Caroline Wellbery retreated to familiar surroundings in California after her father passed away at age 94. Wellbery’s father, alive, witty, and a stalwart center of his children’s lives, suffered a stroke while in the midst of a conversation. Wellbery’s mother suffered a similar stroke years before, but the decline was more gradual; it left the family time to prepare for her death. Wellbery’s father, perhaps mercifully, did not have years to suffer. According to his clear wishes, the family agreed to stop the antibiotics and the IV fluids. After a dose of morphine was administered to ease her father’s breathing, Wellbery recognized the shift in mood; there was no longer the hope of survival and recovery but only the grim acceptance of her father’s inevitable death. Although Wellbery’s siblings have each handled their father’s passing differently, they all seem to recognize that there is no way but forward.
See Caroline Wellbery, We Unplugged My Father from Everything, as He Wished, but I Wasn’t Ready to Let Go, The Washington Post, June 4, 2017.
Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention
