Irene Mekel, an 82-year-old woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, faces a harrowing decision: when to choose her death. Living in a quaint Dutch village, she enjoys her remaining days but recognizes that, to end her life on her own terms, she must plan ahead.
With the slow decline of her cognitive abilities and a traumatic fall that left her with a broken elbow, Irene feels the weight of approaching limitations. Once a nurse who cared for her sister with vascular dementia, she is determined not to end her days confined to a nursing home, which she equates with a loss of dignity. In the Netherlands, where citizens have the legal right to request medically assisted death in cases of unbearable suffering, Irene has taken steps to secure her wishes.
She attended a workshop by the Dutch Association for Voluntary End of Life, learning to draft an advance request document detailing the conditions under which she would want to end her life. Her criteria include losing the ability to recognize her loved ones or engage in conversation. However, when she shared this document with her family doctor, who empathizes with her situation, the doctor confirmed she could not assist in euthanasia due to legal stipulations concerning consent and cognitive capacity.
As Irene contemplates her fate, the complexities surrounding assisted dying for those incapable of consent highlight the deep ethical and legal dilemmas intertwined in end-of-life care. The race against Alzheimer’s continues, as she grapples with both her desire for autonomy and the reality of existing legal frameworks that limit her choices.
