Arthur Silber: Die In Agony--God Told Me You Should

July 9th, 2005

If George Bush and the theocrats have their way, there is no area of your life that will remain your own. And that most certainly includes the manner and time of your death, as Nick Kristof explains:

Jack Newbold is a 59-year-old retired tugboat captain who is dying of bone cancer. It’s one of the most painful cancers, and he doesn’t want to put his wife and 17-year-old daughter through the trauma of caring for him as he loses control over his body.

So Mr. Newbold faces a wrenching choice in the coming weeks: should he fight the cancer until his last breath, or should he take a glass of a barbiturate solution prescribed by a doctor and put himself to sleep forever? He’s leaning toward the latter.