Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Dying Man (Or Woman) Needs To Die...

as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
Stewart Alsop

I know a man who, as his 77 year old mother lay dying in the final stage of breast cancer which had spread to her lungs, bones, and brain, refused to let the doctor give her the morphine she needed to ease her excruciating pain because there was a good change that it would shorten her life. He said, "I would rather my mother lay there for ten more days than to do anything to speed up her death."

She died three days later.

The video below is via Ronni Bennett over at Time Goes By. As she points out, it is a good idea to have "a living will or other kind of advance health care directive and appointed a health care advocate through a durable power of attorney."

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