Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
A "very sensitive" topic
#1


Nancy Uden took her place in front of legislators, the first to testify inside the overflowing hearing room near the Minnesota Capitol. A head wrap covered her scalp. It hid 36 electrodes that slow cancer cells' growth, perhaps adding months, even years, to the time she has left.
"I'm not afraid of death, but I am afraid of how I will die," she told lawmakers and onlookers. For more than a year, Uden has battled glioblastoma, a devastating form of brain cancer with an average survival rate of 14 to 16 months. She was beating the odds, but she knew that could change in an instant: "I don't have time for long debates. This bill has been in front of the Minnesota Legislature for 10 years already. It's time to act."
The bill — supporters call it medical aid in dying, opponents call it assisted suicide — would allow physicians to dispense life-ending medication to terminally ill adults with a prognosis of less than six months to live. Patients would then ingest it themselves.
Leading into this legislative session, supporters were optimistic. 
The issue jumbles predictable political alliances: Supporters frame it as bodily autonomy or as a bulwark against government intrusion; opponents frame it around the sanctity of life or fears that a slippery slope could force suicide on people with profound disabilities.

Uden, 72, understands the irony of spending what may be her final cogent months advocating for a law that could help her die.
Nancy Uden is fighting for her life while she fights for a choice in her death.
"If I die of glioblastoma, it'll be ugly," Uden said. "It's going to affect my brain. I could lose my ability to control my bowels, my bladder, being able to walk and talk and have my memory. If it gets to the end and it's this horrible, ugly thing, I want a different option."
She's had aggressive treatment: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. In the year after diagnosis, her doctor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester relayed little but good news. But the median time to recurrence is less than 10 months. Uden is already a few months past that.
When the cancer returns, she worries a growing tumor could press against her brain, inducing seizures and hallucinations, bringing painful headaches and blindness, stripping away her communication and tinting her skin blue. It's the type of death she doesn't want loved ones to witness.
She told legislators of the seizure that caused a car crash in late 2022, of waking up at North Memorial Health Hospital, of doctors finding a brain mass.
"I promised my family I would fight this ugly disease until there's no hope left," she told the committee. "If there are no more treatment options, I deserve more death options."
Uden wants to die like her mother did: Surrounded by family, a serene look on her face.
"It is now very real and urgent to me," Uden told the committee. "The Minnesota Legislature has made bodily autonomy a priority. Well, this is the final act of autonomy that any of us will ever have."
Uden knows this topic stirs unease. When she spoke in the packed legislative hearing room, she was surrounded by tales of personal tragedy. A woman with leukemia guessed she'd die before this hoped-for legislation passes. A woman paralyzed in a car crash in the 1980s was grateful that assisted suicide wasn't an option after her accident. A medical ethicist testified of no instances of coercion in the 10 states and Washington, D.C., where this is legal. Dozens testified about their own terminal illnesses or loved ones with painful, drawn-out deaths. 

Some physicians opposed, some supported. Religious conservatives spoke of the morality of intentionally ending life and their fears that this narrowly defined law would be expanded.
One physician compared this to people who jumped from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Would anyone call that suicide, since death was imminent and they simply chose a quicker, more painless way?
Uden understands that unease. She also believes no one should have a say in her death other than her and her family. Her biggest concern with dying of glioblastoma isn't her own pain.
"I don't want my kids' last memories of me to be hallucinations and having seizures," said Uden, who retired a few years ago as a Great Clips executive.
"This will be harder on us than it'll be on you," replied her husband, Jim, a retired pastor.
"I want them to experience me at my best," she said. "That's all we have when someone's gone: Memories. And so I want those memories to be good. They won't all be good. But to the point I can control those memories, I want to."
https://www.startribune.com/nancy-uden-wants-to-live-but-also-wants-to-choose-when-shes-going-to-die/600347136/



Reply

#2
This is a personal one for me as I had to say goodbye to my dear friend in his 50's as he slowly died from a Glioblastoma. 

I saw first hand his suffering and that of his wife and kids. You're truly a goner after 14 mos, and its a bad way to go. 

I have sensitivity to the many sides of this issue - but seeing what I saw first hand? And giving my bud (and his family) a chance to die peacefully vs how he did? I would choose peacefully every day of the week. 


Reply

#3
Lost my Grandfather ( still the best man I have every had the honor to know ) to diabetes that slowly ate him, first taking his toes, then feet, then legs,  and modern medicine could do nothing.

Lost my Mother in Law ( the strongest and most patient woman I have ever known ) to pancreatic cancer,  it took her quickly,  diagnosed in early October,  passed away only 2 months later.

Lost my Father in Law ( man he hated me more that Maroon does, but I still admired him  (( most days)) we just had one of those relationships) to glioblastoma,  he was given months,  he fought and gained 2 years,  but they werent good years for anyone that saw him regularly other than to say they got to have more time with him and his dry sense of humor and decades of wisdom.

Finally, lost my Dad to dementia,  what a fucking miserable way to see one of the sharpest men I've met meet his demise.  Like my FIL,  we had good days and bad, there were moments in those last 5 years or so when the light bulb burned bright,  but many more days when I would leave him with tears in my eyes and ache in my heart,  or anger and resentment for what his disease had reduced him to,  yearning for just a few more moments with the man that helped form me into the man I eventually became, instead of the dependent shell of a human he became.

I dont think there is a right choice here,  except that it isnt the Gov'ts choice.  For some its a family matter, for others its a spiritual matter,  and yet others a selfish matter,  the common connection is that it isnt my choice yet,  and to assume that any individual should make that choice for them is beyond that of compassion for either the afflicted nor their loved ones.

EDIT:  I have told my wife and kids countless times,  if I am afflicted with something that makes me a burden to them,  simply take me to a beautiful spot on my land ( Its been pre determined for about 20 years now) leave me with a little booze, and my loaded gun,  and let me go on my own terms,  if I am not given that option,  to not take efforts to sustain life,  and then instead of the conventional funeral and burial,  let the fire win the last battle  and take my ashes again to that same place on my land and let the winds scatter them as God sees fit.
Reply

#4
I hope it passes. I have worked in hospice. Losing my uncle last July to cancer from Agent Orange hit home, thankfully it was quick for him but devastating nonetheless. I believe that people should be able to determine their own fate. Thank you Nancy for being a voice for medical aid in dying. 
Reply

#5
There should be a “take me to the pasture” clause available to all. We do no one any good by prolonging suffering. 
Reply

#6
I’m a firm believer that this should be an option that’s
available for those with terminal physical illnesses and the elderly.  There’s a lot of pain and suffering for
people as they approach the end of some illnesses.  Also from a much less important angle, we spend
a tremendous amount of money on health care/assisted living/nursing homes in
the end of life phase, and if we’re just keeping husks of people alive because
we (as a society) are afraid to let them go …


That said, I think there should be pretty strong gates to
prevent teenagers or people with depression from ending it all, when maybe
increased mental health care might turn things around for them.
Reply

#7
Quote: @medaille said:
I’m a firm believer that this should be an option that’s
available for those with terminal physical illnesses and the elderly.  There’s a lot of pain and suffering for
people as they approach the end of some illnesses.  Also from a much less important angle, we spend
a tremendous amount of money on health care/assisted living/nursing homes in
the end of life phase, and if we’re just keeping husks of people alive because
we (as a society) are afraid to let them go …


That said, I think there should be pretty strong gates to
prevent teenagers or people with depression from ending it all, when maybe
increased mental health care might turn things around for them.
that logic should be applied to a lot of life altering decisions.
Reply

#8
Return dignity to death.  The way the western world manages it's "elders" is despicable and really indicative of who we are as a society.
Reply

#9
Quote: @Skodin said:
Return dignity to death.  The way the western world manages it's "elders" is despicable and really indicative of who we are as a society.
we need to put the focus back on quality of life and not longevity,   I think part of the issues we have is to many cures,  sure we live longer,  but at what consequences?  I had to lobby the nursing home to titrate my dad off life sustaining measures and demand that they shut off his pacemaker,  they insisted for several days those things werent sustaining life and were only for comfort care.  less than 2 hours after they shut the pacemaker and O2 off he passed, no signs of struggle or discomfort,  he had laid there mostly catatonic for over a week,  and had been nearly that way for over a month.  we treat our animals better than we do our parents in the end.
Reply

#10
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@Skodin said:
Return dignity to death.  The way the western world manages it's "elders" is despicable and really indicative of who we are as a society.
we need to put the focus back on quality of life and not longevity,   I think part of the issues we have is to many cures,  sure we live longer,  but at what consequences?  I had to lobby the nursing home to titrate my dad off life sustaining measures and demand that they shut off his pacemaker,  they insisted for several days those things werent sustaining life and were only for comfort care.  less than 2 hours after they shut the pacemaker and O2 off he passed, no signs of struggle or discomfort,  he had laid there mostly catatonic for over a week,  and had been nearly that way for over a month.  we treat our animals better than we do our parents in the end.
Yup, that exact point has crossed my mind.

Over the past 20 years, I was able to send my 2 pugs and then 2 Labs off to Rainbow Bridge more humanely than what we could do for human beings. People at life end and were suffering. 
Reply



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)

Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 Melroy van den Berg.