Sarah Lyall "The Last Thing Mom Asked"- Should we legalize Euthanasia?

Legalizing Euthanasia

            In recent years, many debates had been stirred about whether active euthanasia and physicians assisted suicide should be legalized or not. Sarah Lyall’s personal story: “The Last Thing Mom Asked” that was published in the New York Times in August 2018 had even caused more disputes about the legalization of euthanasia. Throughout this paper, we may find that Lyall’s problem of her mom to have a “good death” could be solved by legalizing the practice of euthanasia with the limitation that only patients with terminal illness are allowed to make a legitimate euthanasia request. Isabelle Marcoux’s thorough description of euthanasia and Tinne Smets’ statistical analysis about the legalization of euthanasia would provide a solution to Lyall’s problem.   

What is it so controversial about Lyall’s situation that people need to be in a debate about? The story begins when Sarah Lyall’s mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer with only three months left to live. “Right now my mother is in a bed across the hall, in the endgame of Stage 4 lung cancer” (Lyall). In the final stages of lung cancer, patients would feel as if they were “drowning, or suffocating”. Furthermore, with the old age of Lyall’s mother, there is hardly any more chance to live. Chemotherapy would usually be suggested by medical experts, but it would not prevent the coming death and instead would add more suffering to the patient. “A formidable pharmacological stew of medications can help to suppress the symptoms, but no pill can take away the pain of waking up each day and remembering all over again that you are about to die” (Lyall).  In reaction to this, Lyall’s mom decided that it would be better to die: “She is nearly 83, she has had enough, and she is ready to die. More specifically, she is ready to have me help her die.” For a long time Lyall’s mom has hoped for an alluring good death: “An unsentimental, practical person, she has for many years been preparing for the moment when death would become more alluring than life” (Lyall). However, in New York, where Lyall lives, the choice of euthanasia or physicians assisted suicide was not a legalized practice. “But I am not a trained assassin. I am not a doctor. I am not very brave. I’m just a person who wants to do the most important thing that her mother has ever asked of her. I’m also a resident of New York State, where assisted suicide is illegal” (Lyall). Here the problem lies. Lyall tried to call hospitals to conduct euthanasia on her mom, but since it’s not legal, no one was willing to do it. In the end, Lyall gave a dose of morphine to her mom and finally, she passed away. People might presume that her mom’s choice is a choice of hastening death or maybe even a homicide for Lyall, but the reality is her mom just wanted a good death, with no pain and suffering.

To most people, hearing the word euthanasia could cause people to be emotionally charged and therefore projects the idea that euthanasia is a form of murder to patients. Despite that, the word euthanasia itself comes from the Greek word eu (good) and thanatos (death), which combined makes the word “good death”. Nevertheless, there is a general agreement in research, legislation and in the medical field to adopt a definition similar with the one used in the Netherlands: “Euthanasia is defined as the administration of drugs with the explicit intention of ending the patient’s life at his/ her explicit request” (Marcoux et al. 235). Notice that the word “explicit” is repeatedly emphasized in this sentence. The practice of euthanasia is not merely done by giving a large dose of morphine or other euthanasia drugs to the patient with no careful consideration. All are explicitly calculated by both sides, the patient and the physician: “Although physicians are required to consult only 1 other physician (or 2 where the patient is not terminally ill) physicians involved additional physicians or palliative care teams in a substantial number of cases” (Marcoux et al. 191). This indicates that physicians are very much aware of the importance of additional palliative care teams and do not immediately agree to the euthanasia request from the patient. In addition to that,

“To make a legitimate euthanasia request, the patient must be an adult, must be conscious and legally competent at the moment of making the request, and must be in a condition of constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident, for which medical treatment is futile and there is no possibility of improvement” (Smets et al. 187).

In a legitimate euthanasia request, all are done with careful considerations and done with limitations too. Therefore, people would not tend to be emotionally charged when faced with the word euthanasia, instead, they would be more aware of the methods in euthanasia. If people were more conscious of the meaning and methods of legalized euthanasia, then complications in cases like Sarah Lyall and her mom could be prevented and thus brings peace to her mom.

Being conscious is one step, but another concrete step must be taken if we want to give the real solution to Sarah Lyall’s mom. If New York had chosen to legalize euthanasia, then stage 4 lung cancer would not consume Lyall’s mom. “Gradually, the illness took hold, the inevitable became less abstract and the jokes stopped” (Lyall). Having the patient lose their character, ability to live, and most importantly losing their meaning in life because of their terminal illness is as depressing as losing a life. Hence, the deprivation of the quality of life that Lyall’s mom underwent would make a morally justifiable choice of doing euthanasia. Then what could the world do to prevent more cases like Lyall’s mom? “Currently, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the US states of Oregon and Washington are the only places in the world that have legalized euthanasia and/ or physician-assisted suicide. More and more countries and states, however, are considering legalization” (Smets et al. 188). If more countries consider the legalization of euthanasia, then the chance of having a good death could come as an option for patients with a terminal illness.

“Belgium has known a strong increase in acceptance of euthanasia among the general population between 1981 and 1999, a trend may have continued after legalization in 2002, making it plausible that patients increasingly see euthanasia as an acceptable end-of-life option for themselves” (Smets et al. 190).

Euthanasia is not a matter of death, it’s a matter of patients who want to have their last days to still have their quality in life and “an alluring death”. The offer does not stand only for Lyall’s mom but for anyone who has a terminal illness. And from the data, it is apparent that some patients now start to consider it as an option and therefore it is a solution to patients who do not want to lose their quality of life to terminal illness.

In conclusion, there are two main solutions that Smets and Marcoux had implied: First, forming a concept that euthanasia is not a form of murder, but instead giving an option for a patient who undergoes terminal illness to not let themselves be consumed by the illness itself. Second, legalizing euthanasia practice in countries so that the patient has the option to have a “good death”. These whole solutions made me reflect on my great-grandmother when she was in her final days. She had been suffering a lot of illnesses that even doctors could not diagnose it anymore. My great grandmother had lost her ability to walk, talk, and even had dementia. The only thing that she still could do was opening her eyes to blink once for answering yes and blink twice for no. These had gone for probably a month until she passed away. If she had the chance of doing euthanasia, would she have done that? Or would she have instead chosen to suffer for one month with no quality in life? It’s her own choice, but with having the countries to legalize euthanasia, she would have at least the option to have a “good death”.