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As someone who just lost his father 6 weeks ago to this terrible disease, I take serious issue with your characterization.

I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s two years ago. In the advanced stages of the disease, she lost the ability to swallow properly and developed repeated bouts of aspiration pneumonia. Basically, she was inhaling food, water and saliva.

We might have been able to keep her alive for several more months by inserting a feeding tube, which would have required that she be strapped down 24/7 (when she had to have a feeding tube inserted for brief times to administer medication she would always panic and try to pull it out).

Fortunately, we had long talks with her about her wishes years earlier when she had full capacity. She also signed written advance directives. She made it clear that she would never have wanted to be kept alive that way so we did not impose it on her. We moved her to a hospice where she was kept comfortable and family members were able to stay with her around the clock until she passed.

I have Alzheimers on both sides of my family. There is a significant likelihood that it is how I will die. I have made it very clear to my children that I do not want to be kept alive on feeding tubes or IVs. It is not euthanasia. It is simply not pointlessly prolonging the agony of a dying loved one.