I'm diving into the pool late on this one, but I fully support a person's right to die.

Alzheimer's has been documented on both sides of my family for at least 3 generations, possibly longer. Mine is the next generation to "find out" if it comes along, and I fully believe the science that indicates that genetics is involved in the disease. So I'm concerned...

My point being, if I become a drooling mess who can no longer care for myself, no longer recognize my loved ones, and no longer control bodily function, I see no reason to continue maintaining the physical shell that used to contain my self. It's an emotional and economic drain on a lot of people, and I should have the right to set conditions on my own exclusion from the living. Should my loved ones choose to override that...well, I probably wouldn't notice the difference very often.

I know that it's a depressing topic, and the spectre of this disease hangs over my thoughts way more than it should, but every time I forget something that I should know without skipping a beat, I get nervous.

BTW, I give about 5x as much to Alzheimer's charities as anything else I donate to. The Humane Society is next--go figure.

GreenMtn made the observation that a pet owner owes it to their pet to handle the euthanization themselves. I agree in concept with this, but not everyone has the fortitude, or the wherewithal, to carry this out themselves. I can think of nothing less humane than to try to terminate say, a dog's life, via a bullet to the head. But if you hit the wrong area...death is not instant, more pain, more suffering. This actually happened to some family friends back when I was a farm kid, where dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, etc. are put down via rifle shot without so much as the batting of an eye. Until the shot misses its mark.

I like what my vet did when my cat's kidneys gave out...She let us make the decision, then asked how we wanted to handle it. Buster was a friend and family member for about 12 years, so we chose, through sobs and tearful eyes, to push the plunger ourselves. As the mixture made its ways into his veins we could see him finally coming to peace, but it was one of the hardest, most emotional things I've ever done, although I can't see how I would have made any other choice. He was suffering too badly and he just wasn't going to get any better.

If it were a human family member, I don't know. But I think that family member should have the option of making their wishes known with the expectation that they could be legally carried out.