Inform Family and Friends of a forthcoming Death with Dignity

Telling family, relatives and friends that one would like to die is not easy.
And it is one of the most challenging, saddest and therefore most stressful tasks that you can imagine - but writing a letter to your partner, family and friends is helpful for really everyone - as it is the path to awareness and self-awareness. When it comes to dying - everyone wishes it would never happened to them. 

My wife 'wrote' such an letter and explained why she want to die, want to die with dignity. As she was not anymore able to type it on her own - she did it together with her best girl friend - and they met exactly ten times to note it down - then her girl friend copied the letter out fair. The final version was 4 pages long. The first person (beside of myself) who read it was her mother. And really everyone was happy to hear, to read my wife's own words, her thoughts why she loved to live and what she loved - and to understand why her life is no life anymore - just existing - loosing dignity everyday, everyday again and again.

Why you should tell your family and friend - and best why you should copy down your thoughts

Even if your family, relatives and friends might know your history, your medical records, disease pathogenesis, and much more how you feel your situation, pain, perhaps shame and discomfort - talk honestly about your feelings, your understanding of dignity. Or even better put your thoughts and wishes down on paper.

If possible such a message should be told personally.  A phone call doesn't suits the seriousness

When this message and explanation why one / you want to die is given by telephone, the risk is high that the seriousness is not taken or understood. And you can not react to tiny signs of the listener's face, gestures or deep breaths. That you might pause your explanation. Or even worst that your message might be taken for a tasteless joke

Furthermore, it is understandable that the recipient reacts to such a message to a high degree, if not even confused, and is often not able to grasp what was said to them. This applies above all to the necessary data that he needs to know, such as a planned date of death, in order to make all the necessary conclusions and decisions.

And as said before - by the phone, the messenger of such a message cannot control which reactions and behavior the person concerned is showing.

Furthermore, you cannot see whether the recipient is alone or whether there are other people around them. Even these might or can have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the emotional stability of the environment. In a negative sense, however, one burden can lead to another, because the recipient then also has to take care of the desperate reaction of other relatives, an extremely multiple burden.

Following a few articles which might help you to think about in advance ...

What kind of life is dignified? What is dying with dignity?

We should give dying people the right to leave this world with dignity - Desmond Tutu

What makes a life worth living or to pull the ripcord - let's talk about death and our dying

Mourning and Memorial Ceremony - As you like it - Plan and talk about your funeral while you are alive

This is one great picture from our wedding journey / honeymoon trip around Svalbard, also known as Spitzbergen, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. 

At this time my wife was already sick and she already has to use a walker. But my wife and I - we always held our ground, kept our's chins up and we smiled in the face of adversity / the face of her serpentine, evil decease.