Assisted living

A personal glimpse of an abstract legal, cultural debate | John D. Pickering

Occasionally, God lets us see firsthand what's at stake in the culture wars. For me, the current debate over "assisted suicide" carries an intensely personal tone, because I've just witnessed the lingering death of someone very close to me. About four months ago, my mother, Judy Pickering, ended her seven-year battle against ovarian cancer and fell asleep in Christ.

For about 10 weeks before she died we knew her death was imminent. Inoperable tumors and an inoperative digestive system left little room for hope. She was heavily medicated, but my father and I already knew of her frequently stated desire to avoid the intense pain that can accompany death by cancer and to die at home instead of in a hospital.

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