"She does not feel she can live with her children, who are busy with careers and children of their own. She is determined that she will never move to a nursing home, which she considers an intolerable loss of dignity. As a Dutch citizen, she is entitled by law to request that a doctor help her end her life when she reaches a point of unbearable suffering. And so she has applied for a medically assisted death.... Dr. Bert Keizer is alert for a very particular moment: It is known as 'five to 12' — five minutes to midnight... the last moment before a person loses that capacity to clearly state a rational wish to die.
He will fulfill Ms. Mekel’s request to end her life only while she still is fully aware of what she is asking. They must act before dementia has tricked her, as it has so many of his other patients, into thinking her mind is just fine.... Whose assessment should carry more weight, she asks: current Irene Mekel, who sees loss of autonomy as unbearable, or future Irene, with advanced dementia, who is no longer unhappy, or can no longer convey that she’s unhappy, if someone must feed and dress her."
From
"She’s Trying to Stay Ahead of Alzheimer’s, in a Race to the Death/In the Netherlands, doctors and dementia patients must negotiate a fine line: Assisted death for those without capacity is legal, but doctors won’t do it" (NYT).
We hear about another woman who had "dreaded the nursing home, but once she got there, she had some good years.... She was a voracious reader and devoured a book from the residence library each day. She had loved sunbathing all her life, and the staff made sure she could sit in the sun and read for hours."
Understand the problem: Mekel has to go early.
She can't just put in an order that says: Kill me at the point where my kids would decide I need to be put in a nursing home because my house is too dangerous. How many perversities in that scenario?
And it seems that Mekel wants to deprive her future self of the choice to find happiness in a life that her present self — the one who is striving to live in her nice little house — regards as abhorrent. It's ableism, aimed at herself. Do you ever think about your past self and the way Past Self would think about how you are living now? What if Past Self had nailed down some choices to prevent you from having this life you have now? Do you want to be ruled by that picky ableist?
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43 comments:
Yeah, the Euros will kill off their native-born citizens and replace them with illegal aliens and migrants from the Middle East. Europe has a suicide plan that it is executing right now.
Catch 22.
The aged human being, diminished by cognitive decline, sarcopenia, immunosenescence, and a host of related syndromes, struggles to find meaning and purpose. So long as the struggle continues, life has value.
Which voice should carry more weight—the Ms. Mekel of today, with all her imagined fears for the future? Or the Ms. Mekel of the future, who has found she is really ok with the life she now fears?
By all means, society should protect her from the trap of enjoying advanced age.
Well, that's not how I want to exit, and maybe I'm happy (?) that it probably won't happen that way. I see a fear of the unknown in this woman's plans, but I'm not living her life. It's unfortunate the government is allowing it IMO.
People have always had, and sometimes exercised, the option to take their own life. The problem with these Government run euthanasia programs is that it hides the seriousness and severity of choosing that option. It is a Government program, so it is sterile, clinical, and okay.
These Euthanasia programs are also tied to the decrease in religiousness of folks. With religion comes God making man in his own image, inherent human dignity, and humans being special simply for existing. A lot of the secular worldviews distill down to viewing life as series of experiences and once the outlook on the remainder of those experiences looks dreary enough, well then society ought offer up the Logan's Run off ramp.
This is a hard one. Having seen a family friend turn into a kind of monster by Alzheimers, that's one thing, but other people are genuinely happy, like Reagan.
Instead of normalizing euthanasia, society ought renormalize grown children taking care of their aged parents who can no longer look after themselves. The more common this experience the less of an unacceptable burden it will feel for both the parent and the child.
she could set up a test, a test of her own choosing such as: if and only if in front of 3 designated witnesses it is established that her mind is so far gone that she can no longer recognize her children then the doctor has permission to proceed.
Way back in the old TV show LA Law, there was a woman with brain cancer seeking a court order allowing her to freeze her head, which the state opposed. It ended with the judge granting her request at the end of the day and telling the state's counsel that they could file an appeal on the following day. The clear implication was that she was going to go do it that night.
"They must act before dementia has tricked her, as it has so many of his other patients, into thinking her mind is just fine..."
in Other Words.. when it comes Down To IT; they Don't WANT to die..
Fortunately, their Doctor will have ALREADY sign their death certificate; so they WILL die, whether or No
I can only comment on the vast, monstrous power of the state, that could so insidiously encroach on this woman's consciousness, that she would place her faith in its empowered decisions rather placing her faith in her own - and in God.
My mother had Alzheimers, and it made her very unpleasant to be around. My wife said that if she ever got that way I should shoot her. When she did get that way, of course I didn't shoot her. Eventually she died without any assistance, thank you.
My father's dozen years of dementia were apparently unusual. He remained largely functional until his last couple of days, but he lost more and more memory. I wish I'd gotten his sore hip replaced before Covid, but I was afraid, from experience, he'd wander in the middle of the night or when unattended.
Closer to Home.. What percentage of deaths in Canada last year were through Medical Assistance In DYING?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medically-assisted-deaths-canada-2023/
"Medically-assisted dying in Canada reached record high in 2023, about 1 in 20 deaths"
Remember The Olden Days?
back when euthanasia was for the Terminally Ill, in Horrible Pain?
then for the Terminally Ill, whether in Pain, or NOT in Pain?
then for the chronically Ill, in Horrible Pain?
then for the chronically Ill, whether Pain, or NOT in Pain?
then for the people that JUST WANTED TO DIE?
not just people that the Government wanted GONE?
In the Immortal Words, of SE Hinton: That was THEN, This is NOW
Present Merkel may also be thinking, at some future point I will be a big burden. I will be decreasing the potential use of life by people younger than I. I don't want to do that.
We are getting to the point in the United States where substantial resources are devoted to people who can no longer care for themselves or even think and perceive themselves as they once did. Is it selfish to say, "I will live happy and semi-mindlessly for many more years as the rest of the world fulfills my every need"?
Heaven forbid that anyone get to the point that they're *too demented* to kill themselves. Fortunately, the government is here to save you from the burden of being alive and unaware that you don't really want to be.
The lefties have become boringly predictable. Or maybe it’s just that at my age I’ve seen all their stupid and/or wicked shit before. There’s no dilemma for doctors who are not prepared to kill people, is there?
gilbar said...
Remember The Olden Days?
back when euthanasia was for the Terminally Ill, in Horrible Pain?
then for the Terminally Ill, whether in Pain, or NOT in Pain?
then for the chronically Ill, in Horrible Pain?
then for the chronically Ill, whether Pain, or NOT in Pain?
then for the people that JUST WANTED TO DIE?
not just people that the Government wanted GONE?
That’s the rub with doctor assisted suicide. First, it’s an option. Later, it becomes an obligation.
“Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels fastest who travels alone.” Kipling.
The exception, of course, being assisted suicide.
What do these countries agonizing over medically assisted suicide have in common?
No Second Amendment.
If you have a gun, you can decide when to commit suicide.
And you can keep away the people who want to ‘help’ you decide.
JSM
"What if Past Self had nailed down some choices to prevent you from having this life you have now?"
Past Self nailed down quite a few choices that resulted in my having this life I have now.
People who haven't gone through the elderly parent situation, should not be so sure of how it should play out. The elderly parent is not Aunt Bee, puttering around the house and looking after Opie while her nephew Andy is on duty.
Like Ms Mekel in the article, many elderly want to stay in their homes, while home maintenance and daily duties become issues that can be addressed.
When living alone is no longer tenable, the person may need 24 hour monitoring, and assistance bathing and using the restroom. Whether or not the person has dementia, the loss of autonomy and loss of function, may make the person argumentative or combative. This can go on for years. Happy memories of your parent, get replaced by the daily struggle. Do not underestimate the difficulty of this.
In 2019, my mom was frail and her vision was failing. She decided to it was time to sell the house and move into elder care. She was lucid most of the time, but had occasional cognitive issues. When everyone was worried about Covid, my mom wasn't. She was prepared to die.
All of her friends were gone, and she was very limited in what she could do on her own. The Covid isolation policies mean that her several attentive children and legions of grandbabies, couldn't visit. She said, "I hope I get it. I'm ready to get the hell out of here."
Once the Covid restrictions were lifted, there wasn't much left of her. She lived for 18 months longer, but no good was served by that. She had no quality of life, but probably didn't know it. Pointless.
This Dutch doctor makes no sense to me.
"She will not do it [help someone die] for someone who has by definition lost the capacity to consent."
But it seems wrong for a doctor to kill her. Maybe they could just shoot her full of morphine and strap her to a ventilator. If she's still alive in two weeks -- remdesavir!
Ricky Gervais interviews Tanbury's oldest woman (Afterlife)
RG: What advice would you have for someone to live a long life like you?
Woman: Don't. It's bloody awful. Here's my month: 1st week Diaharhea. Then 3 weeks I can't shit at all
https://youtu.be/FrU5X5iep4Q?si=eSSM8h_pa2fcSKRR
John Henry
Strangely (?) after Althouse's final comment, I was reminded of the Garth Brooks song "Unanswered Prayers".
The Vault Dweller said...
“Instead of normalizing euthanasia, society ought renormalize grown children taking care of their aged parents who can no longer look after themselves. The more common this experience the less of an unacceptable burden it will feel for both the parent and the child.”
Yea, this. Both of my parents grew up with grandparents in the home.
On my mother’s side, my grandparents’ family home became the home of their youngest child and grandma continued to live there.
My paternal grandmother was a little different; after grandpa died, she preferred to live independently until she could no longer take care of herself. Then she came to live with us towards the end.
When I first read the title I thought, Merkel has Alzheimer’s? That explains a lot about Germany.
“ Is it selfish to say, "I will live happy and semi-mindlessly for many more years as the rest of the world fulfills my every need"? well if I go to a home when I am old, I will have money to pay. Is me paying for a home evil and someone else taking Carnival Cruises ok? They both contribute to gdp. I paid a great deal of taxes over my life, don’t give me your crap that you can’t take care of me for a while when I shelled out for government my whole life, gdmnit.
Welcome to the Monkey House
A short story by Kurt Vonnegut about compulsory assisted suicide. Also the name of a collection of stories.
Should be at this link but I can't get it to open just now
http://www.vrdiscovery.com/scifimed/MonkStry.pdf
John Henry
For a nation that ejaculates when talking about indigenous cultures, we sure do overlook that assisted suicide was a part of most tribal societies. They didn't have the resources to care for the demented and decrepit. It's why the elders would walk out onto the tundra and await the polar bears.
I have witnessed this dilemma up close with my father. My father began displaying noticeable signs of dementia in 2014, a full four years before his death. By late 2017 is was nearly full-blown psychosis that was only partially controlled with medication to keep him unagitated.
In July of 2018 he suffered a severe case of sciatica that left him unable to walk within a couple of days. The doctor, his GP, prescribed oral steroids, painkillers, and strict bedrest, however, my father in his demented state couldn't follow the bedrest- he kept trying to escape the bed even if my mother or I was there in room telling him not to get up. After about a week of this my father suddenly began to refuse to eat or drink anything. My mother and I did nothing for the first couple of days but, when he still refused to eat or drink on the third day, we asked him what he wanted to do and he answered he wanted hospice care to be allowed to die. Given we had no other option short of having him hospitalized, restrained, and force-fed, we granted him his wish. He died about two weeks later. I still wonder whether or not he was actually competent to make such a decision.
I've seen plenty of people who were very happy with dementia. I wouldn't close myself off from that life.
I even knew someone who was the nicest, most loving version of herself when she had dementia. Her kids had wonderful years with her during that time.
People who haven't gone through the elderly parent situation, should not be so sure of how it should play out.
Indeed. My mom had a debilitating stroke at 79 and she was independent and lining in her house (dad had left 10 years previous). The next three years were absolutely miserable for her. In a nursing home and had to have constant care. She couldn't even get out of bed by herself and wore diapers the entire time. After her third (or maybe fourth) UTI, she stopped eating and drinking and was gone in three days. I blame her not one bit.
I believe there were some times that weren't so bad. She had us kids around more often, friends come to visit, etc. But those were relatively small slices in between lots of misery.
I don't know. I feel like we owe it to people to release them from suffering. That said, it will be thoroughly abused.
The Left in Canada and Europe and no doubt elsewhere has an interesting scam of appearing to be caring and generous by voting good benefits for seniors, only to try to kill them as soon as they start collecting on those benefits. In the US, during the COVID-19 this manifested itself by putting contagious COVID patients into elderly care facilities by governors like Cuomo and Whitmer.
If Ms. Mekel was still in a reasonably sound mind, why didn't she save everyone involved in her situation from unnecessary uncomfortableness by just jumping off a bridge? Physician assisted suicide is over priced and over rated.
Years ago my mother told me "if i get alzheimers, just put me in a home, don't bother visiting, and don't feel guilty about it for one second... I won't know you're not visiting me."
She never got that way, but she had the right view. She would only be a burden if I let it be a burden to me. She was gonna know nothing about it one way or another.
This is why a masculinist looks for a fresher woman. Why a feminist looks for a better endowed man. Why a progressive selfie liberates herself from a forward-looking "burden". Evolution is a chaotic enterprise.
In my comment at 12:21 I forgot about Minnesota Governor Walz, who also put contagious COVID patients into nursing homes. (And he defends the practice with no shame at what he did.)
Euthanasia is the socialist answer for redistributing a person's money when they will no longer provide labor.
Do you ever think about your past self and the way Past Self would think about how you are living now? What if Past Self had nailed down some choices to prevent you from having this life you have now?
This post is classic Ann Althouse. Maybe my circle is too small, but I don't know anyone reading this article whose brain would follow this path. Mine certainly wouldn't/couldn't.
- Krumhorn
"I even knew someone who was the nicest, most loving version of herself when she had dementia. Her kids had wonderful years with her during that time."
There are some TikTok accounts that show relationships like that.
It's a mortal sin. Living among the very ill my whole upbringing, I learned to respect courage, humility, suffering, and the will of others to make real, unrequited and unobserved sacrifices. It is what makes us human.
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