6 ms·

I wouldn’t call someone dealing with cancer and the loss of his wife sound of mind within one week of the loss.

guyzero 2y ago
He had apparently expressed his intention before she passed. I do not know all the details and this is second hand, but he apparently had a plan.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - guyzero 2y ago
    I believe they had a funeral together. That was part of the reason for the short waiting time.
    - rightbyte 2y ago
      Ok it just feels so sad in some way.
  - dang 2y ago
    Please don't add snark into a topic like this. It demeans the discussion, and we're all worse for that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - rightbyte 2y ago
      Ye sorry didn't mean to come out as snarky. There is this old man that get to watch a color movie before being put to death in the movie. I didn't mean the escavator scene in some sort of meme reference. More like some slippery slope argument.
- darth_avocado 2y ago
  I would’ve expected at least a waiting period longer than a week after a traumatic event. Of course I don’t know all the circumstances around it.
  - fellowniusmonk 2y ago
    A lot of equations and generally good advice for the younger set changes when you're in you 80s. I think unless you've had a pretty unstable life or have real serious mental illness you know yourself pretty damn well by that point.
  - caseyohara 2y ago
    Who decides on the duration of the waiting period? Why can’t people be in charge of their own lives? Especially people in their 80s, they have earned the right to agency. It reminds me of OB/GYN providers that deny childless women sterilization procedures – even when they are in their 30s – ostensibly on the risk that the woman might change their mind about having children. Some people know things for certain and there is a 0% chance they are going to change their mind. Yes, irreversible decisions warrant deep consideration. But denying a full grown adult control over their life decisions is cruel and unduly authoritarian.
    - aaplok 2y ago
      The thing is, someone has to. If you walk in very drunk asking to be euthanised, one would hope that they would have to wait until you are no longer drunk to confirm you really want to be euthanised. Then, who decides on the waiting period? Likewise if a traumatic event clouds your judgement (as some events can do), it's not unreasonable to make you wait until your judgement is sound. Then someone has to decide on the waiting period. Potentially this can be studied statistically. Just collect data regularly after an event (such as binge drinking event) to evaluate how quickly people's judgement stabilises. That way we may find that the death of a spouse doesn't cloud the judgement, in which case the waiting period is 0.
      - Boogie_Man 2y ago
drjasonharrison 2y ago
Details left out of the anecdote may have included a natural death after a long period of illness. Or it may have been a sudden death.
jstummbillig 2y ago
I think in a case like this, it’s simple to introspect, hard to empathize with the person that matters, and easy confuse the two.
Jimmc414 2y ago
Agreed, but requiring one's psychology be stabilized before they can die of despair seems to miss the point
- Spivak 2y ago
  This happens with transgender individuals looking to start hrt stuck in a basically the same catch-22. It's an uphill legal battle to get people to understand that laws saying you have to get the patient's depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation completely under control before they're allowed to start hrt when that's the source of those problems is untenable. Because while there are reasonable and empathetic folks there's faction who is pushing these laws as a means of soft-outlawing the treatment all together. Ahh local politics, truly nothing else like it.

He had apparently expressed his intention before she passed. I do not know all the details and this is second hand, but he apparently had a plan.

rightbyte 2y ago
[flagged]
- guyzero 2y ago
  I believe they had a funeral together. That was part of the reason for the short waiting time.
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Ok it just feels so sad in some way.
- dang 2y ago
  Please don't add snark into a topic like this. It demeans the discussion, and we're all worse for that. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Ye sorry didn't mean to come out as snarky. There is this old man that get to watch a color movie before being put to death in the movie. I didn't mean the escavator scene in some sort of meme reference. More like some slippery slope argument.
darth_avocado 2y ago
I would’ve expected at least a waiting period longer than a week after a traumatic event. Of course I don’t know all the circumstances around it.
- fellowniusmonk 2y ago
  A lot of equations and generally good advice for the younger set changes when you're in you 80s. I think unless you've had a pretty unstable life or have real serious mental illness you know yourself pretty damn well by that point.
- caseyohara 2y ago
  Who decides on the duration of the waiting period? Why can’t people be in charge of their own lives? Especially people in their 80s, they have earned the right to agency. It reminds me of OB/GYN providers that deny childless women sterilization procedures – even when they are in their 30s – ostensibly on the risk that the woman might change their mind about having children. Some people know things for certain and there is a 0% chance they are going to change their mind. Yes, irreversible decisions warrant deep consideration. But denying a full grown adult control over their life decisions is cruel and unduly authoritarian.
  - aaplok 2y ago
    The thing is, someone has to. If you walk in very drunk asking to be euthanised, one would hope that they would have to wait until you are no longer drunk to confirm you really want to be euthanised. Then, who decides on the waiting period? Likewise if a traumatic event clouds your judgement (as some events can do), it's not unreasonable to make you wait until your judgement is sound. Then someone has to decide on the waiting period. Potentially this can be studied statistically. Just collect data regularly after an event (such as binge drinking event) to evaluate how quickly people's judgement stabilises. That way we may find that the death of a spouse doesn't cloud the judgement, in which case the waiting period is 0.
    - Boogie_Man 2y ago

drjasonharrison 2y ago

Details left out of the anecdote may have included a natural death after a long period of illness. Or it may have been a sudden death.

jstummbillig 2y ago

I think in a case like this, it’s simple to introspect, hard to empathize with the person that matters, and easy confuse the two.

Jimmc414 2y ago

Agreed, but requiring one's psychology be stabilized before they can die of despair seems to miss the point

Spivak 2y ago
This happens with transgender individuals looking to start hrt stuck in a basically the same catch-22. It's an uphill legal battle to get people to understand that laws saying you have to get the patient's depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation completely under control before they're allowed to start hrt when that's the source of those problems is untenable. Because while there are reasonable and empathetic folks there's faction who is pushing these laws as a means of soft-outlawing the treatment all together. Ahh local politics, truly nothing else like it.