If you had bothered to read my post carefully, you would have noted that I do not object to a quadriplegic’s right to refuse medical care even though this will result in death — because in the U.S., we all have that right — BUT I do object to quadriplegics effectively being coerced to suicide by the refusal of society to provide the care, tools and accessible environments that make life meaningful and worth living.

I do not know why you were unable to put those ideas I expressed into the following sequence as a general prescription for people with quadriplegia: (1) provide the care, tools and environments that make life meaningful and worth living; and (2), if the care, tools and environments all are provided and the person with quadriplegia still wants to refuse medical care in order to die AND depression has been ruled out THEN that person has the same right every adult in the U.S. has to refuse medical care even if that decision results in their death.

You also are dismissive of my years of experience caring for my life partner as an “I know someone who …” anecdote. That is just crazy.

Is the bottom line here for you that you learned more from a book and a movie than I learned from years of caring for my quadriplegic life partner about the things that go into making someone in such a vulnerable position want to live?

I did not say I know what anyone’s choice for their life should be. I clearly stated that the choice for a person with quadriplegia is only freely made in circumstances where the care, tools and environment for meaningful independent living have been provided. A society that does not provide these things is forcing vulnerable people toward suicide. And the Australian man who decided to die had not been provided those things or he’d have been able to read a newspaper.

For your failure to connect with what I actually wrote and your dismissal of my life as “argument by anecdote,” your comment is easily the most crazy and offensive one on this blog to date.

Cynthia

Older single women (like me) are the ones getting it the most, I guess…the men die off or have wives to advocate for them.

The Dems will go down and the Repugs will be back in and be screwing us in their own special way. Remember, it was their Medicare Part D that passed and they were cutting Medicare payments. The Dems followed along on D, then talked about correcting it…but then turned around and said it was too complicated to undo. They once fought to keep Medicare payments to doctors intact, but that reversed when they got back into power.

Face it, the Republicans have won on all fronts and the little guy is left holding the bag.
.-= InsightAnalytical-GRL´s last blog ..Nobody Listening in Washington? Then Send a Message to Gliese 581d…It May Work Out Better in the (Very) Long Run =-.

Argument by anecdote doesn’t work. “I know someone who… ” is not a solid foundation for general principles. Just because one person in a particular situation finds life worth living doesn’t mean that someone else in a similar situation will also. Some healthy, able-bodied people in materially comfortable circumstances want to die.

Read about Ramon Sampedro (http://tinyurl.com/6ntj6), another quadriplegic. He was diligently cared for at home by a large and loving family. He could answer the phone, write letters and poetry, and paint, using devices of his own design. He longed for death, and he finally got it, with the help of friends, but away from his family.

Before writing this off as another distortion of the mainstream media, I suggest the film Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), which is of course a dramatization, but I think reflects the situation well, based on my reading (in the original language) of Sampedro’s book, Cartas Desde El Infierno (Letters From Hell).

Sampedro’s choice provides no general prescription. The decision to end one’s life can only be an individual choice. And just because “I know somebody who… ” made whatever choice doesn’t mean I know what someone else’s choice should be.

Thanks for answering and the post. And thanks for listing me in your newsfeed — I am putting your blog in my blogroll.

Cynthia

I am a retired nurse who is now a volunteer. So I just call myself a “visitor.”

What I do is to visit folks who are living in nursing homes, and don’t get much one on one human interaction. I read to them or tell them stories. Or sing to them. Or give them a hand massage. Sometimes I bring my cat along to visit. (She is certified to do so via the Delta Society.)

Anyways… my job is just to “be there.”

Occasionally I advocate for an assistive divice. Like a hearing aid… to help with communication.

I do not believe that all “right to die” groups are deliberately withholding information. But…. I do believe that many of my “clients” get overlooked when the assistive divices are distributed. Why? Cuz they don’t have family to stand up for them and say “hey, he needs one of those…” In some small way, I can be that “family.” Cuz I visit and, while I am there I see what the person could use to improve quality of life….

Thanks for asking….

I look forward to your book!
.-= SYD´s last blog ..Excellent Essay on End of Life Decision Making by Cynthia Yockey =-.

That is an excellent piece. Have you ever read “Johnny Got His Gun?” It’s classified as an anti-war novel. It is about a young man who is wounded in war; he is blind, deaf, has a trach tube, no arms and no legs. But he has his brain. It takes awhile for him to figure out what is going on. Eventually, a nurse figures out how to communicate with him by tapping the morse code on his forehead and he uses his head to tap out words. He figures out something he can do; he wants to be displayed where people can see him as a detriment to war. They refuse to allow it; it is agains the rules. That pretty much does it for him. Anyway, without getting into the anti-war thing, what it does show is that there is a purpose for everyone. Thinking of it that way, even someone totally disabled has something to offer someone; perhaps the person taking care of them needs to feel needed or needs a purpose and having this soul to care for provides fulfillment for them. What kind of society would we be with no old people, no disabled people? They are all here for a purpose and maybe that purpose is to teach the rest of us something valuable.
.-= Puma for life´s last blog ..Weekend Meditation: Zen Waterfalls =-.

Thank you — I’m glad my piece is helpful. Please keep checking this site because in a few weeks I will have my e-book on how to make end-of-life care choices ready. I will be teaching people how to navigate the legal and medical system and providing information people usually don’t receive. I worked and fought for my late life partner to have a happy and meaningful life until her natural death, so I know what goes into that. I also know how evil the “right-to-death” movement is because they withhold information people need about the care and assistive devices and, at the end, hospice care that would support their will to live and their ability to have lives of meaning and purpose. The hospice movement plays a vital role in giving people both more time and higher quality time at the end-of-life, so I will educate people about that, too.

What is a hospice visitor? Does that mean you are a nurse, or a volunteer, or what?

Cynthia

Thank you!

SYD
.-= SYD´s last blog ..And Now, for Something Completely Different…. A Little Downdressing for da Netroots Who Can’t Seem to Remember Which Side Their Bread’s Buttered On =-.

So, I can still read and I’m teaching myself cooking. Stirring is easy, I stick the spoon in and try to hold it steady. I can easily see me offing myself out of pure boredom if I lived so long as to be unable to do anything for myself, though.

I would not have believed Australia would be so cheap as to deny Mr. Rossiter the wheelchair and computer gear he needs to keep himself interested in living.
.-= Peter´s last blog ..Nothing Much To Say. =-.