The following excerpt is from the op-ed My Brother’s Agonizing Death Shows Why Lawmakers Should Pass Medical Aid-in-Dying Bill by Barbara Webster that first appeared in the Milford Daily News on June 22, 2024.
On Jan. 17, my brother Chuck died of a rare bladder cancer six days after entering hospice care. All of us who were with him in his last days saw how the ever-increasing doses of morphine and anti-anxiety medications could not keep up with his suffering.
That experience only deepened my conviction that we need the option of medical aid in dying to peacefully end unbearable suffering for terminally ill adults in Massachusetts. For Chuck’s former wife, who is Catholic and had opposed medical aid in dying, witnessing Chuck’s passing and seeing how much more humane and compassionate this option would have been for Chuck turned her into a supporter. It was clear that if Chuck could have died the way he wanted, he would have been surrounded by friends and family, telling stories, listening to Etta James, and being lauded by those he loved. What he experienced, by contrast, was exactly the end he feared.
Nothing advances our common cause of improving end-of-life care like real stories. Inspire others and drive change by sharing your story today.
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