A death without pain, a family’s wish
Death took more than a month to claim Jordan Todd’s mother.
It wasn’t unexpected. A diagnosis of glioblastoma commonly grants its victims no more than two years. And, while Todd believes his mother Debbie died without pain, the 24-year-old finds himself advocating to legalise assisted death. A route his mother may well have taken, had things been different.
The approach of terminal illness will be familiar to many and, if the End of Life Choice bill passes, stories like the Todd family’s may be commonly told. Stories of uncertainty surrounding an expected death, of making the right choice at the right time to request an early exit.
It was a shadow on the brain discovered during an eye test that first raised alarm. Debbie was diagnosed with glioblastoma at the beginning of 2016 and spent the year in chemotherapy. She arrived at Mary Potter Hospice in April the next year, returned home for two weeks and a final trip to the beach, then back to the hospice for her final stay.
‘‘The last time I spoke to her properly was late June. And we’re not talking about a coherent conversation.’’
They were fortunate, he says. Debbie died in July, after a month of unconsciousness. Todd says his mother’s death demonstrated that New Zealand’s palliative care is world class; he’s confident she didn’t suffer in her final weeks. And, in a way, Todd’s mother was twice fortunate.
Debbie had multiple sclerosis (MS), which had already reduced her quality of life and confined her mostly to the living room.
The degenerative illness would have killed her in a manner more prolonged, one which again has the family convinced of legalised euthanasia. The End of Life Choice bill will permit an assisted death in cases of grievous and irremediable illness, requiring an advanced state of decline in capability – which can include a combination of loss of mobility, sense, the ability to eat, drink, or speak – and unbearable pain unable to be relieved to a point considered tolerable.
Meaning Debbie wouldn’t have had the chance to seek death in her unconscious state.
‘‘The person who is going to receive the End of Life Choice has to have capacity. There’s a fine line where you pass that point and just have to endure it,’’ Todd says. ‘‘There are going to be a lot of people who – when talking about Alzheimer’s and dementia – still aren’t going to have access to it.’’
Todd’s father, Phil, had many conversations with Debbie about euthanasia. She had suggested her friend lend a hand if the MS
progressed; a thought quickly dismissed. He says a person should be able to decide while they can, before illness takes over. And if the decision came, it would require no hesitation.
‘‘It would have been easy, because I knew that’s what Debbie absolutely would have wanted.’’