Wednesday, June 23, 2010

the suicide tourist

sorry for the dark turn my blog is (seemingly) taking right now.

i saw a show on PBS's frontline series last night called "the suicide tourist." it was a LOVELY tale
of hope, sadness, loss and love.

i think it especially hits home for me because the man in the documentary had ALS, my grandpap had this and ultimately died from it.
he said he didn't want to be completely paralyzed when he died, because how would anybody know the amount of pain
he was in? he wanted to go out with dignity, and cause the least amount of pain to his family that he could.

he had to travel to switzerland where this assisted journey would take place with the company Dignitas.
it was a beautiful. there were so many incredible points made by craig and his family. he pointed out the hipocrasy
of people telling him by choosing to end his suffering he is essentially "playing God." craig points out that by and large
the medical field as a whole plays God, but nobody is opposed to that. nobody is crying ethical foul when a doctor
saves a premature baby... it's an intriguing documentary, and if you take a minute to watch it you will feel SO much
for this man that you don't even know. a man that has been gone of this earth for 4 years.

it's a shame that here in the US, dying often means dying without diginity, without choice.

(if you'd like to watch this, here is the link)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/suicidetourist/view/

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