editor's pick
The following are reasons
invoked when applying for
assisted suicide:
•
Limited capacity to take part in
activities that make life enjoya-
ble (96,2%)
• Loss of autonomy (92,4%)
• Loss of dignity (75,4%)
•
Feeling of being a burden to
others (48,1%)
T hese
reasons have nothing to do
with the pain caused by a terminal
disease .
rs, that is not euthanasia. But if you
are giving him a drug intended to
shorten his life, then your motivation
is for euthanasia.
But the book is not all about final
moments. Larry McAfee, a civil
engineer, suffered a bike injury, beco-
ming paralyzed from the neck down
and relying on a ventilator to stay
alive. Prevented from moving outside
the nursery and not being able to
breath on his own, Larry appealed
to the court in order to shut off his
ventilator and die. Though she didn’t
hesitate writing to him, Joni read on
the papers that the judge had allowed
Larry to end his life.
However, Larry then opted not
to turn off the machine right away,
being transferred to another institu-
tion, with Joni eventually losing his
trail. Years later, and to her joy, she
found his whereabouts and reached
out to him. They exchanged brief
words about the paralysis, and be-
fore it was over she questioned him
about what made him go back on his
decision to proceed with the assisted
suicide and what motivated him to
keep on living.
The reply was somewhat astoun-
ding: “Because I’m not forced to live
in an institution or hospital anymore.
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14 ISSUE #9