[Trampled by Lambs]

All the defenders of smoking will make snide comments here and I too take studies like these with a grain of salt.

Having said that though...

COPD is a horrible way to die. I watched my mother-in-law die from it, drowning in her own fluids and it wasn't pretty.

Yes, she was a life long smoker.

[gov_bean_ counter]

My father and Uncle also a life long smokers died from COPD. It truly is a horrible way to die. What people don't seem to understand is that although they eventually do drown the death is slow. Kidney failure, muscle atrophy, etc. The body just withers away. Very sad.

[Osage Orange]

Sorry to hear of your MIL......

I would suggest to you that there are many forms of COPD....and that your MIL more than likely had an infection/pneumonia...that caused excess secretions..and/or she had an inability to clear her own secretions.

Unfortunately I have treated many end-stage COPD'ers...and it can actually be a fairly "easy" way to go. The pt. often enough just can not ventilate effectively and their CO2 level climbs until they are basically unaware of what is happening....They just "go to sleep".

So, in my experience...it's not exactly as you have described.

FWIW-

[Quix]

I'm still boggled that so many folks find

ANY

serious risk of dying such a horrible death

wonderfully acceptable in exchange for their "right" to engage in a dirty, offensive, smelly, dangerous-to-others; selfish-to-loved-ones habit.

BTW, I may or may not respond to shrill smokers' responses. Been there, done that.

[CDHart]

I smoked for 40 years, developed lung cancer in 1998, had surgery, was cancer-free until Oct. 2005, now have lung cancer again. My lung function is so bad I can't have surgery or radiation. I have emphysema, and regardless of the outcome of the cancer diagnosis, will probably die of the COPD. Not a pleasant thought. And I'm convinced that if I hadn't smoked all those years, I wouldn't have these problems now.

Carolyn