End-of-life thinking

[carbonel]

A nice cheerful topic, I know. I was going to post part of this as a comment in someone else's LJ, but it wasn't really appropriate there, so it's going as a post on mine.

The question I've been thinking about is, when is it enough? When is it time to go? Or at least let go?

I'm the second choice (after my father, who isn't in great health) to make end-of-life decisions for my mother -- who is close to 80, but otherwise mostly healthy. She told me that her criterion for continuing medical care is whether she can still eat ice cream and enjoy it. If not, it's time to pull the plug. I decided, based on thinking about that, that my criterion, if there has to be one, is whether I can still read books (or have them read to me) and understand and enjoy them. If I'm past that, it's time to go.

Of course, the issue of what to do once one has decided it's time is a tricky implementation detail, especially if one is deciding for someone else, but it's useful to know that there's a point at which a DNR order is appropriate.

Have you thought about this? Your comments?

Comments

[redbird]

I've thought about it, but not come to any firm decisions, unless "prioritize pain relief over extending life if that means getting an extra few weeks" is a firm decision. So, if I'm dying of cancer, give me the heroin even if it means I'll die in one week instead of three. Beyond that, it's hard to be sure what I'll think in thirty or forty years, or even ten.