heading. A case in point of where euthanasia may be accepted comes in the following story: On her 85th birthday, Virginia Eddy celebrated with her family at a party with all the trimmings. Then, her son wrote, "She relished her last piece of chocolate, and then stopped eating and drinking." Her son arranged for her to be placed on a self-administered morphine drip to relieve the pain of dehydration. She died six days later. "This death was not a sad death; it was a happy death," Eddy wrote. "She had done just what she wanted to do, just the way she wanted to do it(Euthanasia.com). According to Eddy, his mother had chosen the time and manner of her death and this had been a positive experience for the entire family. "Although we will miss her greatly, her ability to achieve her death at the right time and in her right way transformed for us what could have been a desolate and crushing loss into a time for joy(Euthanasia.com). Obviously, this man truly cared for his mother and her well being, just as any son would. Another demonstration of where euthanasia worked out in the best interest of the patient and family can be found a story of just having the option of euthanasia available to them. When Annemie Douwes Dekkers husband Hink was first told he had multiple sclerosis in 1978, his family doctor agreed to discuss the possibility of euthanasia when the time ever came to seriously consider it. That was a great help to us, Annemie recalled (Choice in dying). Five years later Hink, now fifty years old, had been in a nursing home for a year and was deteriorating rapidly, losing his abilities to communicate and control bodily functions. His widow, now sixty-two, says, he had a strong heart; he could have gone on living for years. When Hink originally requested to be put to death he was denied, but after multiple months and multiple requests he came home from the nursing home to be with his family and was administered poison by a doctor. Im c...
