fasteddy
Web Wheeler
Reged: 01/30/01
Posts: 12703
Loc: Flat Creek, GA
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How we die
02/09/12 07:56 PM
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I've just spent most of the last two weeks sitting with my aunt (age 94) who had a severe convulsion, probably due to the effects of some kind of encephalitis she contracted in Japan in 1969, and had suffered from for all the years since.
She had a living will, DNR, no artificial nourishment, no extraordinary measures. Her prefrontal cortex was toast. She could recognize names, and make some comments, incomplete and often nonsense, and had some recognition of me and her husband.
She had to starve to death for nourishment and liquids. It was not nice. She essentially drowned in the fluids in her lungs. She was not in pain or discomfort, due to diligent application of morphine sulfate given sublingually, but it was ugly, hard on her and harder on her husband and family.
I held her hand for most of those days, sang to her when she became agitated (this may have been torture to the aware, but it calmed her), and cried a lot, and I had lots of company in that.
There has to be a better way. For sure, get yourself a living will and think about your choices, and nominate at least one person in a durable power of attorney to supervise and authorize your medical care. These are available online and are quite easy. Look for a state specific form, and redo it if you move to another state.
There was just an interesting case in the GA supreme court. We had a statute that made it illegal to advertise assisted suicide. Note that assisted suicide is in itself legal in GA. The court threw out the statute as a violation of free speech....
Personally, I keep the means handy just in case, and have a friend who will "assist" me if necessary, and I him if it comes to that. KCl(IV) after a massive dose of valium is my method of choice.
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"If you can't be a good influence, don't worry, you can still be a horrid example."
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