by Carol Levy

Created on: June 05, 2008

Passive suicide would be the act, or inaction, of allowing yourself to die without extraordinary intervention. A DNR order may include only CPR, or ventilator, intubation, and/or other measures such as food and hydration.

In years gone by God, or nature, took care of the dying process for us. Whether through illnesses such as cancer, or age, or at that time what was considered unsurvivable trauma, life ended. Pneumonia used to be called the old person's 'friend'. That was true too for those with situations that only medicine, in the years to come, could bypass.

My father had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

He was terribly afraid of dying and yet wanted it with a vengeance. Why would he want to survive when he had family that was mostly not there for him and his friends were long gone?
The only part of his body that still moved was one finger. The worst part of the disease is that your mind stays intact and watches as you lose every last vestige of control over your body.

Medicine could keep him going. Many people with ALS die by choking to death on their own secretions, unable to swallow.

Medicine can change that outcome. Suctioning around the clock or intubation, so if you are still able to talk, as he was, that would no longer be possible. If Pneumonia developed, antibiotics could clear that right up, most probably each and every time it developed.

His anxiety was so great the doctor offered to give him an anti anxiety drug. The problem, the doctor advised, was that given his fragile physical state it would probably cause him to go into coma leading to his death.

My sisters decided to give permission. (I lived out of state. They have since denied this all happened, maybe feeling it was somehow murderous rather than compassionate.)

He went into coma. As per his DNR he received no nutrition or fluids. He never appeared in distress until his death 3 days later.

Was this murder? No, of course not. Had he been able to make the decision for himself and opted to take a pill to help him emotionally, would that have been passive suicide? (Or active assisted suicide?)

I personally think the answer is obvious.

We have gone over the line in what we can do for people in what used to be their last days.

It is terrific that we have developed so much new technology but in the long run it seems, to me, that much of this is used to prolong suffering rather than defeat pain and anguish.

Living longer is not necessarily living. Being able to breathe but not move or speak or communicate is not much of a life.

Passive suicide is choosing not to go to the doctor when you find the lump. Passive suicide is feeling the constriction in your chest and refusing to go to the ER. It is making the choice of not going for help when help can still be given to get back a level of health and quality of life.

It is not passive suicide to make the choice to end your life with as much dignity and self-direction as possible.

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