LEGALIZE ASSISTED SUICIDE

 MY CASE for ASSISTED SUICIDE

Let us imagine I am about to be hospitalized for kidney failure or (and, if I am lucky) liver cancer either of which will both be fatal.  I might choose to forego corrective surgery or treatment and donate my organs.  What remains is how I die.  I don’t want expensive medical treatment but I do want to die with dignity and I (or my proxy) decide when that will happen.

It is time to legalize assisted suicide in our country.

I have a loving family and right now would NOT choose to stop medical care and end my own life even if I developed a terminal disease.  I believe there is nothing that can convince a family member that I loved him or her if I choose to end my life. Choosing to end my life, I am dismissing their heartbreak by asserting it is not important to me to be around him/her any longer.  When I die, I won’t care any more but to those who survive me, my choosing to die is dismissive of their love for me and is abject betrayal. 

I face nothing fatal at this point.  I work strenuously to provide for my health and quality of life.  I have a solid ”live wish” but at my age my body is beginning to retire.  I have little to contribute to the economy, my family or the betterment of society. This is not a “poor me” or “I am useless” statement.  It is a matter of fact. I have done my “share.” I love life but might in different circumstances choose to give my organs to someone who potentially has much longer to live than do I.  Will I have a “live wish” down the road?  Who knows?  What if I am alone and could cause someone else to live by donating my organs earlier rather than later. I am an organ donor. I might choose that option.  As the feminazis like to say, “my body, my choice.” When I end my life really is my choice and in fact there is nothing anyone can do to stop me but legalized assisted suicide allows the chooser to indeed “die with dignity.”

I have much life to live and many people I hope to please and many I hope to anger so don’t watch the obituaries quite yet. I write these thoughts as I reflect on the similar thoughts my father expressed to me 25 years ago.

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WHAT IF I COULD DONATE MEDICAL CARE

 COULD MEDICAL CARE FOR THE ELDERLY BE BETTER PROVIDED TO YOUNGER PEOPLE INSTEAD?

25 years ago my late father wondered aloud if it is good policy to spend  hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical care for elderly, dying people.  His musings were not born from selflessness.  My father, a successful business executive, posed policy that might deprive him of care as he aged, allowing someone else to live.  He was the philosopher and armchair politician.  I wanted him to live long and healthy thus the significance and numerous ramifications of his ideas escaped me.

Now, 35 years later with increasing frequency I recall his thoughts.  I am 79; I have had a triple heart bypass, two stents, eye surgery and other less important procedures.  I am on many drugs that prolong my life and health and to my credit I work very hard to maintain my own health.  

Except I probably eat too much chocolate.

I am entitled to my medical care.  I paid into Medicare for 50 working years and continue to pay for it in my retirement.  I have a generous supplement, for which I pay a great deal.  MEDICAID gives  health care to people; health care (MEDICARE) for which I pay dearly; MEDICARE that I believe is threatened by the siphoning of funds for MEDICAID, which the entitlement group receives for free. We should care for kids and let adults care for themselves. I do not care if ADULTS die in the streets for lack of food or medical care resulting from their life choices.  I prepaid and continue to pay for Medicare and I expect no degradation of my benefits.  No, I am not wealthy; I have provided for my family and me for my entire life and now I EXPECT the benefits for which I prepaid and continue to pay.  Politicians execute policy that benefits people who have never learned that the natural consequence of not caring for oneself is death.

Instead, what if:

1.  I can forfeit all further benefits which are then available to a relative or friend - perhaps a family provider - OF MY CHOICE who cannot afford health care?

2. I can donate my benefits to a non-profit OF MY CHOICE that will provide care for their legitimate - my criteria- clients.  An axiom to remember is “God helps him who helps himself.”  In no case would I want my health benefit to be given to people - professional victims - who choose to do nothing to care for themselves. In other words, do not “bleeding heart” (I know, that is not a verb) my donation.

There must never be an entitlement to any benefit I donate.  As the donor I have a complete right to vet a potential recipient or agency to make sure their values are in line with my values, i.e. no discrimination in any form that conflicts with my values.  For example, a third party agency may NOT include DEI in its selection process.  Because of the possibility an agency might not follow my wishes, I insist on the final vote on their recommended recipient and ALL vetting information would be provided to me; HIPPA is waived. Many years ago I participated in an exercise where a group of us had to determine the recipient of a kidney, choosing from several candidates deliberately painted quite differently. I broke out in a sweat. The ability to decide between life and death - to play God - of another person is a horrifying task but one which I will manage if I have the opportunity. As the donor I have the unmitigated right to decide the beneficiary and my choice will favor a person with my values.  By the way we gave the kidney to a young father of a family of four.

Judgmental, value-laden?  Of course!  But as I am the one making the donation I have an uncompromised right to select an individual whose values I share and for whom I feel sympathy. Charity begins at home, not in politics. NO DEBATE.

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