A Death of One's Own

The documentary “A Death of One’s Own,” was about three individuals that became terminally ill and when it came time they wanted to use physician assisted suicide. All of them died and I believe that two of them would have been considered a “good death,” which is when a person dies in a way that they would wish to and in a comfortable state and place. Jim Witcher was diagnosed with ALS and slowly loss all of the movement throughout his body. His wife, Suzie, had to become his caretaker when he could no longer live without being in a wheelchair. Jim was a former veterinarian and knew the different effects of PAS. He knew that the laws did not favor PAS but Jim knew it was the only way that he could at least die with dignity and not suffer. Jim knew that at some point he would not be able to swallow, so he ended up making a plan and when it came time he wanted PAS. I believe from what I observed in the documentary that Jim died a “good death.” He died in a peaceful way with the people that he loved near him and in the comfort of his own home. Kitty Rail was a woman who was diagnosed with cancer and the cancer rejected the chemotherapy, so she had to stop treatments and face the fact that she was dying. Her wish was that she did not want to be a vegetable and be kept alive. When Kitty started to get worse, she one day decided that it was her time to go. Her daughters wanted her to wait until morning since some of her family was coming to see her. However, she did not last that long and died in the night. Even though Kitty was not able to use PAS, I believe she died a “good death” for the fact that ir was in the comfort of her own home and she died in her sleep, so it was very peaceful. The last individual was Ricky who was a minister diagnosed with liver failure. He was hospitalized and was put on many artificial life support for a long time. The doctors were keeping him conscious to talk to his wife, Rose, but Ricky was in a lot of pain. I believe that Ricky did not die a “good death” because he had spent most of his days in a hospital hooked up to machines and not able to enjoy the rest of his life. I believe that his wife and family should have let him use PAS earlier so that he would not had to experience all of the pain and suffering that he was put through. I believe that all of the patients lived very great lives before they died. However, I believe that Jim and Kitty were able to die with more peace than Ricky. Everyone always has a hope to have a “good death” but that can not always be the case and most of the time we can not determine how or when we will die.