We were more gentle and rational with our family pets. No one would ever use dehydration as a means to put down the family dog. No one would ever use starvation as a way to end the life of the family cat. It would be considered barbaric. Yet this is what we were doing to my father. He, who wanted hemlock. It was his body, his life – shouldn’t it be his death?

This is an excerpt from Do Go Gentle: Bringing My Father Home to Die with Dignity After a Devastating Stroke, by Christopher Stookey. In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m recommending the book. It’s here. It’s only 99 cents.