by Ted Sherman

Created on: September 07, 2007

I'm 82, and may soon have to face such a decision. Let me qualify my ethical vote with one requirement: Euthanasia should be administered by a physician only if the patient requests a life-ending procedure, or if the patient is comatose or mentally incompetent, and the closest relative gives approval.

No matter how heroic the measures are to keep an elderly or terminally-ill person alive, the final days are usually nothing but constant pain or unconsciousness until the inevitable end. I know there are tales of miraculous recovery, where a patient in a long coma suddenly wakes up after many years. If it involves a young person, the family has the legal and moral right to keep the patient alive with that hope. Of course, it also involves enormous expenses, family disruption and mental anguish through the days, months or years of keeping vigil.

Euthanasia is legal in some countries today, and anyone who works in US hospitals and hospices knows it happens unofficially every day here. A slightly heavier dose of painkiller drug can mean the difference between life and death for a fragile patient. There's a highly-publicized case of accused euthanasia now pending in New Orleans. It concerns several sick, elderly patients in a nursing home being "put to sleep" when Hurricane Katrina flood waters were threatening to engulf the building.

The physician at the center of the controversy claims she only wanted to give the patients enough drugs to help them sleep through the ordeal. Was that really her intent, or was she deciding who would live or die if the small rescue boats could only save staff and healthier patients? Maybe the trial will answer the question.

Both my spouse and I have signed statements to prevent what are called heroic measures to keep us alive if physicians and family members believe there is no hope for meaningful recovery. We respect the rights of others, both for personal and religious reasons, to oppose such measures for their elderly and terminally-ill loved ones. However, we believe it should be our legal and ethical right to decide for ourselves when to accept the inevitable end of life.

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