Read: A near-death anniversary kindles a wish: Shouldn’t we be able to choose our own time to cross the Rainbow Bridge? – From Cleveland.com, October 26, 2018.

This piece ran in the Plain Dealer on 10/28/2018 under the headline ‘Sadness? Yes. Death with Dignity? Yes. Humans Deserve the Same’

Chuck Yarborough, the Plain Dealer’s music critic, was brave enough to share the personal experiences that led him to support medical aid in dying. From the heartbreak of putting down his beloved dog Butchie, to seeing his parents’ physical decline, to his own brush with death last year following a botched intubation, Chuck found the courage to ask, “Do we not deserve the same love and compassion we give our pets?”.

In addition to sharing his own story, Chuck interviewed Lisa Vigil Schattinger. He included information from Ohio End of Life Options about Senate Bill 249, which is a proposed Ohio Medical Aid-in-Dying law currently in committee, and the qualifications and safeguards the law would require.

He concludes by sharing his experience engaging with friends and followers, noting that the overwhelming feeling about end of life decisions was that people want to live as long as they can, and still be themselves. It is ultimately one of the most important, personal decisions we will ever make, and having the ability to decide on how our lives end is a matter of personal choice, and compassion.

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