<story><title>I wrote a small piece on planned death</title><url>http://hintjens.com/blog:116</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>buro9</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively.&lt;p&gt;I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job.&lt;p&gt;Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer for the ones I love. But the reverse is true, it is selfish of those that love to demand quantity over quality, especially when it slowly strips away the very being of a person.&lt;p&gt;All we can do is live a life fully, but that isn&amp;#x27;t &amp;quot;as long as possible&amp;quot;, it is &amp;quot;as much as possible&amp;quot;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>notjosh</author><text>As a cancer survivor, I feel so conflicted about this. On one hand, I can completely understand where you&amp;#x27;re coming from. But on the other hand, I think seeing things in such black and white terms is pretty shortsighted. When there&amp;#x27;s a terminal prognosis, many&amp;#x2F;most doctors will offer an array of treatments and therapies to help manage symptoms without trying to make you feel worse. There are several middle-grounds that can help &lt;i&gt;extend&lt;/i&gt; life without &lt;i&gt;prolonging&lt;/i&gt; it (a fairly semantic, but very important difference).&lt;p&gt;Which, of course, leads to my next major gripe: end of life treatments (even outside of cancer) are generally awful. Euthanasia and assisted suicide laws are sorely lacking. Palliative care systems tend to stretch people&amp;#x27;s last days out so thin, it&amp;#x27;s awful.&lt;p&gt;So, despite refusing treatment, you may still end up in palliative care in undignified and grim circumstances. That&amp;#x27;s a tragedy. We need to do better.</text></comment>
<story><title>I wrote a small piece on planned death</title><url>http://hintjens.com/blog:116</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>buro9</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve chatted with friends about my desires should I get a cancer that is more likely to kill and not be treatable, to refuse chemo, and to live what remains of my life qualitatively rather than quantitatively.&lt;p&gt;I would plan how best to handle my death, and aim to enjoy every moment before a quick and severe pain takes over and does the job.&lt;p&gt;Some have said this is a selfish viewpoint, that I should stay around longer for the ones I love. But the reverse is true, it is selfish of those that love to demand quantity over quality, especially when it slowly strips away the very being of a person.&lt;p&gt;All we can do is live a life fully, but that isn&amp;#x27;t &amp;quot;as long as possible&amp;quot;, it is &amp;quot;as much as possible&amp;quot;.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>teekert</author><text>Why would you let that pain even take over, why not gently increase Morphine as you go? That is how it&amp;#x27;s done here in the Netherlands and, I guess also in Canada now.&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine (then 24) went home to die even though doctors still wanted to treat him. But as everyone else he didn&amp;#x27;t want to die alone, in a hospital. He went home, had a cigarette, stared over the sea, drank a beer with his soccer mates. Within 2 weeks he died. His way. those two weeks were a lot more valuable than the 2 months just spend in isolation because of the absence of an immune system.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d definitely choose quality over quantity, it sounds bizarre to me that you yourself would not be the person allowed to make that choice in some countries.</text></comment>