Dear Banjo,

Thank You so much for giving me the opportunity
to access your article.

For what it's worth - I think its brilliant.
And rightly deserves recognition and accolades.
Brilliantly argued. I especially liked your statement
- if life is a fundamental human right then so is death
or words to that affect.

No wonder it got published.

Have you published any else? I'd love to get hold of some
of your works.

A few years ago I nursed an elderly aunt as she died. She had been in poor health for years, lived alone (by choice) with support from nearby family and visiting nurses, but at the end I moved in, from another city, to look after her 24/7. She was adamant that she wanted to die at home, not in hospital and especially not in a nursing home.

Effectively she starved herself to death, refusing food and water (and medication), but she was set up with a morphine drip with myself as the authorised person (paperwork!). I was aware that it was within my power to speed her death, via the morphine, but I would never have gone against my aunt's religious convictions. I'm not sure what I would have done if she asked me to help her go. In the circumstances, with plenty of time sitting at the bedside, the thought of my own death couldn't be avoided. The last few weeks were horrendous for her and something I will never be erase from my mind (PTSD anyone?)

I would like to chose the time and method of my death, but definitely not by car crash. I want my family to know and to support me, and for the process to be as untraumatic as possible for all of us. A staged suicide by car crash or otherwise would leave too many uncertainties and regrets - was it an accident or suicide? why didn't she say anything? I want to say good-bye properly.

Dear Cossomby,

Thank You for sharing what must have been very difficult
for you. My mother-in-law also refused food and drink
to hasten her death. She was given palliative care in a
nursing home. She eventually just passed away after several
weeks. It was also heart-wrenching but it was her decision.
She just decided she'd had enough. Her husband had died
earlier. She was 91 years old. Of course it would have been
better had she been given the choice of assisted-suicide
but at that time this was not available in Victoria, and
again being deeply religious, I'm not sure that she would
have accepted that option either.

It's a complex issue.

Rereading my post, it sounds pretty negative, so it's important to add a positive.

My aunt died at about 5am, and I waited till 7 before advising anyone. My sister and niece joined me, and after the doctor had come and certified the death, and we waited for undertaker, we decided to wash and dress my aunt. As anyone who has been at a slow death knows, it can be rather messy. We washed her, shampooed her hair, put some make-up on, and went through the wardrobe to decide on what dress she would have liked to be buried in. When the undertakers arrived they were stunned - the old tradition of the family laying out the dead is rare these days. We were left with a beautiful last memory of our aunt: dressed to the nines and looking lovely.

Dear Cossomby,

Thank You for ending on a positive note.

My mum's wish was to be buried in the Lithuanian
National Costume. She had a magnificent one - as
she was an active member of the choir. Of course
we granted her wish. And viewing her body in the
Chapel, I was so glad we did. She looked beautiful.

The science and technology of medicine are transforming
the treatment of the diseased and the injured and
millions of people owe their health and lives to the
dramatic medical innovations of the past few decades.

Some of the new technologies however, are creating new
problems even as they solve old ones. In particular
the new technologies have given doctors and patients
and their families a range of difficult life-or-death
choices that they did not have even a few years ago.

For example, terminally ill patients can now be kept alive
through artificial respiratory intravenous feeding,
electronic heart stimulation, mechanical organ substitutes, or
even transplants of body parts from other people or animals.

Consequently medical dilemmas frequently today become moral
and legal ones as well.