bythesea
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2009
- Messages
- 82
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 02/2010
- Country
- US
- State
- NJ
- City
- Bergen County
Some months ago someone posted a link to an article about "100 simple things" worth living for. Below is a link to a lengthier story of his life (Martin Welsh M.D.) with ALS. The Sacramento Bee, Friday, November 13, 2009, “A dying doctor savors simple joys and crosses off his final '100 things' in the Health, Fitness & Medical News section.
A dying doctor savors simple joys and crosses off his final '100 things' - Health, Fitness & Medical News - sacbee.com
At the time of the first article post, some of the negative replies (on the forum) stated that this man was “giving up” early. Some accused him of being a hypocrite. After reading this article I have a better picture of him. His ideas are worth considering.
I can't help but respect and even admire those of you who regularly post on the forum who have extended their life using whatever measures possible. But this man is certainly not an advocate of physician assisted suicide.
Doctor Welsh had a full productive life. Looking at the slideshow in the article you can see he has already taken many measures to enhance his life, including home accessibility, use of a motorized wc and a computer for speaking. These are lengths I don’t even know I’m capable of making.
The amount of time he had knowing he had ALS (five years) is probably something we all wish we had. End of life issues had increasingly preoccupied my thoughts and influenced my every day decisions and actions. Like him it's because of my family and their future that I want to make decisions now. Yesterday I liquidated two accounts to spend down our assets for Medicaid acceptance.
My wife and I have been living with this issue as if it would go away. The more I read about ALS and observe my own decline the stark awareness of how short a time I might have is apparent.
Some of the more activist advocates on the ALS forum have forced me to seriously ponder the acceptance of their choices to extend life. Initially I dismissed their choices because I too was a health professional and had what I now realize is a rigid preconceived notion about “end of life”, if It were only that easy.
Finally read the four pages of comments that follow the article
A dying doctor savors simple joys and crosses off his final '100 things' - Health, Fitness & Medical News - sacbee.com
A dying doctor savors simple joys and crosses off his final '100 things' - Health, Fitness & Medical News - sacbee.com
At the time of the first article post, some of the negative replies (on the forum) stated that this man was “giving up” early. Some accused him of being a hypocrite. After reading this article I have a better picture of him. His ideas are worth considering.
I can't help but respect and even admire those of you who regularly post on the forum who have extended their life using whatever measures possible. But this man is certainly not an advocate of physician assisted suicide.
Doctor Welsh had a full productive life. Looking at the slideshow in the article you can see he has already taken many measures to enhance his life, including home accessibility, use of a motorized wc and a computer for speaking. These are lengths I don’t even know I’m capable of making.
The amount of time he had knowing he had ALS (five years) is probably something we all wish we had. End of life issues had increasingly preoccupied my thoughts and influenced my every day decisions and actions. Like him it's because of my family and their future that I want to make decisions now. Yesterday I liquidated two accounts to spend down our assets for Medicaid acceptance.
My wife and I have been living with this issue as if it would go away. The more I read about ALS and observe my own decline the stark awareness of how short a time I might have is apparent.
Some of the more activist advocates on the ALS forum have forced me to seriously ponder the acceptance of their choices to extend life. Initially I dismissed their choices because I too was a health professional and had what I now realize is a rigid preconceived notion about “end of life”, if It were only that easy.
Finally read the four pages of comments that follow the article
A dying doctor savors simple joys and crosses off his final '100 things' - Health, Fitness & Medical News - sacbee.com