Just when I thought I was through with intelligent end-of-life discussion, the New York Times’ magazine posts a related article, “The Last Day of Her Life.”
It’s about Cornell psychology professor, Sandy Bem, who gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vows to end her life peacefully and sanely before she completely loses her marbles. The article is quite long. It documents the discussions she has with family members, the steps she takes to acquire the right drug (pentobarbital), the deliberate paper trail she leaves so no friend or relative can be later accused of murder, and what she does on the last day of her life.
Here’s a quote from the article:
“You know I plan to kill myself,” Sandy said all through 2013, whenever the thought occurred to her. She seemed to say it partly for the sake of others, so they could get used to the idea and steel themselves against pain and grief when the time came. But it seemed that it was also for her own sake, to keep her plan at the forefront of her disintegrating mind.
As for me, this issue is a great tidbit to file away someplace (e.g., this here website) in case a similar situation occurs with me in the distant future (e.g., I start to lose my own marbles). But you want to know what I’m about to do next? It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m heading out to the gym to work out on the elliptical trainer for an hour. I just transferred DJ Kitty Glitter’s mix podcast to my iPod. It’s 67 minutes of fast-paced dance music, and I’m keen to hear all the bells and whistles on my high-end Sony earphones.
Thank you, Sandy Bem and DJ Kitty Glitter. You’re both brilliant.
I am a firm believer in the Death with Dignity laws, even before my diagnosis of PD. There are still many things I plan to do and places I want to visit, so unless there are drastic changes in my condition, any action on this would be in the distant future. Florida does not yet have this law, but my son lives in Montana, which does. Does PD “qualify” as a disease that would allow a doctor to prescribe the necessary drugs?
The article about Sandy Bem answered my question.