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December 21, 2005
Candy Cane Lane and and Is There Such a Thing as a Good Death
My mom just wrote a comment about how she wrote her living will, that she is to be disconnected from life support if she is very old and sick with no hope of a quality life. I used to have a similar view, but now that I am close to people who are doing life-extension research, I'm not so sure.
For instance, what if I were terribly injured now and in a coma or a persistent vegetative state? I used to say that I would definitely want to be disconnected from life support machines. But now, knowing that there may be in my lifetime biomedical technologies that could both heal my injuries and then extend my life, I'm not sure I wouldn't want to take the chance. I know MR would want to keep me alive in hopes of being able to revive me when such technologies became available.
But who would pay the bill? Very responsible ethical question, and one I don't have a good answer to. I'd hate to bankrupt my family. For those of us unfortunate enough not to be born Canadian, the barbaric US health care system makes sure that our own families will be completely out of resources before the government will step in.
I've also thought that if I were in such a state, I'd want to be carefully frozen so that I could be cheaply babysat in Alcor's fridge and then thawed out when the aforementioned technologies are available. But would that be considered murder? Would the government prevent me from being frozen according to my wishes just because I wasn't technically dead yet? All tough questions. That's why I firmly support the right of people to make their own end of life decisions, and to let their loved ones know about them. The decisions we make may be different based on our age, state of health, and personal belief system. But we should make decisions now, while we're healthy, and communicate our wishes to our family.
The thing about becoming a life-extensionist is that you start to think that there's no such thing as a good death. While I definitely would want to die with dignity and minimal suffering if there were no real hope for a return to healthy life, I would much prefer not to die at all. And now that I am aware of how very close we may be to life-extending technologies of all sorts... from the biomedical to the nanotechnical... I'd hate to miss the boat. In the meantime, I do CR, wear my seat belt, and avoid driving in Manhattan, biking or skiing.
What does that have to do with Candy Cane Lane? Well, as I contemplated death I made myself some Celestial Seasonings Holiday Tea. Candy Cane Lane is a decaf green tea with peppermint, cinnamon and vanilla hints. It's quite good, though I think I could live without the vanilla. I love vanilla in shower gel, but am not crazy about vanilla tea. Is it because I feel like I am drinking soap, so strong are the associations between vanilla and bath products? Clearly I have a deep psychological issue with vanilla that must be explored.
At least I'm not a choco-holic.
Posted by april at December 21, 2005 10:24 AM
Comments
Of course there is not such a thing as a good death.
death, by definition, is not good. It's the end. How can it possibly be good? Why does it have to be dignified? You're dead when you're dead and you couldn't care less if it was dignified or not.
I can't stand vanilla. Not in bath products, not in teas, not in room odorizers. Maybe because this sickling sweet smell reminds me too much of cake and cookies which I really hate.
and yes, I really do hate cake and cookies.
Posted by: zeynep at December 22, 2005 5:19 PM