David Goodall ends his life at 104 with a final powerful statement on euthanasia

[liberalhistorian]

44. Of course you should not feel bad for feeling

bad about their choice. Of course you're going to feel pain and grief over it. No one is saying that you shouldn't or that it's wrong to feel that way. What many of us are saying is that you don't have the right to make the actual choice for them, there's a big difference.

When one of my best friends chose to end her life her own way a few months ago rather than endure the last several months of terminal cancer, as the pain was getting too bad and too hard to control and the side effects of medicine worse than the pain, it was very difficult for those of us close to her. But we knew that she was the one who was suffering and she ultimately had the right to make that choice. I'm just glad she chose to share it with us beforehand so we had the chance to say our goodbyes. I hated losing her, but supported her right to make that choice. It certainly didn't mean that I didn't feel badly or feel grief over it, nor was it wrong to feel that way despite my supporting her choice.

When another family member, an in-law, chose to let his terminal cancer take its natural course rather than take advantage of his state's assisted suicide law, for which he would have assuredly qualified, we supported that, too, as that was also his right to make that choice. It also didn't mean that we didn't feel badly or feel grief over it.