in response to Loring Palmer Response about Joan H. to

a Dchad Misc On the deaths of two

Loring's Response to this

Hi.
Thanks for this.
I'm going to post it but not now - in some update on the Zen Aluminati and related stuff.
One thing I want to get into and I'd like to know what you and Joan think of is suicide.
 

The Kevorkian method is what people think of but stopping eating and drinking is what people do spontaneously when they're ready to go. I think it should be acknowledged and discussed so we know up front that ODing on drugs isn't the only way. Stopping intake is a slow and, according to some hospice people I've talked to, fairly pleasant way to go. One very experienced hospice worker I know told me that if you just moisten the lips of a person who isn't drinking and maybe spray a little water in their mouth now and then, that it eliminates most of the difficulty of thirst - something like that. I see a lot of folks in nursing homes that are in states they surely don't want to be in. I think they would have done this if they'd known, if it was part of their education.

I think Ananda might have taken this route if he'd sorted it out before - but I don't mention it. He's said he wanted to die and had his feeding tube taken out and then had it put back in after a couple of days. He's also said he wants to live. The thing is - I don't think it's appropriate for me to bring it up with him. It should have been something we'd talked about before he got in this position - not just in the Living Will sense, but for common knowledge, knowing what our options are. Knowing what to expect. Anyway, I know he likes what I read to him - he's said he's interested in death and dying stuff even though he's not really dying and he's still studying the great matter as far as I can see - even if he is partially paralyzed, grumpy, uncooperative, and diagnosed with Multiple Infarct Dementia.

And incidentally, I don't think we're any closer to death than before, just more aware of it cause we're older.
 

Take care.
 

d

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