At age 49 and relatively healthy, I don’t do a whole lot of thinking about death. I know that the last years of enjoying life with anything approaching passion are upon me, but there will be a new chapter ahead with its own charms, like watching my children navigate the world and perhaps make babies of their own. Life’s not done with me, and I am not done with it yet.
However, if something terrible happens healthwise to me, I would like to go quietly rather than live in constant pain. I am pro-euthanasia. Everyone should have the right to end a difficult life on their terms.
Philip Nitschke has made the death with dignity journey a bit less frightening. He has engineered “The Sarco“, a printable pod that allows users to die by hypoxia, which sounds scary but all it does is merely replace the air in the pod with nitrogen. No suffocating feeling at all, just deep breaths of something that will cause you to lose consciousness and eventually die.
It’s hard to fathom for me right now that I would have to do this. Because once it starts, there is no turning back. It would take a great deal of meditation for me to choose any type of assisted suicide. But I am glad the Sarco could be out there for those who are sure. It sounds like the most humane, painless death I could think of, with applications beyond right to die. It could humanize criminal justice systems who punish with death.
With all that is horrible in the world today, it’s refreshing that some people are choosing to better the human experience. Whatever stops suffering gets a thumbs up from me.
Great post! I found it incredibly engaging. I have also recently talked about the topic of euthanasia in a recent article on my blog (it includes references to changes in Australia’s law as that is where I’m from!). If you have the chance, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my article! Wishing you all the best 🙂