The Views Of Former Dementia Carers On Assisted Suicide

Emily Tomlinson’s essay about the study of the views of former dementia carers on assisted suicide discuses many views, aspects, and hardships that come with the topic of assisted suicide. First, the article discusses how they chose their participants in their study followed by the description of dementia and how assisted suicide works. The interview with each carer addressed each person’s relationship to the person they cared for, how their experience went, and their personal point of view on assisted suicide and if they ever questioned doing it for their loved one with dementia. The article details the participant’s answers throughout the text in a structured format. The article then went on to converse the results of each individual†¦show more content†¦The first part of the article discusses the participant’s dilemmas with the decision and explain that keeping people with dementia in at least stage 3 alive is cruel to keep them alive. The next few themes of this article include the discussion of pain, loss of pleasure in life, and the right time to die. The carers felt responsible to prevent their loved ones from experiencing pain and suffering all of their later years of life. They stated that caring for someone they loved with dementia that was extremely unhappy with their quality of life brought up ideas of assisted suicide. They exclaimed that seeing their patient disintegrate in quality of life and in overall health that it was difficult to not consider assisted suicide. Several participants came to a conclusion that their relative was strictly waiting to die because they had suffered enough which made them want to end the pain for them. In conclusion, the article discussed several other themes of the interview such as the problems of ending their lives and the discussion of assisted suicide with physicians. Some of the carers provide information about why they would not consider using assisted suicide as a solutio n to dementia even as the patient themselves. One carer claimed The idea that he was not worth anything anymore made me sad. He was still my dad (4). Some carers then claimed that it helped to talk to a professional about the situation that they were experiencing. Others claimed it would