YOUR TURN: A better way to die
As a retired physician who practiced anesthesiology and critical care medicine, I am not a stranger to death and suffering. However, my mother’s death still haunts me. One night, she awakened, struggled to breathe, looked around the room, and told me “This isn’t fair.” Those were her last words to me; she died hours later.
What my mother considered unfair was not that she was dying, she had accepted that weeks before. What was unfair was that day after day she repeatedly woke up, still alive and still suffering. Despite my best efforts, palliative care, and hospice, she suffered terribly. It was a horrible experience.
I do not want to die after needless prolonged suffering, like my mother did, nor do I want that for anyone else. That is why I support medical aid in dying (MAID).
A bill currently before the Massachusetts Legislature would legalize MAID, allowing mentally capable, terminally ill adults to request a prescription from their physician for medications that they can choose to take to die peacefully if their suffering becomes unbearable. With numerous safeguards, this bill offers another end-of-life option to minimize suffering.
The legislature has debated this bill for a decade. My personal and professional experiences make it clear to me that qualified people deserve the option to end their own unbearable suffering at the end of life.
I have cared for many patients who knew they were dying. Some were in the hospital for palliative procedures intended to decrease suffering. I always talked to these patients about what they feared; they often told me that they did not want to suffer any longer. I could assure them, that during their surgery, even if they were conscious, they would not suffer. However, outside of a surgical suite, that is a promise that too often we cannot keep. That is what MAID is all about, allowing qualified individuals, in consultation with their physicians, to get a prescription to end their suffering.
Ten states and the District of Columbia currently allow MAID. With more than 24 years of experience in Oregon, and extensively in other jurisdictions around the country, we know MAID can safely be made available to those who choose it, while also improving care for those who do not. I urge you to let your state legislators know that you support swift passage of the End of Life Options Act (H2381/S1384).
George Topulos, a retired physician lives in East Falmouth.
