Thoughts On Dying

As we enter the present national debate about health care, with the “Deathers” screed against having an Advance Directive and scheduled payments for doctors who tell their patients about end-of-life care, may I inject my 2cents worth?

I am 76 years old, have been a hospital volunteer for three years, was a hospice volunteer for six years; I am now a team member of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, an eleven year old Oregon legislature-approved organization dedicated to providing compassionate life-ending assistance to Oregonians.

Most Oregonians who apply for our service are above average in intelligence, education, and the ability to think for themselves, so when their doctors confirm that they have less than six months to live and even palliative care cannot ease their agony, they have the legal and moral right to ask for our assistance.

Too many dying patients would not make this choice because most of us are terribly afraid of death. Ernest Becker, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, states in his book, “The Denial of Death”, that most Americans refuse to acknowledge their own mortality. They refuse to think about their own death, refuse to talk about it, and continue to cling onto life to such an extent that over a quarter of all health insurance funds is spent in the last two months of life; trying vainly to ward off death, we struggle to hold onto life in spite of death’s imminence, our body’s increasing pain and lack of function, the loss of our minds, and the bankruptcy of our families. We destroy not only the last remnants of our own humanity, but also the personal strength and finances of those we hold most dear.

We are so in fear of letting go -– of our consciousness, our life, and our sense of who we were and what we have accomplished – that our dying is a tragedy instead of a release, a celebration of whom we have been and continue to be.

I am dedicating the remainder of my life to assisting the few wise and courageous Oregonians who are not afraid of their own death, but instead, in their passing create a testament of graceful closure and a beautiful memorial to themselves, their families and friends, a privilege only few Americans now can legally choose.

Will you please help?

(For more information, see www.compassionoforegon.org)