Tom house, a former marine from Sonoma, California, was so strong and healthy looking as we’d all like to be in old age. That alone chopped wood and did the long jog, when he was already 80 years old.
And in 94-m to year of life he was almost helpless because of colon cancer. The doctors gave the house a few months, but he decided to act on their own.
In August last year he spent the morning with family and friends, sharing memories… And then drank from the favorite coffee Cup is a lethal dose of barbituratesprescribed by a doctor. And washed them down with martinis. Less than an hour he was dead.
Tom became one of the 111 residents of Californiawho have made a decision about euthanasia in the first six months after adoption by the state of the relevant law. This is stated in the report of the state Department of health.
California adopted the law «on the right to death» in June of last year. He repeats in its main provisions, the law in effect in the state of Oregon since 1997. According to him, the doctor is not directly involved in euthanasia, but writes out on the basis of three successive appeals by the patient of potent medicines, the use of which causes death, writes the Washington post.
In addition to California, only five States in the US can officially offer patients assistance in the termination of life legally. This includes Oregon, Washington, Montana, new Mexico and Vermont.
According to the report, the majority of deaths are elderly white men (mean age 73 years), more than half were women. At 65 of 111 was Oncology, 20 Parkinson’s disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease, other cardiovascular disease. Almost everyone had a Medicare or California medical.
«These data proved that the law works as it should, and terminally ill Californians know that they have a way peacefully to end unbearable suffering,» says Matt Whitaker from the University of California.
The law has many critics. So, the American Academy of medical ethics and a group of doctors filed a Federal lawsuit to repeal the law.
«It’s really a tragedy that the doctors now think the best I can do for a patient is to give him a handful of barbiturates», — said the lawyer of the Fund for the protection of human rights Alexander Snyder.
One of the 111 Californians who choose to voluntarily leave this life, the 80-year-old psychologist retired, John Minor.
He was an active cyclist, runner and hiker, until he was diagnosed with «pulmonary fibrosis».
When he could barely eat and talk, then asked the doctor drugs, but he refused to give it to them. Then his daughter began to call to different hospitals.
In September last year John had a Cup of Apple juice mixed with a lethal dose of pills and died peacefully, surrounded by family.
«John did what was right for him», — told the «Los Angeles times,» his wife sherry. «He went peacefully, not in agony, not helpless. He was not afraid».
