When the time comes, shouldn't we be allowed to end our lives peacefully.

Just take a pill and go to sleep forever?

Houdini · 56-60, M

Yes I believe we should be able to do this. I for one don’t want to suffer or put my family in the same position. The end result is always going to be the same

exexec · 70-79, C

Yes, with some limits. Diane Rehm wrote a wonderful book about the subject as she and her husband, John, decided that their only option to end his terminal suffering from Parkinson's was to let him stop eating and drinking, under a physician's care.

OlderSometimesWiser · F

@exexec Another great book on the subject by Amy Bloom called In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss…….

Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.

Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees. Supporting each other in their last journey together, Brian and Amy made the unimaginably difficult and painful decision to go to Dignitas, an organization based in Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace.