Beginning of Essay
I recently attended a lecture by Dr. William Molloy, co-author of “Let Me Decide”, a health care directive guide. He instructed the audience to participate in a short exercise where they would have to make an immediate decision about an imaginary patient’ ....

Middle of Essay
.... death. I do not think I would want to be kept alive by machines if I was in a terrible accident, or suffered an incurable disease. I do know that I would not want to feel pain or discomfort. The lecture brought back some bad memories. A few years ago I found it most difficult to hear about the invasive test and procedures performed on my grandmother when everyone involved knew she had stomach cancer and it had spread to her bladder. It seemed cruel to insist an 89-year-old woman, who was confused due to the pain and medication, have chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This went on for about three weeks, until some of the younger members ....