I was told by two physicians in 1985 that there was no such thing as death with dignity. They were the then president of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Dr. Joseph Stanton, and the physician-in-chief of the New England Sinai Hospital, Dr. Richard Field. I vehemently disagreed with them. The following story explains my position.

Paul Brophy was the youngest of nine children in an Irish Catholic family. His mother, with her famous Irish wit, described her family as three and a half dozen children. You may ask “How can that be?” Well, there were three girls and a half dozen boys.

I knew Paul since we were children. We lived exactly a mile apart. We attended the same church and Sunday School. We became good friends in high school, began dating, eventually married, and had a large, Irish Catholic family of our own. Paul was a healthy, hearty person who loved life, family, and work. In his spare time, he especially enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, and gardening, in that order. He had been a firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) with the fire department in Easton, Massachusetts. He was an active member of the Easton Permanent Firefighters Association, president of the Association for two terms, and an integral part of its negotiating team. When it came to negotiating the fire department contract with the town, he possessed a fierce and competitive spirit.

We had been married nearly 25 years and Paul was 45 years old when tragedy struck.