I’m not sure I want to die of a heart attack if I live to old age. I thought maybe I’d use a gun to relieve my suffering so that everything would end quickly, but I’m too scared. Are there any recommendations on how to die without suffering or something like that? Maybe I should leave this world during a happy dream?
Or should I humble myself and go through suffering before I die?
I’m clarifying: it’s not that I want to commit suicide when I’m young or right now, no, I mean when, let’s say, I have one day, a week or a month left to live suffering from an illness, or I know that after a while I’m going to have a heart attack that will definitely kill me.
Everyone dies. Only certainty of life.
As part of my job in the hospital I often interact with dying people and their families. Palliative care - caring for people in the last period of their lives, in the UK focuses on patient experience and patient priorities. We generally aim for as pain free and as comfortable an end as possible and have medication which can usually make this a possibility.
The dying process for most people is a lot like falling asleep. They get more and more sleepy and spend less time awake. Eventually they go to sleep and the breathing starts changing with bigger gaps between breaths and eventually the breathing stops.
If it’s done well it’s a peaceful process with minimal pain and agitation.
If this is something you are concerned about it might be worth talking to your doctor about it. We have the RESPECT process in the UK which is a guided conversation about things important to the patient around the end of their life with medical recommendations for what is appropriate (not every treatment is appropriate for every patient).