IT IS MY QUALITY OF LIFE, NOT THE CAREGIVER, SO I SHOULD HAVE THE FINAL SAY; I WANT THAT SAY !!!

[GailL1]

 STAT News 07/28/2017 - A Murder Case Over Assisted Dying Divides Quebec - Should the Law Be Changed

From the above link 

". . . .Québec legislators are thinking of expanding the province’s law permitting medical assistance in dying, to allow patients who are diagnosed with a disease like Alzheimer’s to make an advance request to end their lives, before their cognitive abilities have slipped away.

As of 2016, an estimated 264,000 Canadians have dementia, with around 25,000 more cases diagnosed every year, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and many caregivers wish that their loved one had had the option to choose how and when they wanted to end their life, before they lost the ability to make that kind of choice. . . . "

Personally, I think all states should have "Aid in Dying Laws" as some do already AND an Advanced Directive should be added into the law.

It is my quality of life, regardless of the caregiver, and I should be able to specify when my life is over based on how I believe actual "Living" is defined.

We live in a country that is touted as based on the rights of an individual - there is no greater choice than this.  I believe we should have this right to choose - and I believe we should have the right to define it in an advanced directive regardless of what might befall me later on.

[JaneCares]

Wow, that's some legislation.

This territory, of having the legal okay to take one's life under very careful, specific circumstances, is fraught, as you well know, Gail.  What happened in Oregon when it was the first state to pass the law here for legal ending of life was that there was much more conversation about end of life, and an increase in use of hospice care, which i think is a very good thing.

Advance care planning is so necessary and so few want to even 'go there.' Whether or not there are laws like this, the conversations need to happen: with oneself, one's loved ones, one's medical team and attorney.

Do you have a sense of what you want done? I've got all kinds of ideas, and all i've done is named my sister as power of attorney for health care. 

Perhaps we could have a discussion on here about what is important to us as we decline. Certainly, being caregivers and mindful of these issues for others, we have developed our own preferences....

Share?

Jane