I AM IN CHARGE<\/p>\n
There is nothing in the world to which every man
\nHas a more unassailable title than to his own life.
\nArthur Schopenhauer<\/p>\n
My friend Helen Osterman was 86 years old when her husband died.\u00a0 \u201cNow, it\u2019s my turn,\u201d she told me.\u00a0 \u201cI cannot wait to join him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was 28 when she told me that and I was appalled.\u00a0 I could not imagine anyone wanting to die.\u00a0 The urge to live is so strong in us all, I could not believe that someone who was in good health would choose to end it all.\u00a0 Besides, I did not believe you went anywhere when you were dead.\u00a0 I thought it was a final finish.<\/p>\n
I know now that what you believe is what will happen.\u00a0 It makes no difference that we cannot prove that we will come back in another form after we leave this earth.\u00a0 It is immaterial that there is no evidence that our spirits will ascend to a heaven that is described in different terms by different faiths.\u00a0 It is what you think is true that matters.\u00a0 Helen Osterman was sure she would see her husband again when she died and she did go to join him just six months after he left her.\u00a0 She was finished with her life.<\/p>\n
I have lived almost 60 years since that day and I have a very different perspective now. \u00a0I have seen people tied to tubes and bottles, their brain barely functioning, who have become nothing but blobs of living flesh.\u00a0 I have heard tales of people riddled with agonizing pain who cannot be relieved of their suffering because it is against the law for a doctor to assist a patient to end his life.\u00a0 And I know now that those people did not make proper arrangements for their finish.\u00a0 They did not specify that they did not want to suffer without respite.\u00a0 They did not insist that they not be kept alive by artificial means.<\/p>\n
We are the only ones who have the right to make a decision about our body.\u00a0 It is the one thing that belongs only to us and it is our duty to determine the way we care for it and when it is time to stop its functioning.\u00a0 It is not a decision for a doctor or a relative to make.<\/p>\n
However, once we make our wishes known it is incumbent upon all who know us to follow our wishes.\u00a0 I remember a man who was in a coma whose wife insisted he be fed intravenously and on monitoring machines to keep him breathing.\u00a0 She sat by his side all day into the night holding his hand but he did not know she was there.\u00a0 He had made his living will.\u00a0 He had trusted her to abide by his wishes but she couldn\u2019t bear to let him go.\u00a0 She insisted that keeping her husband alive was an act of love.\u00a0 I think she committed an unforgiveable crime.<\/p>\n
There are times when a physician finds himself caring for a person who has stopped functioning.\u00a0 I cannot believe he has committed a crime when he simply removes all life support systems and lets his patient expire.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that governments have taken over the responsibility for our well-being.\u00a0 They pass laws to protect us from abuse, from accidents on the road and from habits they have decided will kill us.\u00a0 Legislators have forgotten that we are unique individuals and it is the responsibility of each of us to listen to his body and keep it in running order.\u00a0 It is for every person to decide if he wants a particular treatment to cure a diagnoses.\u00a0 A diagnoses is after all only one person\u2019s opinion.\u00a0 The amount of cigarettes we smoke, the quantity of drugs we put into our systems and the type of exercise we care to do is a personal decision.\u00a0 We own ourselves. No one else does.<\/p>\n
Just as we all cherish the right to live our lives in our own way, we also have a right to decide when we are finished.\u00a0 When life gives us no satisfaction\u2026when we are stalled and are repeating the same routine every day, it is time to say goodbye to this life.\u00a0 Once we make that decision, it must be respected.\u00a0 The trick is to make that judgment when you still can think and to be sure that it is evident.<\/p>\n
I have always loved the story of the woman who had DO NOT RESUSITATE tattooed on her chest and on her back, TURN ME OVER.\u00a0 That is my kind of gal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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I AM IN CHARGE There is nothing in the world to which every man Has a more unassailable title than to his own life. Arthur Schopenhauer My friend Helen Osterman…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[837],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-joe-cillo"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"