To Go or Not, Gently Into That Good Night

Healthy woman's assisted suicide sets off firestorm in Germany

Healthy woman's assisted suicide sets off firestorm in Germany
Last Updated: Friday, July 4, 2008 | 10:32 AM ET The Associated Press

Picture from Microsoft Clipart

The decision by a woman in Germany to take her own life, rather than move into a nursing home is opening up a new perspective on living and dying.  Her reason for her decision was, quite simply, that she did not want to live the indignity of being cared for in a nursing home. To add context to this wish, read that she did not want to be in a place where she, who had been independent all of her life, would be in a place where she could not choose when to have her meals, or when to bathe, or when to go to bed and get up.  She did not want to be part of the system, run by corporations for profit, where she was a money producing widget.  In fairness, there are happy, caring long term care facilities.  This lady was simply not willing to wait for the roll of the dice to see how the rest of her life would play out. 

She was 79.  She was healthy and of sound mind. She wanted the world to remember her like that!  Because she was intelligent, and therefore did her due diligence around her decision, she asked her Doctor for advice.  He obliged, and actually came up with a formula for her to take to help her die peacefully, and then, filmed her death where she stated that she was making a choice, and that she was happy and comfortable with it.

Now, what makes this more interesting, is that the citizens of Germany and others around the world are shocked.  The citizens and politicians wish to pass legislation to prevent further assisted suicides. It seems quite odd that people would prevent someone from making this rational decision.  Now, if she had decided to smoke and drink herself to death, no one would interfere because those "formulas" are legal, and provide both business and government with revenue funds. And, as she degenerated from drugs and booze, look at all the money that health care would make! If she drove her car intentionally into a tree, and died, she would not make the front page. So, the emotion really is not about her death, or that she took her life.  The outrage is that someone helped her.

Another interesting thought about this controversy is - why would you insist that someone live their life in a way that they totally did not agree with? If the person chooses not to age any further, do they have the right to leave the "tribe" and therefore cease to to use resources?  As a family member or as a friend, would you rather see your loved one grow older, and perhaps face ill health, visits to doctors, lying in bed, and even Alzheimer's Disease, if the loved one did not want to?  

It is common for relatives to have a phrase "do not resuscitate" on an elderly patient's file.  The order says that rather than keep the person alive and suffering, we will let them "go gently into that good night". The family is helping the loved one die. If the loved one wishes to bypass suffering and opts for the "get out of suffering - free" card, should the government interfere with that choice using legislation? After all, life is a series of choices. We all live.  We all die.

Dylan Thomas wrote a poem commanding that people fight against death in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night".  His poem is studied by millions of students each year.  We learn early in school and in the church that we should not take our own lives, or anyone else's life.

The matter of choosing how to live or die is a BIG question.  Perhaps the right answer is - there is no answer!

Do not go gentle into that good night

by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, 
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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May you be filled with loving kindness,

Judy  

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