Counterpoint: Right to die laws give control to terminally ill

Imagine having pancreatic cancer that has spread to your brain, liver, and lungs.

The doctor says you have two or three months left to live. You are told that the severe pain in your abdomen, the pain that brought you to the clinic in the first place, is only going to get worse. Since there is now a tumor in your brain, you might experience seizures, migraine headaches, and impulsive behavior. The tumor in your chest hasn’t caused pain yet, but you have been having trouble catching your breath.

What would your reaction be? Would you be angry? Afraid? Would you want to take back some of the control that has just been ripped from you?

The state of Alaska should pass the right-to-die bill because many people are suffering needlessly from terminal illnesses. In addition to the physical and emotional pain, many patients suffer from the anxiety of the financial burden their illness causes their families.

A terminally ill patient should not have to stay in a hospital slowly passing away if they wish to die sooner on their own terms whether it’s in the hospital, in their own home with loved ones, or after having a “celebration of life” while still living. It’s interesting that many people are OK with “pulling the plug” on comatose patients but aren’t OK with a mentally competent patient choosing to take a pill to end their own suffering.

There is more to life than just a beating heart or breathing lungs; it’s what you do with your life that makes life worth living. Passing this bill will allow patients to die on their own terms before their disease takes their last bit of autonomy.

Why should a terminally ill patient spend their last days hurting and anxious?

Some terminally ill patients feel that they are not adding anything to their life by just surviving. Some may want to say final goodbyes while they still can and leave loved ones with a less traumatic ending than helplessly observing while a disease steals their last amount of dignity.

My mom is a nurse, and she told me a story of a man with renal failure who was on dialysis. He had one leg amputated and learned he would need the other leg amputated. At that point, he decided he would only go to dialysis three more times. He called family to let them know, and friends and family from near and far came to see him. There was a fantastic party the last night of his dialysis. Two days later, he died with dignity surrounded by those he loved and on his own terms.

Alaska’s right-to-die bill has a limited scope and is directed toward terminally ill patients who have six months or less left to live. The bill states that in order to obtain life-ending medication, terminally ill patients must make one oral and written request to the prescribing doctor and then repeat the request more than 15 days after the first one. This gives patients time to talk to their physician and family members before finalizing their decision.

According to the Death With Dignity website, five states have passed right-to-die bills, and currently, seventeen states are trying to legalize it. Getting life-ending medication does not mean certain death, and getting the prescription doesn’t mean one has to take it. It simply gives the person control back, allowing them the option and the knowledge that their disease is not stealing anything else from them.

According to a CBS broadcast in October 2014, more than a thousand terminally ill patients in Oregon obtained life-ending prescriptions since the 1990’s, but about half of them never used it. This pill is simply a reassurance that if the illness gets too painful and overwhelming, you have something that will take you out of your misery.

I am not saying patients should take the pill to end life, and I would try to encourage anyone not to, but the right to die with dignity should be granted. The patient is already going to die; by allowing this bill to pass, we are simply allowing them to control their illness instead of the illness controlling the patient.

Aeli Imgrund is a freshman at Mat-Su Central School.