Advanced Parkinson's Disease

A lovely episode of On Point focusing on Dr. Thomas Graboys, a once prominent cardiologist now suffering from an extreme case of Parkinson's Disease. Host Tom Ashbrook interviews Graboys, his wife Vicki Baker-Graboys and his physician Dr. John Growdoin, director of memory and movement disorcers at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor or neurology at Harvard Medical School.

The show is great because the Graboys are amazingly articulate about what they go through and also frank about their struggles and about what they're learning. They talk about their day-to-day lives, and they are incredibly open about how hard it is. Vicki admits he is not the same man she married.

Around the 23 minute mark, Thomas discusses his desire for physician assisted suicide. He says he wants to have control over the way the end comes, and I think that's a sentiment you'll often hear from people with terminal diseases who want physician assisted suicide. Here's a link to the show.