'Death is a delightful place for a weary man’

This past Christmas I was out shopping and purchased a cuckoo clock from the Northside Clock shop. It is a beautiful piece where the bird comes out and announces the hour and alternates playing a short tune of Eidelweiss and the Happy Wanderer.

The clock hangs next to my fireplace mantel, where the ashes of my beloved wife Sheila rest in an urn under a picture of a wolf sitting in a snowy forest, with the title "Silent Watch" at the top of this artwork.

As I lay awake in bed this morning, the bird announced it was 4 a.m.; and a thought came to visit me from the Greek historian Herodotus who simply said, "Death is a delightful hiding place for a weary man."

I have travelled down this road of life and have greeted death in many different places; some from accidents, murders, wars, cancers, dementia, strokes and old age.

Each one has its own story, and many have suffering as a footnote.

And as these thoughts vibrated in my brain, I had to rise and compose this column.

The state of Maryland legislature is now taking testimonies in regard to the "End-of-Life Option Act," a bill that would help bring closure to those terminally sick people at the last stage of their life’s journey. Some 50 individuals offered testimony who favored the bill while some 113 were opposed to the bill. Some doctors and religious folk offered both pro and con comments on the bill.

I have not read the bill, but I am familiar with 10 states who have passed a "death with dignity" law which permits an individual to end life when their tomorrows are filled with pain, agony, misery and no hope for improvement down this road they once enjoyed.

I wrote a column in April 2012 in support of the notion that a person should not have to continue suffering when their tomorrows are no better than their todays.

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And misery, agony and pain make for weary days.

I shared a story from Oregon about one doctor, Peter Godwin, and referred to him as an angel of hope.

In that story, I shared the plight of a man suffering from bone cancer; his future was dim, life expectancy short and his predicament filled with misery. His family and friends hoped for some relief for this man.

He went to Dr. Goodwin and requested a pill that would end his life and that pain and agony of his tomorrows. He wanted to die with dignity, his life was done.

Dr. Goodwin believed this individual made a legitimate request, and he had empathy for the man’s position; however, there was no law that permitted any end-of-life drugs to be prescribed for the individual.

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Goodwin could not prescribe the drugs, but that incident stirred compassion within his soul and he carried the banner in Oregon for a law to be passed that would provide "death with dignity" for people like this man with bone cancer and continued suffering.

In our own state, Diane Rehm of National Public Radio station fame has her own story.

Her husband John was dying and suffering from end stage Parkinson’s disease. He could not walk, use his arms or hands to feed himself, and his condition was worsening; he wanted to die and asked his doctor for help.

The doctor’s response was, “I cannot do that legally, morally or ethically.” He added he didn’t disagree with the request, but under the law in Maryland, he could not assist them with remedy, to their anguish.

John Rehm had to deliberately die by dehydration. It took nine days.

I wrote in that column that John Rehm was denied due honor to die with dignity.

Maryland, sadly, has not yet embraced "death with dignity" for suffering patients.

Those people opposing the bill have an opinion, but perhaps one day they may see suffering differently; or maybe they might yet review the laws of those 10 states that best represent humanity’s compassion.

That testimony of Dan Diaz was also most moving at the Maryland hearing. He had taken his terminally ill wife from his home in California to Oregon to help her "die with dignity."  No one, I concluded, should have to make a decision like that; let them die in their own homes in Maryland, I thought.

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Maryland legislators can follow the lead of Dr. Goodwin in Oregon, or put the issue up for a vote to the citizens of our state.

Reasonable and compassionate people will come to realize soon that death is a delightful hiding place for a weary man.

Amen — RIP.

Pete Waters is a Sharpsburg resident who writes for The Herald-Mail.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: A person should not have to continue suffering near the end of life