I don't think he plans to do it immediately. It looks like he wants to at the terms for at what stage of his disease he would prefer to end it rather than go on as a hollow shell of his former self.
The very idea of losing Sir Terry to anything but "he just sort of drifted off in his sleep" is profoundly heartbreaking. But it hurts even more to think of him trapped inside his own mind, unable to get out. I wouldn't want him to suffer that.
(I think you're aware that Alzheimer's is the one disease I'm truly frightened of, and the Monsters have instructions to put me out of my misery should I succumb to that particular horror.)
Same here. I've watched 3 intelligent, vivacious people brutally laid to waste from this horrible disease. If it happens to me, I want to be gone before it gets that far.
I don't know what I would choose under those circumstances. There's too much I don't--can't--know. That, to me, is a pretty good reason for making it legal. Even if I choose not to, the balance is too fine for the call to be made by statute.
There need to be safeguards put in place against people being "encouraged" to "seek out" assisted suicide for various not-so-nice motives, though. The details of how to do that aren't trivial.
Having lost my grandmother to both progressing dementia and heart condition plus general failure of a body growing way too old (in the end, she had a DNR for the last week of her life), I fully understand why he wants to do that before he reaches that certain point of no return.
Bravo to Terry. I was at NADWCON when he discussed it. He said that he wasn't going to allow Alzheimers to take him down. When he died, he was taking *it* down.
I'm glad he's going to end his life on *his* terms. I've seen too many people close to me suffer too much at the end of their lives.
Everybody dies. They should do so on their terms and it's more than past time we had frank discussions on end-of-life issues.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 07:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 07:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 08:06 pm (UTC)The very idea of losing Sir Terry to anything but "he just sort of drifted off in his sleep" is profoundly heartbreaking. But it hurts even more to think of him trapped inside his own mind, unable to get out. I wouldn't want him to suffer that.
(I think you're aware that Alzheimer's is the one disease I'm truly frightened of, and the Monsters have instructions to put me out of my misery should I succumb to that particular horror.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 08:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 08:28 pm (UTC)There need to be safeguards put in place against people being "encouraged" to "seek out" assisted suicide for various not-so-nice motives, though. The details of how to do that aren't trivial.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-01 09:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-02 12:15 am (UTC)The other is screaming.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-02 05:35 am (UTC)I'm glad he's going to end his life on *his* terms. I've seen too many people close to me suffer too much at the end of their lives.
Everybody dies. They should do so on their terms and it's more than past time we had frank discussions on end-of-life issues.