WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!
A continuing series
discussing
the terms we use in the
right-to-die
debate
"hastened
death"—"timely death"
by James Park
OUTLINE:
1. WHAT ARE WE HASTENING? AND DO
WE WANT TO HASTEN IT?
2. HOW PEOPLE WHO CHALLENGE THE
'RIGHT-TO-DIE'
MIGHT USE THE EXPRESSION "HASTENED DEATH".
3. "TIMELY DEATH" MIGHT BE BETTER
THAN "HASTENED DEATH".
4. CAN PEOPLE
WHO OPPOSE THE RIGHT-TO-DIE
MISUSE THE EXPRESSION "TIMELY DEATH"?
5. "CHOOSING A VOLUNTARY DEATH"
MIGHT BE BETTER THAN "HASTENING DEATH".
6. WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO AVOID IS
A DELAYED DEATH
—A PROCESS OF DYING THAT IS
UNNECESSARILY PROLONGED.
When we refer to the practice of shortening the
process of dying,
the result is sometimes called a "hastened death".
Because this expression contains a number of ambiguities and wrong
connotations,
we should seek better alternatives.
First, because of the final "d" of the word
"hastened"
and the beginning "d" of the word "death",
this combination of words is difficult
to pronounce.
It sometimes sounds like "hastendeath".
Extra effort is needed to pause between the words.
1. WHAT ARE WE HASTENING? AND DO WE
WANT TO HASTEN IT?
To hasten
something means that we want to make it
happen sooner.
Hasten means to hurry up:
"Hasten, Jason, bring the basin. Oops, slop, bring the mop."
"Hasten" is really a rather archaic word,
almost never used in ordinary writing or conversation nowadays.
Can we think of any other contexts in which "hasten" appears regularly?
When we think of a walker hastening,
we see him walking faster to get to his destination more quickly.
Is walking faster the kind of image we want
when we are talking about end-of-life choices?
"You're dying? Walk faster!"
Wouldn't it be wiser to take
each step slowly and carefully,
so that we do not make any mistakes that might cause a premature death?
A similar word in English is "hustle".
Members of the sports team are encouraged to hustle.
When death is the context, the connotations turns negative.
No one wants to be hustled
into death.
That suggests coercion or manipulation.
Hustling and careful dying do not seem
to go together.
A more common English word is "hasty".
And some of its connotations surely rub off on the word "hasten".
"Hasty" means that we are doing something in a hurried or rushed manner.
When things are done "in haste", they are often not done well.
Who would favor a "hasty death" or a death achieved "in haste"?
If anything, we want to be more careful about our
life-ending decisions
than any other decisions we make in life.
A life-ending decision has permanent results.
Once death has been achieved,
there is no going back to correct any mistakes.
Do we really want to say that we approve of
"hastened death"?
Rather, we favor life-ending decisions that are:
thoughtful, careful, well-planned, & fully-discussed.
All appropriate safeguards should be applied to every life-ending
decision.
Fulfilling several meaningful safeguards does not suggest
a hasty
process, a decision made in haste,
or even a "hastened death".
It is better to exercise too
much caution
than to reach a life-ending decision with too
much haste.
Rushing any process of making life-ending decisions
might cause serious, irreparable mistakes.
For ourselves, we want death to be chosen very carefully,
to be achieved at the best
time rather than hastened.
2. HOW PEOPLE WHO CHALLENGE THE
'RIGHT-TO-DIE'
MIGHT USE THE EXPRESSION
"HASTENED DEATH".
Whenever we are choosing the most appropriate
language
for the end-of-life choices that we want to insure,
we should consider how people who oppose such options at the
end of life
are going to use or misuse any expression we
might choose.
What do we think of the following sentence?
"I strongly oppose any form of hastened death."
On first reading, this does not seem to be an outlandish statement.
This statement opposes some forms of human behavior.
And this condemned behavior seems to be hastening death,
bringing death too soon
or
prematurely.
These opponents are saying that no one should hasten death.
Perhaps they favor letting death come in its own way, in its own time.
They might say that they favor a natural death.
Some opponents of the right-to-die will surely muddy
the waters
by claiming that a hastened
death is the same as a premature
death.
But premature death is precisely one of the dangers we want to avoid.
We favor all choices at the
end of life,
not merely the option of shortening the process of dying.
We want death to come not
too soon and not too
late.
What alternatives to "hastened
death"
might prevent such distortions by the opposition?
3. "TIMELY DEATH" MIGHT BE
BETTER THAN "HASTENED DEATH".
Whenever "hastened death" appears in our speech or
in our writing,
we should think of better ways of saying what we mean.
"Timely
death" is very appealing.
And when we have enough time or space to explain what we mean,
we can say that a "timely death" means not too soon and not too late.
We are choosing the best
time to die.
Most human beings are doomed to die too soon.
Our lives will be cut short,
ended before all of the possible meanings of our lives have been
realized.
But with the advent of life-support systems,
we now might have lives that went
on too long.
If we were kept 'alive' for years by feeding-tubes in persistent
vegetative
state,
what will we said about the timing of our deaths?
We might have passed the best
time for us to die years before.
Could it be said that we died too
late?
When we use the expression "timely death",
we cause people to think more deeply about its meaning.
This expression does not say just when we should die
in order to have a timely
death.
But it opens both extremes to be avoided—dying too soon and dying too
late.
A "hastened death" always means shortening the
process of dying.
A "timely death" would sometimes mean
continuing to live until some significant event has been fulfilled.
Seeking a timely death
could easily mean trying to live longer.
When we really do mean shortening the process of dying,
we can use that expression or another like it.
Here we focus on the duration
of the downward journey that ends in death.
When it is absolutely certain that death will result,
few of us want unnecessarily to prolong
the process of dying.
And because of medical advances,
all of us who are now alive
will make some choices
as we near the end of our lives.
And if we are no longer able to make our own medical decisions,
family members (or more formal proxies)
will make medical decisions that will affect the exact time of our
deaths.
We hope that all due consideration will be exercised
in making the decisions that shape our last year of life.
When we consider the end of our own lives,
we hope for the ideal time
and the ideal means.
We like the idea of planning our last days
in order to achieve the most meaning end for our lives.
Who among us would like to have it said
that we had a "hastened death"?
Wouldn't we prefer to have it said that we had a "timely death"?
Not too soon and not too late.
4. CAN PEOPLE
WHO OPPOSE THE RIGHT-TO-DIE
MISUSE THE EXPRESSION "TIMELY
DEATH"?
It seems almost impossible to say anything negative
about a timely death.
Opponents might claim that it is a code word for 'pulling the plug'
or hastening death in some other way.
But even if they do object to the expression "timely death",
they will have to utter or write the words "timely death".
What opponent of the right-to-die would ever use the
following
sentence?
"I strongly oppose any form of timely death."
That would sound as foolish as saying:
"I strongly oppose any form of good death."
Could it be true that "timely death" is a
bullet-proof phrase?
Whoever tries to shoot at "timely death"
finds that the bullet bounces off harmlessly
or ricochets to wound the shooter.
Let's see if "timely death" or "death at the best
time"
might be good substitutes for "hastened death".
We can substitute a more thoughtful expression
every time we might be tempted to say "hastened death".
5. "CHOOSING A VOLUNTARY DEATH"
MIGHT BE BETTER THAN "HASTENING
DEATH".
The active form of "hastened death" is "to hasten
death" or "hastening death".
We find this expression is such statements as:
"The patient decided to hasten his death."
Or "The family agreed that hastening death was the best course of
action."
If we think carefully about what we are saying here,
it might easily seem that we are being hasty or deciding in haste.
A good alternative to such expressions might be
"choose a voluntary death".
Here there is no danger of seeming hasty and unthoughtful.
The above statements would then be:
"The patient chose a voluntary death."
Or "The family agreed that voluntary death was the best course of
action."
Here the emphasis shifts from how much time it takes to die
to how free and uncoerced
the choice was.
When we introduce the new concept of voluntary death into the
debate,
we will need to distinguish it as clearly as possible from irrational suicide.
We can find common ground with the opposition
in attempting to prevent all forms of irrational suicide and premature
death.
Here is an essay distinguishing these two key concepts:
"Four Differences between Irrational Suicide and Voluntary Death":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-IS-VD.html
And once again, it is difficult for the opposition
to say:
"I oppose every form of voluntary death."
But it does make good sense for everyone to say:
"We oppose all forms of irrational suicide and premature death."
6. WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO AVOID IS
A DELAYED DEATH
—A PROCESS OF DYING THAT IS
UNNECESSARILY PROLONGED.
When we choose a timely death for ourselves and/or
others we love,
we are hoping not for a sudden rushing at the end of life.
Rather, we hope to proceed with "all deliberate speed"
—not too fast and not too slow.
When our lives as persons are over,
we want first to make sure that we can never return
to the daily lives that we knew and appreciated.
But when we are convinced that death is inevitable,
then we want to avoid unnecessary
delays on the way to death.
There is no point in drawing out the number of days of terminal
suffering.
And if the patient is unconscious—and therefore no longer suffering—
what is the purpose in continuing the life-support systems?
Even people who initially thought they were opposed
to the 'right-to-die'
might find themselves agreeing
that grandmother should not have her
body kept 'alive'
as long as technologically possible.
There comes a point in any such life-story when almost everyone agrees
that this dying process has now been prolonged long enough.
Can everyone agree that we all want to avoid
unnecessarily-prolonged dying?
And if so, what should be call this?
Timely death?
Created February 24, 2007; revised
3-8-2007; 3-15-2007; 3-22-2007; 4-1-2007; 4-3-2007 4-4-2007; 1-18-2008; 9-1-2008
Other alternatives for these offending phrases are
welcome.
What would be good replacements for "hastened death" and "hastening
death"?
Additional alternatives can be added to this article when suggested.
Send your alternatives to James Park: e-mail:
PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU.