As far as the "right to die" is concerned. I'll admit my views on the subject are no where near as clear as they were before I saw my mother go through a long downward slide and then finally pass away in June of this year.

The last time I saw her was a few days before her death. By that time, she hardly recognized me and showed no sign of knowing who I was talking about when I spoke of my children and her daughters and other grandchildren. Still she smiled and seemed more content at that time than I'd seen her in months.

I know my mother had no fear of death. She graduated from high school in the class of 1940 and 10% of her class - 20% of the males - didn't live to see their 5th high school reunion in 1945. During the war years she worked at a flying school and many, many, many of the young men she met went overseas and never returned. A terrible number never even survived training.

Still she clung to life to the end. She was a religious woman who knew that she would be rewarded for the way she lived her life in death.

Still after watching her slow decline and death, it's hard for me to know how the "right to die" would not become the "expectation to die" or the "duty to die" at some point.

I have no good answers on this one. It's a tough question and I'm sure should we enact public health care, it will be one asked by many as to how far we go in extending life for someone who has lost the will to live.