Death with Dignity

Today marks the two year anniversary of my Dad's death. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor, glioblastoma, in January 2014. The tumor was inoperable and the diagnosis was terminal. He had various treatments of radiation and chemotherapy and responded well. He lived much longer than average for someone with this type of cancer. He made it 3.5 years before the cancer finally took his life on June 4, 2017, three years of which would be considered a high quality of life. The cancer took over the last several months of his life and he lost all mental capacity.

I have always been in favor of death with dignity, but there are few states in the United States with death with dignity legislation. Across most of the country, physician-assisted death is illegal regardless of one's quality of life. Over the last few years, a few states have added humane, death with dignity laws, that allow a person the choice to choose how they die when the prognosis is terminal. Would my dad have taken advantage of death with dignity? Maybe. I don't know and I'll never know. I think he would have considered it, but living in Iowa, he didn't have the choice.

We live in a society in which we are more humane at the end of a loved pet's death than we are a loved human. We euthanize pets when the quality of their life has dropped dramatically and there is nothing to do but wait for death, often painfully. When it comes to humans, however, no matter how low the quality of life or how painful the waiting moments for death may be, we require the individual and loved ones to suffer through until the very end. Often it is a religious argument, other times it is an unwillingness to let go of a loved one. Regardless of the reason, society needs to be more humane. The end of one's life is sad, but the individual should have the choice in cases of a terminal diagnosis.

Some states in the U.S. now have death with dignity laws. These include Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Hawaii, California, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. Many eligible to end their lives through these laws choose not to, but the choice is theirs to make. If you have not yet seen How to Die in Oregon, please do so. It is a fantastic documentary that takes a look at death with dignity, and the fight to enact laws in Oregon giving individuals a choice. Regardless of your current beliefs, please watch this documentary and educate yourself on what death with dignity means and doesn't mean.