young woman who was going to end her life on nov 1st changes her mind

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/cancer-patient-vowed-life-doesn-time-article-1.1992636

[Journeyman]

1. I'm glad she has the power of choice. . .

I wish we all did.

[dembotoz]

2. was silly to set a date

death does not pay attention to a schedule

[JI7]

7. doctors already gave her a timeline. i think she was afraid of losing mental ability

and her health just getting worse and suffering until she died.

but because she seems to still be mentally able and communicate she feels ok continuing on .

[JI7]

3. hopefully she has a much longer future and a happy one

than was expected .

[nashville_brook]

11. +1000000

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. Good for her.

I'm glad she can squeeze a few more days (weeks?) out of life if she is feeling ok.

I'm also glad she has the choice to check out when she feels the need.

[hfojvt]

5. that was the advice I gave her on FB (not that she saw my comment)

Why set the date in stone? Eventually it will get too bad to want to live, but are you sure it will be November 1st? What if you can go one more week? And then one more week? And then one more week?

Sort of a balance between put it off as long as possible no matter what, and get it over with now.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

8. Housemate an I both agreed that if it was us, we'd try to push it

past the holidays, maybe early January. At least have that final Christmas if possible.

[etherealtruth]

6. I am glad she still has enough joy and desire to live!

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. me too!

[spanone]

10. choice...that's what this is all about. choice.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. A very large number of the people who start the process and obtain the drugs and such

never actually use them. That is part of how it works, knowing you can exit at will allows for some peace of mind. I used to know the exact figures, but it is a large percentage.

[DreamGypsy]

13. Statistics for the Oregon Death with Dignity Act...

The Oregon Death with Dignity Act requires the Oregon Health Authority to collect information about the patients and physicians who participate in the Act, and publish an annual statistical report.

The collected annual reports can be found here: https://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/ar-index.aspx

From the 2013 report:

As of January 22, 2014, prescriptions for lethal medications were written for
122 people during 2013 under the provisions of the DWDA, compared to 116
during 2012 (Figure 1). At the time of this report, there were 71 known DWDA
deaths during 2013. This corresponds to 21.9 DWDA deaths per 10,000 total
deaths.

Since the law was passed in 1997, a total of 1,173 people have had DWDA
prescriptions written and 752 patients have died from ingesting medications
prescribed under the DWDA.

[Paper Roses]

14. It is not the date that matters, it is the choice.

I hope this young woman lives much longer than she expected. In the final days, it is her choice. I hope I have the chance and the courage to do the same.