Life’s ending ~ our choice?

If you were in a critically compromised health state (you determine what that means), would you choose to discontinue your life?

An Indiana man did exactly that after suffering a fall. Tim Bowers , 32, fell out of a tree while hunting, crushing his C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae. He would need constant care, including ventilator-assisted breathing, for the rest of his life.  Family and care givers asked Tim if he wanted to continue his life and he emphatically shook his head “no.”

Tim died peacefully with friends and loved ones at his side.

(S-R archive photo: Lovely R. Suanino, a respiratory therapist at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, N.J., demonstrates setting up a ventilator.)