Sara L. Olson

As someone who veraciously embraces life, even speaking the word "suicide" leaves a rancid taste in my mouth. The thought of willingly releasing my grasp upon this world is not something I would like to entertain. But if I ever came to the point at which I knew my death was inevitable, particularly as the result of a degenerative disorder, I would want to preserve my body at a point where I was as healthy as possible. I plan to utilize this body at a later date, after all, and I want to be as complete as possible when I do so. I prefer this option to forced deterioration and personality loss. From my perspective, the "end" of my suffering is secondary to the preservation of my self.

The recent death of former President Ronald Reagan prompted further contemplation for me regarding assisted suicide. Medical authorities diagnosed Reagan just over a decade ago with Alzheimer’s disease. By the year 2000, the press reported that his deterioration was escalating. He could no longer recognize anyone but his wife.

The former President’s family and associates were rather tight-lipped about the nature of his condition in the few years up to his death, but it can be assumed that if his condition was so advanced in 2000, by his death a few weeks ago, there was not much left of the man his friends and associates had once known.

Millions of people struggle with this and similar terminal degenerative disorders every year, either as patients afflicted with the disease or loved ones forced to endure prolonged suffering as they watch those they care for slowly dissolve into oblivion. This would be the ultimate loss for cryonics patients hoping to preserve themselves for the future. The mind, including the memories and thoughts that make each person unique is, after all, what the cryonics patient hopes to save, beyond the preservation of the body. Ultimately, degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s are the worst fate for a cryonics patient. But worse is the thought that the possible salvation of a cryonics patient’s future is kept from them.

Assisted suicide has been demonized in the United States by those who are dogmatically opposed to the idea of anyone but a higher deity taking control of life and death. The attempts by this small group to take control of the fate of others who may or may not believe as they do has resulted in the continued illegality of assisted suicide.

I resent the idea that someone can dictate whether I can choose to participate in an assisted suicide. My life is precious; I intend to live as long and as fully as possible. But, inclusive to that, I want to be able to legally choose to end my life for the purpose of saving it later, and I support the right of anyone else who chooses to end their own life as well, even if they have different reasons for wanting to do so.

I have been fortunate enough to see very few people I am close to die in my lifetime, and none of them died in such an agonizingly degenerative fashion as Reagan and others like him.

All of my experiences with Alzheimer’s have been once removed; a friend’s grandmother or grandfather who slowly decayed before death, losing their mental cogency and personality at a terrifying pace. I know that if I were in the position my friends have been in, with a loved one slowly withering away, and that person asked me to help them end their life while they were still happy and relatively comfortable, I'd want to do what I could to fulfill their wishes and would be infuriated that the law kept me from helping them.

One thing that would aid the cause of assisted suicide greatly would be changing the definition of death. For a cryonics patient who plans to return, "assisted suicide" really isn’t death at all, since death in all other cases results in the permanent cessation of function and decay of the body, and the choice of "assisted suicide" for a cryonics patient is actually instead a calculated choice to enrich a patient’s life at a later time.

Using assisted suicide in conjunction with cryonics is, in fact, an optimistic and life-affirming decision, particularly when the cryonics patient is standing upon the precipice of a terminal degenerative disorder. Cryonics is life, and people deserve the opportunity to embrace that life with every vital fiber of their being. Volitional suspension is not a choice that I would enjoy making, but it certainly beats death and decay.

I choose to embrace life.