Re: “Maine Voices: Beloved uncle’s prolonged death makes case for right to one’s own end-of-life choices” (Aug. 15): Lynne Tobin and her family have suffered needlessly in the hands of a system that is neither designed, nor adequately educated, in the matters of death and dying.

Hers is a gripping story that details what too many Maine families endure: The impending loss of a loved one who is under the care of a provider who is unwilling or unable to provide clear and compassionate information about the realities of a terminal illness.

Too often patients are denied the candor they deserve, resulting in a search for quantity of days, rather than quality of days.

I do not come at this from a high and lofty place of ideals, but rather from the perspective of a registered nurse who has spent the majority of my career dealing with death and dying.

Whether on the floors of an oncology wing, or in the homes of hospice patients, I have been present for the end-of-life process of many. I have witnessed all ends of a broad spectrum of care: Those who choose to seek full treatment, those who seek solely palliation, and those who choose no treatment at all for their terminal condition.

We already have choice in the treatment of terminal illness. What needs to happen in Maine is not the aiding of death, but rather the education of medical providers in the very best of end-of-life palliation.

Regardless of geography, all Mainers should have the access to the kinds of doctors and nurses who can provide the tools and education required to make informed decisions about death and dying.

I hope that our state will be one that seeks to provide education and compassion, not one that chooses to stand on the precipice of a very slippery slope.

Laura B. Parker, R.N.

Sidney

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