Minnesota Women’s Press: Mikki Morrissette - Why I support Compassion & Choices legislation
An excerpt from the Minnesota Women’s Press op-ed, “Why I support Compassion & Choices legislation” by Mikki Morrrissette, published February 21, 2021:
Feb 21, 2021
“Of course, people do unexpectedly die, without loved ones around them, all the time. Many times we do not have time to prepare for sudden loss. Sometimes — and I am sure my dad was one of them — we do not want to be encircled by ritual in the deeply intimate moment of dying.
But, given the choice… how would we opt to die? Shouldn’t we be able to make that choice when we know our end is coming within six months?
…
A year before he died, when dad was still living at home, I was talking to my parents about the Compassion & Choices movement I was learning about — explaining what the legislation is and is not able to do for people closest to death. My dad, in his soft-spoken way, simply said, in a moment not clouded by dementia: ‘I would like to have that choice.’”
