# You have ALS. What will you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080 "2014-08-21T12:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080/21 "2014-08-21T20:57:09Z")
Oops, I think maybe I should have checked “Something else” instead of “until the bitter end” To clarify: I do not think I would choose suicide in any form. However, I would set up a living will with a DNR order and a clause prohibiting artificial life support. Thus, my bitter end would come somewhere before feeding tubes and ventilators, but after being a total invalid. (Which actually reminds me… I really need to put something like that in place now, regardless of whether I ever have a debilitating disease. I have no intention of being maintained as a vegetable after a car accidental, random shooting, etc. Death is not the worst outcome.) ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080/22 "2014-08-21T21:06:20Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I think I’d move back to Oregon at a certain point in the deterioration, and find a friendly physician there. This would allow me to depend on someone else to help me go when I am no longer able to do it by myself, without putting them at risk. This would give me a few more months or possibly a few years more of life that I might be able to enjoy to some degree. > > So I guess this qualifies as “something else.” I’m with you. I’m hoping to move to a state with an assisted suicide law if and when I can retire for this very reason (not just ALS, but any terminal illness). Saw a great documentary called How to Die in Oregon on HBO (Sorry, don’t know how to link). The program seems very well organized and deliberate. Lost a close relative to ALS and I was the primary caregiver, its an awfully cruel disease in so many ways. Turn up that morphine drip and I’ll see y’all in the sweet by and by. Or not, won’t matter to me! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080/23 "2014-08-21T21:32:25Z")
Having read Tony Judt’s description of what it was like, I would think long and hard about suicide. He was able to transcribe his thoughts with the help of computer controls. The worst thing was that he didn’t sleep and could not scratch his itches (it is **motor** neuron disease). I saw the Pratchett film. The worst part of it is that Pratchett is sufferring from early onset (he is in his 50s) Alzheimer’s. So I imagine that is why he was investigating. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080/24 "2014-08-22T08:26:00Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I saw the Pratchett film. The worst part of it is that Pratchett is sufferring from early onset (he is in his 50s) Alzheimer’s. So I imagine that is why he was investigating. Terry came up with a neat summary of his position regarding the element of \*choice \*. It was along of the lines of… “If I am in control of when I die I am more likely to make the most of the life I have” I’m with him on that. Removing legal barriers to assistance just means that you now have the ability to chose when you go, calmly, quietly, at a point when you’ve decide you’d had enough. It must be far tougher for everyone to go through the ravages of a terrible terminal illness when you know you aren’t going to have the luxury of raising the white flag when the real suffering kicks in, I know it would be for Terry, my wife and I. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-als-what-will-you-do/696080.md?page=1)