Julie Selsberg, whose father suffered from ALS and starved himself to death last year at age 77, speaks to sponsors and supporters of the Colorado Death with Dignity Act at the Capitol last Tuesday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)
Re: “Colorado lawmakers to debate a ?death with dignity? law,” Jan. 28 news story.
How very sad that Julie Selsberg’s father, dying from ALS, could not legally end his suffering and endured more torment as he took the only option open – starvation and dehydration. If he had lived in a state with a Death with Dignity law, his dying could have been peaceful.
Thanks to Rep. Lois Court for sponsoring a Death with Dignity bill for Colorado based on Oregon’s law, with important safeguards built in. That law has been in effect for 17 years with no recorded abuses. Those who would oppose such a law on theological grounds do not speak for me or for the many Coloradans whose faith does not forbid choice at the end of life. We need this legislation.
Judith Bortz,Denver
This letter was published in the Feb. 3 edition.
Coloradans should be wary when the government suggests killing as a solution to any societal problem. Everyone is for more ‘choice,’ but Colorado citizens should not be encouraging bad choices and enshrining those bad choices in law.
It is common to be fearful of suffering, losing control, and dying. Many also fear that they will become a burden on family and friends. The ‘compassionate’ way to address these concerns it to stand by the terminal individual and offer them love and support. Some will benefit from treatment for depression and others from advances that have been made in palliative and hospice care.
As a physician, I have worked with thousands of dying patients over the years and witnessed many peaceful deaths. There should be no reason in this day and age for a person to die alone, afraid or in intolerable pain.
Thomas J. Perille, M.D.,Englewood
This letter was published in the Feb. 3 edition.
When people were trapped above the flames in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and faced certain imminent death, some of them chose to break their office windows and leap into the fresh cool air to another form of certain death below. They chose fresh air over being burned alive. We did not call their choice suicide. If someone else broke the window for those unable to do it themselves, we did not say that they assisted a suicide. Most of us think of their choice as one of how to die.
Calling Rep. Lois Court’s bill now pending in the Colorado House ‘physician-assisted suicide’ is a misnomer. Death with dignity should be what every civilized society offers reasoning adults who are facing a certain end of life. I hope that Colorado joins other states in recognizing that if I own my life then I must also own my death.
Bill Baird,Castle Rock
This letter was published in the Feb. 3 edition.
I came to Denver from New Jersey in June 2007, after the passing of my father. My dad’s story is a sad but beautiful tribute to the dignity of life. On May 22, 2006, my dad was admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Camden, N.J.; he had had a stroke. The stroke seemed to be a mild one, as he was able to walk into the emergency room.
Unfortunately, the diagnosis revealed that the stroke had paralyzed his throat so that he was unable to eat or drink anything. Many complications followed, but eventually a feeding tube was surgically placed in his small intestine. For seven months he endured agonizing thirst because he couldn’t drink. The good Lord came and took him home on Jan. 7, 2007.
I received my dad’s greatest gift over the course of these seven months, his unbelievable example of patience through suffering. If a law can make assisted suicide legal, how will anyone learn patience through the difficulties of life?
Mary T. Doyle,Denver
This letter was published in the Feb. 3 edition.
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