We deserve the right to discuss end-of-life plan

Coming from 20-plus years as a registered nurse in the hospital environment, and now working in hospice, it is so sad and disheartening to hear about all of the misconceptions, misinformation, fear and emotion regarding the topic of end-of-life issues and our health care reform. Political figureheads such as former Alaska Gov. Palin calling what the government proposes a “death trap” and Sen. Grassley referring to it as “pulling the plug on Grandma” only adds fuel to this fear.

All of us deserve to sit down with our physicians and have a heart-to-heart talk about our health, and most important, what our wishes are when modern medicine has taken us as far as it can.

It is in no way, shape or form something related to hastening or instigating death, but how one wishes to live out his remaining days. It is so important to let our loved ones know our wishes also, in the event we can no longer speak for ourselves. All of us deserve to die with dignity, free of pain and suffering, and, if that means stopping the merry-go-round of frequent hospitalizations and futile treatments and going home to surround ourselves with loving family members, then we deserve that, too.

But nobody, not even Uncle Sam, is going to tell you what you have to do. It is your choice. Make it known.

Michelle Sharp

Cedar Rapids