An impossible dream?

Abstract

The extension of assisted dying to those whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable has very real implications for how we think about life-limiting illness and the systems of care we design to palliate suffering. We now have a new idea of a life-limiting illness; dying is a result of an illness's impact on quality of life, not length of life. In this article, I tell the story of "Sam," whose complex illness and suffering led her to choose an assisted death. I reflect on my own responses to Sam and conclude with a dream for a palliative system of care designed uniquely to support those choosing death over a life of suffering.