by Sandra Quevedo

Created on: May 14, 2009

Wanting to die is someone's right - - just as wanting to live is too. Assisted exits should be made available to anyone who wants it and needs it. I just buried my 92 year old grandmother, and can speak freely to the experience of releasing someone I love - - who was in a state of no return.

My grandmother had been an incredibly active and sassy senior right up two weeks before her passing. Even tough she suffered from Alzheimer's she was in really good health for an elder in their 90's. At the end, she was diagnosed with pneumonia (first), combined with a massive brain hemorrhage. Shortly after this she stopped eating - - and then of course, wanting to provide the most comfortable pain free atmosphere, our family opted for hospice.

My mother and my aunt (her only daughters) sat by her bed and held her hand (and comforted her) until she decided to take her last breath. Specialized hospice professionals made sure my grandmother didn't suffer the last days of her life. They were also at her house twenty-four seven.

Let's face it, the majority of the people (wanting Euthanasia) who get to this point, know what they want but most importantly know what they DON'T want, and that most likely is to live the remainder of their lives in unbearable pain compounded with a lack of living quality. So why not allow assisted Euthanasia? Of course, there would be a criteria (a short uncomplicated one - - we hope!) After all, when you get on this bus the ride is a short one too.

As human beings, our first instinct is to be selfish and say NO, to this oh-so-humane process. Perhaps we are thinking of a loved one whom we do not want to release to the world above and beyond. However, take a moment to walk in their shoes. As lucid, and as pain-free as you are this very minute, think of it as if it were you. What then? Will you want to continue living in this type of condition? The quality of life of someone who is very ill deteriorates by the second. If you have ever been bed-ridden for a prolonged period of time, the body aches and pains generated by being idle are quite harsh. Now imagine not being so young, immobile and in an incredible amount of pain? Are you there yet (mentally)? The pain is now so bad it makes you wish that you were dead. None of us can possibly imagine.

Let's be for real, again I am harping on the fact that once an individual gets to this point, it is not because of weakness or because he or she is throwing in the towel. Perhaps,

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