It’s easy to find stories suggesting that palliative and hospice care…
… do an adequate job making patients “comfortable” and allowing them to “pass peacefully”.
Alas, horror stories are easy to find as well.
Like most things in life, the quality of your medical care (palliative and hospice included) depends–depends on where you live, who your doctors and nurses are, your support network, and a host of socioeconomic, political, and religious factors.
But even if palliative and hospice care really did make me “comfortable” and allow me to “pass peacefully”, so what?
Because physical pain avoidance is not the only reason why I might choose medical aid in dying.
Because no matter how “comfortable” and “peaceful” the process might be for me, I don’t want my family and friends to watch me slowly wither away. I want them to remember Frankie at his most vital, stubborn, and courageous.
Because no matter how “comfortable” and “peaceful” the process might be for me, I don’t want anyone to stress over how many more weeks, days, hours, and minutes Frankie has left.
Because maybe I don’t want to outlive my usefulness–no matter how “comfortable” and “peaceful” that useless existence might be.