Assisted Suicide

[MorganGrayson]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die.

My husband and I are fond of "what woud we do if..." conversations. Sometimes they're just pleasant whimsies over coffee but sometimes they're much more serious.

As one gets older, one finds that more and more often, the "what would we do if..." conversations cover the serious issues of illness and death.

Could one of us pull the plug if the other was in an irreversible coma?

What if one of us was in constant, agonizing pain with only a short time to live? Could one of us assist the other in suicide?

Sometimes you find out a lot about your spouse during these talks...and sometimes you have what you've long known merely said out loud.

I face things head on. I always have. That's why I'm the one that had the dog put down. When my daughter, through tears, said "should we wait for Daddy?" I had to say "uh...no, honey." (My husband would have sold everything we owned, driven us into bankruptcy and put the dog through the hell of "exploratory surgery" from which she wouldn't have survived rather than make the decision to peacefully end her life.) When the first dog was in pain and my husband was in denial, I stood in front of the dog with a bottle of my own medication in my hand to ease her passing. My only hesitation was regarding how in the hell would I tell him that I killed his dog, and would he ever forgive me? Our beloved Alex, faithful companion to the end, looked up and me and died, sparing me the act.

So, I'm pretty secure in the fact that no matter what happens to me, my husband is a solid "no" on the pulling the plug or assisting my suicide. What I know about myself is that even if he's in an irreversible coma, he's still *there* and I can visit him and talk to him. (He rarely gets a word in edgewise with me anyway, so it won't matter that he's not talking back.) I'm just too damned selfish to pull the plug. I want him for as long as I can have him, no matter what condition he's in. Except pain. That I'd face head on and assist the suicide.

And now...the point:

For all of the couples out there: have you discussed these issues, and if you don't mind sharing, what did you decide?

For those of you that have opinions: would you like to share what they are?