For those who have not read his first blog post or want to read the comments from the first article:
I wrote a small piece on planned death
11–20 of 110 posts
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#12I recently witnessed my uncle's euthanasia. There's a few things to consider and discuss with your leifarts (as the euthanasia assisting doctor is called in Belgium) :
- death is instantanious (within 15-30 seconds of administration of penthotal)
- often a sedative is given. Dormicum can lead to loud snoring so you should discuss with your doctor necessity/alternative
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#13I've chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively. I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job. Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer f…
As a cancer survivor, I feel so conflicted about this. On one hand, I can completely understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, I think seeing things in such black and white terms is pretty shortsighted. When there's a terminal prognosis, many/most doctors will offer an array of treatments and therapies to help manage symptoms without trying to make you feel worse. There are several middle-grounds that can help extend life without prolonging it (a fairly semantic, but very important difference).
Which, of course, leads to my next major gripe: end of life treatments (even outside of cancer) are generally awful. Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are sorely lacking. Palliative care systems tend to stretch people's last days out so thin, it's awful.
So, despite refusing treatment, you may still end up in palliative care in undignified and grim circumstances. That's a tragedy. We need to do better.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#14We strive to have a high signal to noise ratio on HN. There's nothing wrong with what you wrote, they are your emotions. However, please make an effort to tell us more about how you feel or your thoughts and comments on the post.
This is signal. What is written, how it's written and what's not written because writing was overwhelming are all part of it.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#15I've chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively. I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job. Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer f…
As a cancer survivor, I feel so conflicted about this. On one hand, I can completely understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, I think seeing things in such black and white terms is pretty shortsighted. When there's a terminal prognosis, many/most doctors will offer an array of treatments and therapies to help manage symptoms without trying to make you feel worse. There are several middle-grounds th…
I remember reading this:
http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die...
It moved me greatly, and also resonated because shortly after a friend of mine at the time, a cyclist with a wonderful personality and charisma, was diagnosed with a stomach cancer and within two weeks, on New Year's Eve, he died.
I remember him in hospital, he knew what was coming, had taken his last ride, had refused chemo, and was now in bed dying. I remember vividly how he comforted another friend who was crying, he was in bed, in pain, and told the other friend it would be alright. How the pain wasn't so bad now, and how he would be riding soon (when he knew full well he wouldn't and the pain was causing him to wince).
It occurred to me how much he, in those last days, did more to calm and comfort the people around him, how he took so little from them.
And it occurred to me how much joy he had in those last few rides, the sun on his skin as he glided around country lanes just South of London.
It reinforced what I'd read about how Doctors die. Reinforced my personal view that life is more than a number of days. Just as work is more than a salary alone.
My wife knows of this opinion and choice, she's very strongly communicated the same opinion, and even the manner and form of her funeral.
We choose to go when the time has come, and to live life fully until that moment. Some things we would live with, but other things, with a terminal prognosis, we would embrace as the striking of the final hour. Instead of spending that hour attempting to lengthen it, we choose to live and savour every moment of it.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#16I recently witnessed my uncle's euthanasia. There's a few things to consider and discuss with your leifarts (as the euthanasia assisting doctor is called in Belgium) : - death is instantanious (within 15-30 seconds of administration of penthotal) - often a sedative is given. Dormicum can lead to loud snoring so you should discuss with your doctor necessity/alternative
And yet in the US you're pretty much stuck with refusal of treatment which inevitably means dying slowly of dehydration. The outcome is the same and everyone knows it. After all, that's the point. It's just needlessly barbaric. We don't even treat animals that way.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#17I'm from Belgium, just like Pieter, and a former colleague of mine worked with him and knows him well.
I didn't want to read its previous blog post when I saw the title on HN. Then that former colleague posted it on Facebook, and I told myself the title was about Pieter himself.
The father of my girlfriend died from cancer a few months ago. When I met him three years ago he was fine.
Not sure if it is a good idea to read this post if you're too close to depression but it is actually almost playful.
"Internet hugs..."
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#18We strive to have a high signal to noise ratio on HN. There's nothing wrong with what you wrote, they are your emotions. However, please make an effort to tell us more about how you feel or your thoughts and comments on the post.
There are times when subduing our emotions is important for quality communication. We should rise above our instincts.
There are other times when the emotion is what needs to be communicated. When our instinct is to empathy, not tribalism. Subduing emotion at that point is inhuman.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#19My take: all the recent changes in western society could be tagged with "Individualism". Fundamental changes regarding lifestyle, relationships and sexuality were enabled by the demise of collectivist ideologies like communism and national socialism which had clear ideas how humans should live, and the wealth and flexibility of modern economies, which enable the individual to exist without any dependencies except a job.
Instead of refering to moral, ethical and other absolutist arguments it's useful to look at how until recently rules limiting the individual were probably necessary for collective survival, and delight in the freedom we can have now.
Right now we're watching people around us coming to terms with planned death (possible now since the community does not need you to tough it out until the end any more). There are more radical and crazy changes ahead that would be revolting right now but will be normal in the future.
Re: I wrote a small piece on planned death
#20I've seen too many people get unnecessary, life-quality-killing butcherous surgeries and read the evidence confirming most end-of-life surgeries rarely have useful benefit. If you're going to check out, go with dignity and don't put your family / self through extended suffering. If you have to go in an unprogressive country, nitrogen itself leaves no evidence and paraphernalia is minimal and can be removed.
Also, please do a will, pick an executor, prepaid funeral and make a Quick Reference guide to finances, assets, bills, keys and passwords... both my mother and I are getting this done ahead of time.
It's not as depressing as leaving family to stumble through things while grieving.