Poke Me: Not Death before Life

July 24, 2014

(The Economic Times) – It surprises those of us who look after people with life-limiting conditions that we are not asked more often to end lives. We do, occasionally, receive requests but have found that they quickly dissipate once the precipitating crisis is dealt with: unaddressed physical pain, a feeling of guilt, or loss of meaning. Why is this so? By and large in India, it is families and not individuals who take decisions about their lives, including medical ones. Nowhere is this more evident than when the diagnosis is a life-limiting one like cancer.