{"id":215,"date":"2014-11-02T22:10:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T04:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/death-with-dignity-why-now.html"},"modified":"2015-02-26T23:10:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T05:10:00","slug":"death-with-dignity-why-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/death-with-dignity-why-now.html","title":{"rendered":"“Death with Dignity” – why now?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A follow-up to my post on Friday<\/a>\u00a0rejecting the label \u201cdeath with dignity\u201d:<\/p>\n

Sure, the answer to the question, \u201cwhy has the \u2018death with dignity\u2019 movement gotten such traction now\u201d is in part as simple as \u201cbecause society has become secularized, and people aren\u2019t as bound to religiously-based anti-suicide beliefs any longer.\u201d \u00a0But that\u2019s begging the question, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

After all, that implies that the only reason to live in the face of pain and incapacity is a religious belief that to do otherwise is a mortal sin. \u00a0But even absent that, there has to be a reason for the change rather than continuity. <\/p>\n

And this is my two-fold speculation:<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s a historical context. \u00a0No, I don\u2019t mean that medical advances keep people alive longer, leaving them needing care as they age rather than dying of heart attacks in their prime. \u00a0I mean (this is speculation, mind you) that the multigenerational families of the past would have meant that, even if people hadn\u2019t themselves grown up with a grandparent living at home, they might have known a friend or neighbor who did. \u00a0Now, for the most part, the dependent elderly live tucked away in nursing homes or at their own homes, with home health aides, and their experiences are reduced to horror stories of adult diapers.<\/p>\n

But more importantly, in 21st century America, the prime value for a growing number of people is maintaining control over their lives. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s why unplanned pregnancy is intolerable, as is a planned pregnancy when the baby is diagnosed in utero<\/i> with a disability. \u00a0And why, in part, a growing number of people don\u2019t marry, even an a long-term relationship (that involves compromise, and risk of undesirable behavior by the other party). \u00a0It\u2019s the demand that many people voice to be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. \u00a0And a severe disability means living a life without control. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s now being reported<\/a>, in People magazine (via Drudge), that Brittany Maynard, the woman with brain cancer who made headlines by announcing that she planned to kill herself in Oregon, has now followed through on this plan. \u00a0The article in People was pretty bad in its labelling, using the phrase, \u201cdeath with dignity\u201d uncritically throughout, and stating that she decided to kill herself because she could \u201cfeel [her]self getting sicker.\u201d It says that, after an Oct. 21st Grand Canyon trip, \u201cshe had her \u2018worst seizure\u2019 so far, [and] said: \u201cThe seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen as the tumor runs its course.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t suffering. \u00a0She was afraid of the suffering to come \u2014 and, more specifically, of the lack of control. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a story I found <\/a>about a woman\u2019s experience in caring for her husband in his last months and days before dying of brain cancer. \u00a0She doesn\u2019t speak of him suffering or being in pain. \u00a0She speaks of him losing his competence, first, and afterwards requiring direct physical care, and, from what I understand, that\u2019s what Maynard wanted to avoid. <\/p>\n

And in the Washington Post article I referenced on Friday<\/a>, there\u2019s a quote on the reasons people choose to end their lives:<\/p>\n

In Oregon, at least eight in 10 say they made the choice to end their lives because they fear losing autonomy, losing dignity, or that they\u2019ll be less able to participate in activities that make life enjoyable.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, people did not choose suicide because their present situation was intolerable, but because they feared for the future. <\/p>\n

The survey itself, in fact, presumes that this is the case: \u00a0all patients are required to complete a questionnaire and the Oregon Public Health Division<\/a> reports the results; the actual question isn\u2019t shown, just the shorthand \u201cEnd of life concerns\u201d \u2013 which are (obviously, individuals could select multiple answers):<\/p>\n

Losing autonomy \u2013 91%
Less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable \u2013 89%
Loss of dignity \u2013 81%
Losing control of bodily functions \u2013 50%
Burden on family, friends\/caregivers \u2013 40%
Inadequate pain control or concern about it \u2013 24%
Financial implications of treatment \u2013 3%<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which makes it clear that doctor-assisted society-approved suicide is not about intractable pain, but about patient fears for their future. \u00a0And, in fact, this report and the questionnaire itself take it for granted that these negative impacts haven\u2019t happened yet. \u00a0Is it the case that these suicides are generally among those who have not yet begun to experience their deterioration yet, and whether those at a later stage don\u2019t afterwards seek out suicide because they conclude that life is still worthwhile even so?<\/p>\n

Anyway, I never fully answered the question. \u00a0Why is control so important now? \u00a0I would speculate that this is because, in the past, it was clear that we could not control our lives. \u00a0A child could die of diptheria or polio or the measles. \u00a0The economy could crash in a devastating way and destroy our life savings or (more distantly in the past in the United States) famine could pose hardship to the point of suffering and death. \u00a0War could take your life or the lives of your loved ones \u2014 whether because you\u2019re in the path of an invading army or because you or your loved one has been drafted and sent overseas. \u00a0Or, until very recently, you could be diagnosed with cancer and sent, not to the oncologist, but simply home to die. \u00a0(My mom was a nurse \u2014 she entered training in 1957, back in the days when you became an R.N. through a sort of work-study program rather than through college, since she knew her family couldn\u2019t afford to send her to college, and this was her experience.) \u00a0Beyond that, there was a lot about your life that was pre-ordained, e.g., \u00a0your job and your expectations of family life.<\/p>\n

Now, most of the time, we can control a lot about our lives. \u00a0Sure, we still live with the uncertainty of whether our employer might, even out of the blue, issue a pink slip, but we expect the rest of our lives to go as planned, in a way that our ancestors never would have. \u00a0And as a result, we want a way to take control against the declines and impairments of old age or serious illness.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A follow-up to my post on Friday\u00a0rejecting the label \u201cdeath with dignity\u201d: Sure, the answer to the question, \u201cwhy has the \u2018death with dignity\u2019 movement gotten such traction now\u201d is in part as simple as \u201cbecause society has become secularized, and people aren\u2019t as bound to religiously-based anti-suicide beliefs any longer.\u201d \u00a0But that\u2019s begging the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[159],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-assisted-suicide"],"yoast_head":"\n"Death with Dignity" - why now?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A follow-up to my post on Friday rejecting the label "death with dignity":Sure, the answer to the question, "why has the 'death with dignity'\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/11\/death-with-dignity-why-now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Death with Dignity" - 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