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Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Nicole Krueger
Die
Working in a hospice helped
demonstrate the need for
assisted suicide
There is rarely death with
dignity. What the body does
on its way to death defies
dignity. A handful manage
courage, sometimes humor and gra
ciousness. Sherwin B. Nuland’s best
seller, “How We Die," describes a
small fraction of how it really is. His
is a rather clinical approach — what
happens to the various bodily sys
tems as we begin to shut down. What
is the circulatory system up to while
Hannah
Dillon
the digestive system
expels or holds onto
what little contents
are left?
Dr. Nuland didn't
mention the smells
of dying. The
sounds of dying.
The feel of dying.
The places of dying.
Its taste and look. Its
textures. Death’s
waste, grief and ... relief.
I have had the privilege to attend to
nearly five hundred people who had
decided to die at home or who came
to Coming Home Hospice in San
Francisco to do it. (In 1994, we
looked north to Oregon and applaud
ed our neighbors’ humanity and
courage by passing Measure 16).
Three years later those who tried to
"persuade” us yet again that we had
no right to preempt our suffering in
dying cited hospice as one answer to
“the problem.” Hospice is a good way
to go, yet my co-workers and I were
implored by patients countless times
to “please, help me die.” And so, at
times, we did help to hasten their
death. Pain cannot always be man
aged. It was one of the most compas
sionate gestures we could make for
another human being.
Steven came to our hospice out of a
room of cats and the debris of no
longer being alive. He was encrusted
with feces beneath ripped jeans, fin
gernails brown with it, reeking of
stale, sweet piss, rotting seaweed
breath and some
thing else.
A friend shows
us newspaper dip
pings of Steven's
days as an AIDS ac
tivist. Now, scraggy
blond hair and goa
tee. Toothless at
thirty. Flannel shirt
misbuttoned and
once-white socks
soaked in blood
brown fluid. The
stench of him.
I feel over
whelmed, not know
ing where to begin
and press the bell for
reinforcements.
We wait for the
morphine to take ef
fect before we can
peel off his socks. We
double glove. He
writhes. But the socks
have to come off.
His toes are swollen
and black, oozing
clear liquid. They are
wet cigar stubs.
The charge nurse
warns us a toe or two
could appear somewhere
in the sheets anytime. He
pronounces Steven’s feet dead,
preceding him in death.
Mildred’s stoicism crumbles; hurt
ing, agitated, distracted, crying for
home, throwing pillows, Kleenex
boxes, banging on the side-rails, try
ing to climb over, squeeze through
them, worrying about the war out
side, the constant shooting, the cry
ing baby. Bone cancer. Finally to the
brain. What she feared most.
We sit with her. She doesn’t know
us anymore, nor her daughter. We try
to remember her.
At first she was confounded at her
increasing dependence, apologetic
for it. Proud of her life, her career, her
daughter. Philosophic about her end.
Humorous about her lapses of memo
ry. Meticulous, stylish dresser. Vora
cious reader. Fiercely independent. It
was breast cancer 10 years before.
Now, she spends the mornings try
ing to peel her red cloth napkin with
drooping fingers that can no longer
hold and thickly asks about the baby
crying all night outside her window.
Her stunned eyes wait for an expla
nation she can no longer process,
waiting for peace. The fetor from the
hole between her shoulder blades
that digs wider and deeper to her
spine, despite our efforts, and short
ens the stay of the shortening round
of visitors. We, too, balk before enter
ing her room.
Wanting to die, needing to die and
doing it don’t always jibe. In that luff
time, much suffering happens. And
for those who watch and wait, too.
Those of you who voted No on
Measure 51, thank you, again.
Hannah Dillon is a columnist for the
Emerald. Her columns appear alternate
Fridays. Her views do not necessarily
represent those of the newspaper.
1
Mats won’t stop violence
Please allow me to weigh in with my thoughts
(as un-P.C. as they may be) regarding the urinal
mats, posters, etc., around campus that declare,
“You Have the Power to Stop Rape.” Do I? Am I a
rapist? Isn’t rape a violent crime against people?
Therefore, aren’t the people who have the power
to stop rape the rapists? Can I stop murder if I
have no inclination to kill? Can I stop robbery if I
have no desire to forcibly separate you from your
property? How does being a man make me any
more in control over another person's violent
criminal behavior, except after the fact? Don’t
give me that crap about rape being a sexual
crime; rape has nothing to do with sex. It is about
hurting and degrading another person. Penises
are only secondary to the act, which can be, and
often is, perpetrated through the use of other ob
jects. If the purpose of these mats, posters, etc., is
to enlighten people, then please give out some
correct information. Don’t resort to the same old
feel-good sloganeering that accomplishes noth
ing.
Jim Wood
Environmental studies
M&Ms page ridiculous
I opened up the Emerald and it looked like a
comic book. What is this? I know this isn't The
New York Times, but this is ridiculous. Where is
your dignity?
When I think of controversial public issues, I
think of abortion, gun control, poverty and hmmm
... blue M&Ms of course. It is good that the editors
have a strong opinion about candy.
And it is times like these that make me glad I am
no longer a journalism major.
Joshua Gold
English
Must save species
We are at a critical point in the campaign to save
endangered species. As each day goes by, we lose
more and more species, including plants, animals
and insects. The loss of these species will affect
the quality of our lives. As citizens of the Pacific
Northwest, we need to take a stand to protect the
endangered salmon and birds that are a part of our
ecosystem. Once they are gone, the quality of our
lives will seriously decline.
Shannon Barker
Pre-journalism
Thumbs
TO SEX EDUCATION
IN SPRINGFIELD:
The Springfield
School Boardiscon
sidering expanding
their sexual educa
tion programs, start
ing classes on the
subject in middle
school rather than
ninth grade. This
makes a lot of sense.
Sex ed classes don't
teach children to
have sex—a recent
study showed con
dom education pro
grams decrease the
incidence of teen
pregnancy while
having no effect on
sexual activity. They
merely help sexualiy
active children make
better choices. By
the time children
reach high school,
their attitudes to
ward sex will be
firmly shaped, even
if they are not al
ready sexually ac
tive.
TO MARIJUANA:
Despite ongoing ef
forts by the federal
government to com
pare marijuana to
Satan, the evidence
continues to suggest
the drug can have
medical applica
tions. A study that
was recently re
leased showed that
marijuana can be ef
fective in reducing
pain without the ad
dictive side effects of
opium-based pain
killers.
TO SPICE GIRLS
HYSTERIA:
Nelson Mandela and
Prince Charles re
cently met to talk
about the world and
a variety of issues.
While the confer
ence was more of a
press opportunity
than a summit meet
ing, it was an oppor
tunity for the media
to ask valuable ques
tions of two impor
tant policy-makers.
Instead, the press
drooled and gawked
at another set of
meeting attendees
—the Spice Girls.
Mandela and Charles
joined in, climbing
onto a bandwagon
that we sincerely
hope plunges off a
cliff in the near
future.