This is the story of a conversation with Jane Doe, 102 years old.
A doctor friend of mine told me this story, which she had recorded in
detail the evening it happened. She got a call one day from a local
nursing home saying that Jane, one of her patients, was calling for
her. Now Jane was stone deaf and nearly blind and could not walk.
When the Doctor arrived, Jane said, "I'm ready. When can you help me?"
"What do you want me to do, Jane?"
"I've been thinking about it, and it's very practical, you know.
"Jane, what do you want me to help you with?"
"I want to end my life."
"Why?"
"I can't see. I cant hear, I can't walk any more. I could write, but I
can't see to type There's no purpose for me anymore. If I died, then
I'd have a purpose again."
"Jane, I can't do that."
"Why not? It's a very practical solution."
"Jane, I can't help you die. It's illegal. I'd go to prison."
"You would? That's silly. I can't see you going to prison. We should
do something about that. That's absolutely silly. We should talk to
Washington, explain it, change that."
"Jane, they tried to do that. They put it up for a vote and people
voted against it."
"Oh. They did? They're afraid, aren't they. They just need a little
education. That's what I should do. I could educate them. When you no
longer serve a purpose there's no point in hanging about."
"Jane, what if I could get someone to type for you, you could tell them
what to say to Washington. Would you do that?"
"That would be good. I could write to Washington....and I could write
comical things. You know someone told me once that comical things are
harder to write. You know, sometimes when you can't understand why
you're going through whatever it is that you're going through, and
there's no reason for you to be there, you find you were just looking at
it from the wrong direction. And when you look at it in a new way, and
there is a reason, isn't there?"
I wish I had known Jane Doe. Maybe I did.
Last week I attended a presentation by the Hemlock Society U. S. A. I
wanted to know more about this national organization which is working to
make physician assisted death legal. The organization's slogan is,
"Good Life, Good Death."
I thought I couldn't write a column on this subject. Then I had a
chat with a friend who has reached the ripe old age of 46 and she said,
"You have to write it." I said, "Why?" She said, "Because you can.
You're old and understand how important it is."
And then I read the story of Jane.
Rapid advances in medical science have outrun the ethical problems that
they have created. Length of life so often exceeds quality of life.
The Hemlock Society believes that people who are terminally ill and wish
to retain their dignity and choice at the end of life should have the
option of a peaceful, gentle and swift death in the presence of their
loved ones.
In the first century B. C. Pueblos Syrus wrote, "The fear of death is
more to be dreaded than death itself." Two thousand years later it is
even more true. Knowing that physician assisted death is legal, that
it is a choice, would be wonderfully reassuring and calming for many
in their late years and give them a new sense of purpose.
Government and conservative religion currently deny that right.
There are, of course, many ethical and practical problems to be
solved. The Hemlock Society says they can and must be solved.
I don't know what happened to Jane Doe. If she wrote to Washington,
they didn't listen. It is time for us all to listen.