Today I read a short article in the New York Times, A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit by Jane Brody, advocating rational suicide rather than face the pain, cost, and indignities of terminal illness.
The article is very thoughtful and personal. Brody talks about her 94-year-old former teacher asking her to help him die, which she declines encouraging him to talk with his family. She also shares how her mother made two suicide attempts during her struggle with ovarian cancer, from which she finally died. As a counterpoint to these stories Brody says,
“Modern medicine can keep people alive into their 9th and 10th decades, when in years past they would have succumbed to any number of conditions. Now a small but growing number of these people are asking why. What is the point of living so long if you can no longer enjoy living? What is the point of living until your mind turns to marshmallow and you are reduced to an existence that is less than human?…Why shouldn’t an emotionally sound, thoughtful person be able to call it quits when life has dragged on too long? When there is nothing to gain and much to lose from an ongoing existence?”
I believe that these questions are both poignant and profound. I also believe that these and similar questions need to be asked more often and more openly among families, communities, and lawmakers.
For me the issue of whether or not a rational person should have the right to choose to take their own life is similar to a woman’s right to choose abortion. There will be passionate opinions on every side of the issue but what it really comes down to is the right to choose. When making decisions about one’s own body, health, and life the only person’s opinion that matters is the individual themselves. I would never choose for myself to abort a healthy pregnancy, however I will go to the mat fighting for the right of others to choose an abortion. Similarly, I would choose rational suicide if my quality of life became intolerable, but I will fight to the death (pun intended) for others to have the freedom to choose differently. I have no more right to tell them they must than they do to tell me I must not. The point is CHOICE!
More information:
Compassion & Choices
Euthanasia and Religion
Final Exit Network
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
