First, an article about the main subject - Medical Aid In Dying.
https://torontolife.com/city/life/john- ... d-suicide/
That article is from before there was legal support for this. The author takes you through many ethical questions, if you care to go try them out.I was horrified anew in 1999 when the gifted conductor Georg Tintner, who was dying from a rare form of melanoma, jumped from the balcony of his 11th-floor apartment in Halifax to end his agony. Many Canadians would hear such news, shake their heads, utter a few sympathetic platitudes and move on. But I couldn’t just sit back and wring my hands. That year, I went from advocating for assisted suicides to facilitating them. Let’s not mince words: I killed people who wanted to die.
So getting back to my friend, it isn't as simple as Medical Aid In Dying. This friend is discussing how the issue is to be handled with people who have intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Holy fuck, I wish I could give that friend a hug.
In case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying not to say anything about this persons identity, but the fact that they are willing to tackle this kind of issue, while living in the echoes of forced sterilization of id/dd people, shows their courage and unblinking commitment to this community.
So my thoughts are pretty simple - mostly let people decide for themselves. That works for most of the people I chat with, as they are assumed to be self-aware, self-responsible. When a person loses their executive function (for example, as a result of accident) then we generally treat them a bit different. When someone has had such a limit for their whole life, it seems to elicit a different view.
This is a mess to think about. I thought I would see if anyone here had horrors, or maybe even decent experiences around it.
For myself, I've seen people suffer, and wish for death. I know a few who have gotten medical help in dying (first, my own grandpa in the late 80-s) but never have I been asked to help. Never have I had to be involved in any of these decisions.
I have taken responsibility for others at times. Some of them with ID/DD. I don't know what I would do if put in the situation to need to make a decision. I think I could only help someone who I thought was asking honestly, and knew what they were asking. Even at that, while I wish I could help in a situation where I should, I don't know if I could.
There is a famous policemans paradox, where you are an armed police officer, who comes across a man in a burning vehicle, who will surely die, and is screaming in pain.
You have a gun, do you shoot him, to reduce suffering?
No answers from me, just wringing my hands about a very difficult group of questions.
Pic slightly related - area near the cemetery.