Death comes for all, including court justice
MY HUSBAND and soulmate, Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels, loved the law more than his own personal beliefs. Although he personally believed that every terminally ill person should have the right to decide when to die, four years ago he joined in the unanimous opinion, Morris v. Brandenburg, which said it was the role of the Legislature, not the courts, to decide the ways in which our state would allow physicians to end a patient’s suffering. The decision asked the Legislature to act.
Unfortunately, legislative action came too late to help him. On June 21, 2019, Charlie, a man so full of life he drove race cars and played electric bass in a band, was diagnosed with the incurable, fatal disease ALS — Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a thief that robs you of voluntary muscle control and all the things that make life worth living — your voice, your ability to chew and eat, your ability to walk and use your hands and, finally, your ability to breathe. He was given one year to live if he chose to use extraordinary measures like feeding tubes, ventilators and wheelchairs. He decided to forego those measures and died 11 weeks after his diagnosis. During the last week of his life, he was suffering, gasping for breath, and ready to be gone. His doctors were not allowed to help him.
It is time for the New Mexico Legislature to pass HB 47, the Elizabeth Whitefield End-ofLife Options Act, so no other good men and women have to suffer in the same way. Since the mortality rate for human beings is 100%, it is an option that every one of us should have at the end of our lives.
RANDI MCGINN
Albuquerque