The End in
Two Acts
Tom’s older brother stopped at the house once in the morning and once in the evening to give injections. Maybe the pain was too great, or the dosage too small, or the twice-a-day injections too infrequent, because what Tom remembered when he came by the house was his mother, in agony, waiting for the next shot.
Tom was not afraid of the fact of death. He was afraid of the act of dying.
Dr. Nick Gideonse had testified before the committee a few days before Tom McDonald. The Oregon physician understood what Tom was going through. Dr. Gideonse had talked with dozens of patients about Oregon’s law. He had written eight prescriptions for life-ending drugs under the law. He had been at the bedside of six people who took drugs to hasten their own deaths. He knew that terminally ill patients often feared pain, along with loss of independence and loss of control. He had learned that, for many people, simply knowing that they could take control, that they could die on their own terms, was relief enough. They didn’t actually have to do it. Oregon’s experience with the law had shown that this was true: Many more people requested the drugs than actually used them. In 2005, doctors had written 64 lethal-dose prescriptions, but only 38 people had used the medication to end their lives.
Dr. Gideonse was a tall, lanky, energetic man with wiry salt and pepper hair captured in a low ponytail. He’d gone to Harvard and Case Western Reserve.