UD‘s about to go to Teaism to meet up with a friend, but she wants to write a little bit, when she gets back, about this now-notorious blog post from a very good writer and a very thoughtful doctor.
Because Richard Smith’s candid thoughts about the best death angered a lot of people, he has written a follow-up.
UD thinks his writing on death might profitably be read alongside another notorious recent essay on the subject, also by a doctor: Ezekiel Emanuel’s piece in the Atlantic.
As is often the case with very controversial writing, the responses (one’s own as well as those of others) are perhaps more interesting/important than the writing itself. I’ll chew over these matters while chewing on a scone and downing a mug of chai, and I’ll write about them when I return.
January 11th, 2015 at 11:05AM
And a bite of the bright ginger scone holds dark thoughts at bay.
Many of my doctor friends say, not quite cryptically, when talking of the often repulsive way we deal with the end of life, “I’ll never get that far along.” But those decisions are always way easier in prospect.
And my recollection of Emanuel’s piece is that he was smug (surprise!) and speaking (proscribing) also for others concerning things that are difficult enough for one’s own self.
Other people, including one’s future self: who knows?