New Jersey mum Barbara Goodfriend chooses to end own life via Medical Aid in Dying
A US mother has left behind her only child after choosing to end her life with the help of a doctor, following a terminal diagnosis.
Barbara Goodfriend was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in April, a disease that attacks the nervous system and eventually robs people of muscle control, causing paralysis and death.
Her doctor told her she was unlikely to live longer than six months.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Ms Goodfriend opted to end her life using Medical Aid in Dying — a system legal in 10 states that allows a doctor to prescribe a lethal medication mixture that sends the person to sleep painlessly.
It’s different to voluntary assisted dying or euthanasia in that it requires the patient to be of sound mind, and the patient must administer it themselves.
Ms Goodfriend told CBS she didn’t want to die, but she also didn’t want to live with a terminal condition.
“What am I going to give this up for? To be in a wheelchair? To have a feeding tube? I wish I had more time to live, but I don’t want more time as a patient,” she said.
“I hope that something will get done, something will be accomplished, so that others can have the privilege that I’m having.”
The 83-year-old woman spent her final week surrounded by family and friends, including her only daughter Carol, who said she had not tried to talk her mother out of it.
“I think the hardest part in all of this, for me as her only child, is to support something so difficult and so contrary to what you want to do,” Carol said.
“The ultimate love that you can give somebody is to respect their wish, to live the way they wanna live, and to die the way they want to die.”
Ms Goodfriend paid $US1000 for the cocktail of drugs and was guided on her final day by Robin Plumer, a doctor who had attended almost 200 similar deaths in New Jersey.
“You’re going to drink this medicine and drift off into sleep and you’re going to just feel all the love and support,” Dr Plumer said.
