viewed multiple times today. Checked the obits, doesn’t appear that there has been a recent death.
So, what’s the story behind the story (IF there’s a story behind the story)?