[Irene Adler]

I don't believe that I have told this story before on FR. My mom did not want to be kept alive by any artificial means at all and when she entered a nursing home, she executed and filed the paperwork required by the state she lived in so that she would not be. She also said on many occasions over the years that she did not want to be kept alive. So there was not any doubt at all about her wishes.

After she had her final stroke, she was unconscious, and my sisters and I sat with her until she died, which was a week after the stroke. About 24 hours before she died, she started to moan with each exhallation. A nurse came in and put a pain patch on her, and the moaning ceased after about an hour. She died early the next morning. This was what my mom wanted so we acceded to her wish. However, she clearly dehydrated over the last week, and it was NOT painless. I was there, and I know.

[FairOpinion]

Thank you for sharing your experience. May your Mother rest in peace.


Another article with someone else's story:

A "Painless" Death?

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0074.html