There is so much more to a person than intellect, physical ability and earning power

Dear Dr. Ferrier,

I wanted to thank you for your very thoughtful article in today's Gazette. It is a topic very dear to my heart and the "news" story on Saturday upset me very much.

I accompanied my father as he declined with Alzheimer's over about ten years. He ended up in care, first at St. Mary's later at the Bayview, because my mother herself was too frail to care for him. We were lucky he recognized us until the end ...

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End-of-Life is a chance to say goodbyes and reconcile

In 1970, I was visiting my father in the hospital, when he died from a 'lingering' throat cancer. He had no desire to be killed. In 1988 my mother was dying in the hospital from pneumonia: she 'lingered' for a week in pain: doctors would not give her the inhaled drug that helped her to breathe for fear of scarring her lungs??? Still, she had no desire to be killed. My two sisters interrupted their lives, and one was there ...

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Euthanasia is not something one turns to

Here's what I experienced with family or friends at end of life. Euthanasia was not something one turned to, but instead, at the end, to be with family and loved ones.

My mother-in-law died of cancer fifteen years ago in Toronto in a hospital. She suffered very much due to the cancer. Near her end, she experienced a tremendous burning sensation going through her and began throwing up feces. Her thoughts (up to the end) were of her two sons (one ...

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My father wanted to live his last weeks as naturally as possible

Infection upon infection became the lot of my father. Antibiotics were no longer able to counteract a growing deficiency of his respiratory system. Worse ... My father was dying from lack of oxygen.

At the hospital in Marseille, the surgeon proposed a risky operation of the right lung. I accepted. It was surgery or losing him. The operation was successful and the surgeon, in his wisdom, decided not to harass my father with aggressive chemotherapy. He was 82.

Cancer progressed slowly, as ...

Continue Reading → My father wanted to live his last weeks as naturally as possible

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