A Lion in Winter

“Fierce-eyed, 88 year-old Jerome Medalie has seen people close to him die lingering deaths from dementia and has already decided. His pithy motto is: ‘If I’m not me, I don’t want to be.’”

Mr. Medalie’s advanced directive also specifies something more unusual: If he develops Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, he refuses “ordinary means of nutrition and hydration.”

“Some wonder if a directive to hasten death by withholding “ordinary means of nutrition and hydration” should apply to persons who can’t remember it.”

Paula Span’s article in the NY Times, Complexities of Choosing an End Game for Dementia, is worthy of thought and discussion.

"Had we both world enough and time" to discuss this...