(Dave Wagner is news anchor at 10 Tampa Bay for This Evening and Niteside shows. This article, used with permission, originally appeared online at WTSP.com.)
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Lisa Evers Patterson walks the Gulf beaches near her Englewood, Florida home, relishing life, but she knows a lot about death. In her words, “death became my life’s work.”
As a palliative care counselor and end-of-life doula, she worked with people who were dying.
“I’ve sat with so many people who have died, and it’s an experience that’s life-changing,” Lisa said.
Today, she finds herself coming to terms with her own mortality. After a diagnosis of two terminal cancers, she is trying both traditional and Eastern medicine.
“I’m a person who’s trying to get healthy. I’m pretty well accepting of the fact that my time is short,” she said.
As the diseases rob Lisa of life, she is planning for her death.
“With a lack of compassion and options, it’s very difficult to see anyone you care about, let alone your wife, you know, suffering in any way,” her husband, Dave, said.
Lawmakers push to legalize medical aid in dying (MAiD)
A bill in the Florida legislature would legalize MAiD. It is a strictly regulated option in 10 states and Washington, DC, for people with six months or less to live. With supervision and permission from physicians, patients with no hope of recovery are given the choice to self-administer a cocktail of drugs to hasten their death. Patients are walked through the process by nurses and can change their minds until the end.
Lisa Patterson feels strongly about the right to determine how and when she dies. She and Dave have purchased an acre of land 1,800 miles away in New Mexico. It is one of the states that allows MAiD, but requires residency.
“We’re in the free state of Florida, we should be free to be self-determined. People should have a right to choose. I think choice is the human, the essence. There’s nothing wrong with death. We’re all going to die. It’s a question of how, right? And what dignity?” Dave said.
Tony Ray is the founder of “Florida Death with Dignity.” He watched his mother suffocate with the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis and wants Floridians to have options.
“Everyone is just one bad death away from supporting laws like medical aid in dying,” Ray said.
In Florida, House and Senate bills have been introduced, but face an uphill battle.
An act of desperation
In January of 2023, an act of desperation devolved into a dramatic standoff on the 11th floor of a hospital in Daytona Beach. Ellen Gilland, 76, shot and killed her terminally ill husband, Jerry. The murder-suicide pact did not go as planned when she was unable to turn the gun on herself.
With her husband dead in a hospital bed, Ellen held the gun while police yelled at her to drop it.
“Drop the gun, drop the gun. Just drop it. Just put it on the ground and slide it away from you,” police yelled.
Ellen was initially charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. It would put her in prison for killing the man she had loved since middle school. It was an extreme act in a state with limited legal end-of-life options.
“If we had a law in Florida for medical aid in dying, she and her husband could have avoided that situation,” Ray said.
This is not suicide
Outside a home in Marion County hangs a sign that says, “Al and Rita Mannebach.” Their son, Mike, said his mom was the driving force in their family.
“If we were a boat, my mom was the sail. My mom was about 4’11″. She was petite in stature, but large in presence,” he said.
After 56 years of marriage, Al and Rita Mannebach said goodbye when a terminal lung disease stole her life. It was a life of service.
“She was a school teacher, a school guidance counselor, a school principal,” Mike said.
Rita chose MAiD, and her family supported the decision.
“This gave her a measure of control in what this disease was doing to her,” Mike said.
Rita, who was 84, chose to leave her home in Florida and travel to Vermont, a state that allows “medical aid in dying” without residency.
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Final Exit Network (FEN) is a network of dedicated professionals and caring, trained volunteers who support mentally competent adults as they navigate their end-of-life journey. Established in 2004, FEN seeks to educate qualified individuals in practical, peaceful ways to end their lives, offer a compassionate bedside presence and defend a person’s right to choose. For more information, go to www.finalexitnetwork.org.
Payments and donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Final Exit Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
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I’d love to see Florida have this become legal, as we should all have this right. With the drive from some quarters, to thin out the population, I’d think they would. At least we have states nearby we can go to if needed.