{"id":845,"date":"2025-07-12T13:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T13:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/?p=845"},"modified":"2025-07-18T19:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T19:20:24","slug":"assisted-suicide-was-a-blessing-for-my-terminally-ill-brother-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/12\/assisted-suicide-was-a-blessing-for-my-terminally-ill-brother-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Assisted suicide was a blessing for my terminally ill brother (Letters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The humane choice: Assisted suicide was a blessing for brother<\/h4>\n

Re: “Disabled people in the state need support, not a prescription to die<\/a>,” July 6 commentary<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been a proponent of assisted suicide, but after reading Krista Kafer\u2019s opinion on it, I can\u2019t help but wonder if she\u2019s ever actually had any real-life experience with it.<\/p>\n

My 75-year-old brother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in September of 2024. After many weeks of appointments, MRIs, ultrasounds, scans, etc., his doctors determined that even after daily chemotherapy and radiation, he would only have a couple of months to live. He bravely decided to forego all treatment and take advantage of assisted suicide offered in California.<\/p>\n

This decision was not easily made between him and his wife of 43 years. It was heartbreaking. But what was particularly devastating was watching the disease rob him, on a daily basis, of his faculties. In a matter of weeks he was completely paralyzed and bedridden, blind and not able even to feed himself. The assisted suicide law<\/a> in California is strict. You are seen by more than one doctor, you must have an incurable disease, and you must be able to administer the cocktail of drugs to yourself.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so grateful that this choice was available to him. Watching him robbed of his dignity was hard enough, but knowing that without this option, he could still be lingering in a nursing home in a vegetative state is cruel and inhumane.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t agree with assisted suicide, don\u2019t do it, but don\u2019t judge others and rob them of this option just because you disagree with it.<\/p>\n

Ellen Haverl, Denver<\/em><\/p>\n

Education opt-out: Rules for me, but not for thee?<\/h4>\n

Re: \u201cU.S. Supreme Court got it right on parental rights and education<\/a>,\u201d July 6 commentary<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want our daughter to grow up knowing that God made her wonderfully and perfectly in His image as a little girl.\u201d Hmmm, sounds like gender dysphoria to me — a girl in His image, that would confuse me!<\/p>\n

This family feels their religious liberty is being infringed upon because their daughter is being exposed to a reality that is different from the one presented in their bible. In that context, should my child get an exemption from Christian doctrine being foisted upon them, say, like the Ten Commandments being posted in their classroom? There\u2019s a little hypocrisy here; you don\u2019t want your child exposed to different ways of thinking, yet my child can be confronted with your way of thinking?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry that those parents are subjected to harassment, which I don\u2019t condone. However, education is all about learning about the world around you, and it doesn\u2019t always conform to belief systems. Whether conservative Christians like it or not, in the real world there are people who aren\u2019t comfortable fitting into conventional lifestyles. In science, which doesn\u2019t care what you believe, there are few hard and fast definitions. Sexuality and gender, like most everything in life, lie along a spectrum which includes physical variation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to see conservative Christians (including those on the Supreme Court) practice what Jesus preached, which is to love and accept your fellow humans for who they are, not what you think they should be. As well, I think he would have had you strive to understand rather than ignore the fact that people see and experience the world differently than you do.<\/p>\n