The ethical dilemma of this day and age; allowing people to make their own decision when to die. Nurses hate getting stuck in the middle, because we hold ourselves to be patient advocates, and if the patient wishes to die, the wishes of the healthcare team should not interfere.

To Be A Dead Man

I want to be a dead man
I do, why can't you see,
Withdraw my life support
And let the angels come to me,
I thought I'd made it clear
About the treatment I desired,
If I only had the clout
I'd have my doctors fired.

I want to be a dead man
My organs all are shot,
My wife died seven years ago
And children, I have not,
I have no living relatives
To squander my estate,
And now I'm being tortured by
Some medical miracle fate.

I want to be a dead man
Gosh darn it, let me die,
Every night and day
I'm filled with pain
And still you question why,
The Medical Ethics Committee
Came by and wagged their tongues,
They refused to turn me off
Because I still have working lungs,
But I could see the dollar signs
Trail their footsteps on the floor,
As those unethical medical morons
Went marching out the door.

We fawn in all our glory
About this modern age of science,
With ten thousand types of medicines
And each year a new appliance,
To banish all the beasties
That plague the human race,
Because we’re so afraid of meeting
Our mortality, face to face.

Well, some of us are ready
To walk the paths of death,
Prepared to make the journey
And cease the physical breath,
It’s as natural as the passage
Of a day into its’ night,
And it’s morally unethical
To deny this basic right.

Fibril_late; 2/95