This is halfway a lazy post in response to an article on Blisstree about an 84 year old British man who chose to allow his last hours to be filmed and televised in hopes that it might be helpful to others. This was my response:
As a medical professional working with the geriatric population, I see death and dying all the time. I feel that it's a positive thing to show death in a positive, natural light. Normally people see blood and gore, whether through special effects or through gory images, including actual suicides or animals being tortured and killed on the Internet. Anyone that makes a big deal out of a peaceful death being shown needs a reality check. We have too much blood and gore thrown at us visually while at the same time denying the realities of the end of life. Perhaps Gerald's last hours will help those who view realize that the elderly and dying should be treated with dignity.
I slept very little last night/this morning. I had an extremely disturbing dream. My son became very ill. He was breathing very rapidly at times. His teeth started falling out. I was trying to hurry to get him to a hospital but was trapped in this damn shopping-mall like affair that is a recurring place in my dreams. I was driving this stupid golf-cart thing that people used to get through this gigantic mall, which was the size of a small town. By the time I got to the hospital he had shriveled down to the size of an infant and was hardly breathing. I screamed at the technician to do something but he just sat there blathering at me about god know what, then shrugged and said in a very cavalier manner "it's too late, Man." I was livid and sick and praying that it was a dream. I will need to call my son today and make sure everything's going okay. He hasn't moved back into his apartment yet. When he does, I am going to invest in an alarm system. He loves the apartment and wants to live there (sans roommate) for the next 10 years at least while he continues his education.
