The tragic dilemma of Alzheimers by Derek Humphry скачать в хорошем качестве

The tragic dilemma of Alzheimers by Derek Humphry

The tragic dilemma of Alzheimers By Derek Humphry Since the day that I started the Hemlock Society USA in 1980, the question of persons with Alzheimer's Disease and assisted suicide has been my nemesis. How can a person who has lost their cognitive function make such a critical decision as hastening their end? Moreover, having someone help them? People have put this question to me scores of times. It's the toughest one to answer. For example, a French friend of mine, who had been working for years in the right-to-die movement -- thus her philosophy was unquestioned -- developed Alzheimer's and asked me if I would help her die when she was ready to go. As she was a trusted friend of 20 years duration, I agreed. But then I went one day just to see how she was doing. On my arrival, she asked: "Who are you?" That was that. She never asked me again for help and if she had, I would not have been comfortable aiding her now that she had lost her mind. She died in a nursing home ten years later. Chiefly because we all live longer, some five million people in America suffer from this terrible disease. I also became acquainted with a California family where the father had contracted Alzheimer's and did not want to put his loved ones through the long ordeal which is usually inevitable. He knew that he could only kill himself if he acted quickly. Fortunately, his two grown daughters fully understood his wishes and agreed to stand by him. They talked it out between themselves, and discussed the situation with me. In a family gathering shortly afterwards, when in a lucid spell, he swallowed the lethal drugs. This man was well-informed and strong-willed enough to accept that if he wanted to avoid the drawn-out illness, and its draining effects on his loved ones, he must shorten his life. And he had family support. In an illness like Alzheimers, where there is no physical pain, and in the early years has spells of good life and clear thinking, it takes a lot of courage to kill yourself. Doctors in the Netherlands, which since the early 1980s has permitted voluntary euthanasia (injection) and assisted suicide (oral) tell me that they do not help Alzheimer's victims to die because they are not competent to make decisions and also not suffering terminal pain. The best possible care is arranged for the patient and the family. If a person who has been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimers is interested in ending his or her life, then it must be thought through carefully, close family informed, and the self-deliverance take place in the EARLY stages while there are still periods of lucidity and competence. A very tough decision for anybody...