To the editor:

I firmly believe individuals should have discussions with their family and let them know how they feel regarding prolonging life when they are no longer capable of making such decisions. Recently I was very annoyed and angered by Sarah Palin’s “death panel” comments. It brought back some very recent bitter feelings I still harbor regarding my dad’s death.

He had a brain tumor, and the last week of his life was spent at home with his family under hospice care. He was communicating with us only by squeezing our finger to let us know he was in pain and needed morphine which we put under his tongue. The last five days, he could not respond, and we just had to guess how much to administer. I know he suffered dearly by the grimace on his face, and I wanted to end his suffering but I was told it was illegal to do so.

My dad was a decorated World War II veteran and did not deserve this undignified end of life! Do we not take our dogs to be euthanized when they are old and suffering because it is the “humane” and merciful thing to do?

To this day I still have bad dreams of the way my dad died. I can’t understand Palin and the Christian American society that condones this barbaric attitude. I learned a lesson from this experience, and if my life is going to end in a similar fashion, I will keep a bullet with my name on it close at hand because I can’t trust conservative society to have mercy on me.