I lived and worked 1/2 time in the Netherlands for a few years. During my time there, one of my colleagues came to work one Monday a bit melancholy. He explained that over the weekend, his grandmother, who had been terminally ill, had gotten “the golden shot.”

His grandmother and grandfather had decided this, and the entire family gathered to say goodbye and be with her at the end. Sad, but beautiful too. She died with dignity and under her own terms, not the terms of her illness and certainly not under the terms of a medical board or worse, an insurance agent.

We all have to go someday. I hope if I end up in a similar situation that I’m living somewhere where I have the same rights as my colleague's grandmother.