My personal views on the right to death were formed after watching a friend die slowly and painfully from an inoperable brain tumour.\u00a0 It caused crippling migraines, grand\u00a0 mal<\/em> seizures and several other symptoms that medication was unable to alleviate. These increased in severity as the tumour grew.\u00a0 Although he was quite clear that he wished to die, attempts to end his own life merely resulted in psychiatric treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Few deaths occur in isolation, however. It is those who remain behind that must live with the aftereffects, a fact I have been reminded of by two recent tragedies. The first of these was the death of a local woman who, after many years of struggle, gave up her battle with anorexia and succumbed to starvation. Her family accepted and supported her choice, and she passed away peacefully at home weighing less than 30 kilos. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her family to watch, but her mother has spoken of the peace she felt in her daughter when her plea for death was heard. That the young woman felt this was the only option is heartbreaking. I, too, have struggled with anorexia, and on two occasions, attempted suicide, believing that I would never escape the nightmare and that this was the only way out. Now I am incredibly grateful that I failed, having discovered that recovery is possible. However, I acknowledge the bravery of her parents in respecting her wishes, and hope that knowing this was her<\/em> choice eases their pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second is the much-publicised case of the American woman, Terry Schiavo, whose fate\u00a0 became an international cause celebre.<\/em>\u00a0 After 15 years in a persistent vegetative state, with no prognosis of recovery, the feeding tube keeping her alive was removed, and she passed away last week.\u00a0 Her parents fought to have the tube reinserted, believing neither the diagnosis nor her husband\u2019s assertion that she would not want to live that way.\u00a0\u00a0 I can understand their unwillingness to let their daughter go, and I grieve for them.\u00a0 That her death had to come through hunger and thirst seems particularly cruel and must have made things even more horrific for those who loved her. An even greater obscenity, however, is that the private struggle of a family became a political tool in the hands of the most high-profile politicians in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In New Zealand, physicians have the legal right to discontinue life support if continuing treatment is deemed either futile or against the patient\u2019s best interests.\u00a0 Although a doctor can override a family\u2019s wishes, the decision to discontinue treatment is only made after extensive consultation and, if possible, by mutual agreement.\u00a0 Allowing one\u2019s child, parent or lover to die must be the hardest decision that any person can make, and I hope it is something I never have to face.\u00a0 I have no idea how I would deal with such a situation. What I do know is that if I were in that hospital bed, I would not want my family to put their lives on hold indefinitely in the hope that I might, someday recover.\u00a0 Nor would I want them to have to live with the nagging thoughts of \u201cperhaps if we\u2019d waited a little longer…\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Luckily, there is<\/em> something I can do to assist those I love if they are ever in a position where they must make that choice for me, and that is to make a living will. \u00a0By stating clearly the circumstances under which I do not wish to be kept alive, they don\u2019t have to bear the responsibility of such a decision alone and need not feel guilty for not doing more to prolong my life.\u00a0 While they are under no obligation to accede to my wishes, I hope that it will help them to let me go, knowing that it is my choice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday Supplement Radio New Zealand National, May 10th 2005 My personal views on the right to death were formed after watching a friend die slowly and painfully from an inoperable brain tumour.\u00a0 It caused crippling migraines, grand\u00a0 mal seizures and several other symptoms that medication was unable to alleviate. These increased in severity as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32,477,476,475],"class_list":["post-2033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-and-opinion-pieces","tag-32","tag-euthenasia","tag-radio-new-zealand-national","tag-sunday-supplement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2034,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions\/2034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}