Musings: Thinking about the 'Journey' ahead

As much as I understand and respect the Catholic positions on abortion, contraception, nonmarital sex and assisted dying, I am not a Catholic. And, according to the First Amendment, neither is New York State.

Having been the primary home hospice caregiver for my partner of 40 years, I can testify that “palliative care” is only partially that. With the best of medical, psychological and spiritual care, what they call “Your Journey” is still a harrowing ordeal for everyone involved.

Now, just recently, I have had “troubling test results,” which may or may not be the start of my “Journey.” I am 79. I very much want the option of choosing when and where that “Journey” ends, should it come to that. I understand that the public interest is badly served if heirs can pressure terminally ill people into a premature exit, although this has not been a major issue in states that permitted aid in dying before New York. But to accommodate those concerns, perhaps those choosing such an exit would, by law, automatically disinherit all heirs — except, perhaps, recognized charities which did not participate in their care.

— Mitch Kessler, Copiague