In which I disagree with McGill's director of medical ethics

Margaret Somerville, director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University, wrote an opinion piece in today's Gazette explaining the difference between pulling the plug and euthanasia. In the former, the patient expresses his or her right to refuse treatment and dies from their fatal disease. In the latter, the patient is actively killed by the doctor's lethal injection. Consequently, pulling the plug should be permissible and euthanasia should not be.

I disagree.

My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about seven years before she died. In that time, I watched her change from a poised, elegant, articulate, wise woman into someone constantly confused and paranoid. By the end, she couldn't walk, talk, or even feed herself.

Pulling the plug wouldn't have helped. My grandmother was technically capable of living (at least until the last few months), and pulling the plug would mean a slow death by starvation as she couldn't cook or (towards the end) feed herself.

If I am ever diagnosed with such a disease, I want to be able to put my affairs in order say my goodbyes while I can still recognize all my visitors. When my family thinks of me after I'm gone, I don't want a lifetime of happy memories to be tainted by a few horrible years of decline at the end. Euthanasia? Yes, please. I think there are times when it should absolutely be permitted. And I think there are people who agree with me.