Sherwin B. Nuland Quotes

As a free person, I ought to be allowed if I'm dying to take something.

I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.

It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share. It is time to go.

I think a lot of us share a fear that we and people we love will lose control of our own destinies at the end of life.

No one should be allowed to give back the gift of life, unless they are very old and full of tears, when the body outlives the spirit, when they should be allowed to join the others who've already gone.

A person's last moments are an important thing. You can't choose how you're born but you can choose how you die.

I believe in the freedom of choice in both life and death.

No one wants to live in a wheelchair unable to talk, only winking once for yes and twice for no. It's perfectly reasonable that there will come a point where the balance of judgment of life over death swings the other way.

I know that there are people who believe that if they get to the stage where life is absolutely intolerable because of pain and indignity... they would like to end their life before nature intended, and we think they should have the choice to do so.

Patients who are being kept alive by technology and want to end their lives already have a recognized constitutional right to stop any and all medical interventions, from respirators to antibiotics. They do not need physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.

It's my life and my death.

It's not about the money. This is about Terri. It's not about the Schindlers, it's not about the legislators, it's not about me, it's about what Terri Schiavo wanted.

If I ever went, I'd want to go peacefully in my sleep. I wouldn't want to plan my own death.

The right to choose to live or to die is the most fundamental right there is; conversely, the duty to give others that opportunity to the best of our ability is the most fundamental duty there is.

It's much better to go when you are still capable than wait until people say you're so doddery it's time you went.

When I cannot stand alone, it will be time to die.

I have not often seen much dignity in the process by which we die.

Euthanasia ... is simply to be able to die with dignity at a moment when life is devoid of it.

Death deserves dignity.

A lot of money is spent trying to keep people alive who don't necessarily want to be alive.

Soon you won't even have the choice to live or die as you wish!

My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.

I have not seen much dignity in the process by which we die. The quest to achieve true dignity fails when our bodies fail.

It's silly to keep people alive who have a terrible disease.

It seems sensible to me that we should look to the medical profession, that over the centuries has helped us to live longer and healthier lives, to help us die peacefully among our loved ones in our own home without a long stay in God's waiting room.