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I recently watched a poignant documentary, Life After, that I think many could find interesting. It’s available online and on Hulu.
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/life-after/
From the website:"Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates assisted dying and uncovers how ableism, policy, and systemic failures can make death seem like the only option. With gripping stories and a personal mission, Life After explores who gets real choice, and who doesn’t, in life and death."

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Alva ,
It comes down to some people are afraid of dying in general , perhaps the finality of it, so they fight it to the bitter end . And some of us , like you and I , are afraid of living too long near the end. And YES, you and I have seen FAR TOO MANY live TOO LONG near the end .
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Way, thanks for the vote of confidence. As RNs we have been here and done this and we have seen it. And I HONOR every person's choice, and honor those who go through it to the end. Truly I do. But I am a coward. I don't want to go that long walk. I would rather the short walk to the end. Whether we load our pockets with Virginia Woolf's rocks, and walk on into the cold waters, or take a blessed cocktail of Morphine, Digoxin and I forget the other components, when we want to go we should be allowed to make that choice. Just my humble opinion. I really don't want any sweet, kind thing out there, telling me that AT BEST we can be supported, medicated, and our family the same, supported and medicated, through this passage. If that is a choice, that is wonderful if it is YOUR choice. Please, just give me mine. I really loathe the idea of rocks in the pocket and a slow drowning. Just give me the last GREAT cocktail, and wish me well. I am GOOD with it. It was WONDERFUL. I am very thankful. Is there more?
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No thanks , sounds scary , and depressing .
I’m with Alva on this one . We should stop making people try to live forever and suffer . I also agree a more humane choice should be available , like we do for our pets . Why drag it out in a slow hospice death as Alva described ? Quicker is more humane .
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I am not certain, also, if this isn't anti-MAiD. As I have fought so hard for these laws, which are all about CHOICE for an individual, and because I fully plan to USE them, I am not certain I will seek this one out. As a retired RN I know the issues. I am dealing with a cancer that, at my now 83 years of age, is quite likely to get me if something else doesn't first. I don't WISH to live disabled no matter HOW MUCH assistance I can get. I am "ready" to go and have been for a while as much as I do enjoy my sewing, walking, gardening, reading, family and etc. I have already registered my wishes with Kaiser, and all my doctors are aware of them; have even done the "phsychologist thing" you must do when asking access to MAiD which, like hospice, has the "six months to live" requirement. Why go through that six months if you do not wish to. As you can see above in "Questions" on Forum, people are attesting to the pain and trauma that those EVEN WITH HOSPICE experience in witnessing the death process-- it is WHAT HAPPENS with the end days of organ shutdown. Confusion, anxiety. breathing issues, hallucination, agitation. With ever more medications required to "snow the individual" and the family standing witness.

I don't as an RN see the sense to it. We do not force our beloved animals to go through it. Yet it is expected for each of us.

So to me, KNOW the facts. Know ALL the facts, and I am certain this documentary gives options for "staying in the fight to the end". BUT, make your choice, and vote to HAVE that choice. It is, to be honest, a tremendous comfort to me to know the MAiD laws are here. And to be honest, if I lived in Europe, with easy access to Pegasos, to Dignatas, et al. I would likely already be gone. Just saying. I have been here. I have done this. I have loved it. But as Mark Twain observed, I was dead a long time before I was born and it didn't impact me appreciably.
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Don't we already know who gets real choice in America and who doesn't?

It's all about the 'Haves' and the 'Have-Nots' in life and death, my friend.

Being elderly has been made into a weapon to help get rid of the middle class in America. It's sort of like why in the Catholic Church the clergy wasn't allowed to marry. It was to make sure that any inheritances a priest, nun, or monk received go to the church because they have no heirs to inherit. Monks and nuns also take the vow of poverty so if they get left something, it goes to the church.

Old age becomes so expensive that every cent a person worked for and saved all their lives is usually burned through in a very short time on their care needs. Also, we're living in times where almost all women work so they can't be enslaved to an elder's care needs 24/7 because they're not home anymore. So elders can't leave something for their children and grandchildren to inherit anymore. When the middle class was able to leave a piece of property or small investments or insurances this is what made the generation after them a little better off. So maybe it meant the grandkids could go to college. Or their family home could be paid off. This is not so anymore. Soon enough there will be no more middle class.
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The video is not available to me but the trailer skews very anti MAiD, is that the main focus?
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