Roger first shared his story in July of 2016. The following excerpt is from his op-ed The Death I Want, which first appeared in Boston Magazine on January 15, 2017.
I recently followed through on one of the toughest choices I have ever made: I sued the state of Massachusetts for the right to die peacefully in my sleep, aided by a prescription medication, should my suffering become too great. Let me explain.
I’m a 65-year-old doctor from Falmouth who has lived for nearly 15 years—almost a quarter of my life—with prostate cancer. As a primary care physician who sometimes treated patients with the same disease, I know all too well that my type of cancer is often painful and debilitating at the end. It spreads to tissues and bones, devastates the immune system, and slowly but steadily shuts down major organs. It can affect every aspect of a patient’s existence, from memory to the ability to walk across a room.
For a long time, I did not experience any cancer symptoms, although I suffered serious and life-changing side effects from my treatments. But last spring that started to change: I developed excruciating pain from cancerous cells that had moved into my pelvis.
Click here to read the rest of Dr. Kligler’s op-ed.
Read More:
KevinMD.com - Medical aid in dying is not assisted suicide (Blog post)
The Falmouth Enterprise - Compassionate End Of Life Care (Editorial)
MassLive - Massachusetts citizens deserve the right to a peaceful, dignified end of life (Letters)
Stat News - I’m a doctor with end-stage cancer. I support medical aid in dying
Diane Rehm on WAMU 88.5 - Efforts to Improve The Way We Die
Boston PBS affiliate WGBH - New Film Explores The Right-To-Die Movement
