The young woman in the news is making a completely personal decision….herself.
Things like this get murky when relatives or caretaker friends start to think the person's life is not worth living or that the suffering is too much for that person.
The relatives or loved ones might not say it, but they're thinking it and the person can perceive it and some come to the conclusion they should kill themselves so as not to be a burden to the family/caretakers, or even the public taxpayer funding the care.
Nations that have assisted suicide legalized have had problems with mentally retarded, disabled, elderly or chronic-disease patients wanting to commit suicide because society thinks they are not worth anything.
Please, please make an end-of-life plan so that others do not have to decide and so that others don't get into a position of deciding you're not worth keeping around, or giving you the perception you're not worth keeping around.
An added note: The hospice here in The Villages (run by Cornerstone in various locations) is not just for Villagers, and anyone can be in hospice care in the TV facility, regardless of ability to pay. The care and peaceful journey is superb.
Also, do not totally rule out hospice IN the facility instead of at home all the way till death. Sometimes the spouse gets debilitated and driven into the ground, trying 24/7 to cope with crazy, and even dangerous behavior of a cancer patient whose pain is literally driving them mad. Madness is not what hospice care and end of life is supposed to be. Be willing to go into the facility if the process is killing/driving mad your spouse at the end, too.
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