Posted by Rzip on October 15, 2000, at 5:54:45
In reply to The Lady Who Laughed at Everything, posted by pullmarine on October 14, 2000, at 23:38:33
> Everyone deserves a chance to die successfully and peacefully. The lady who laughed to absolve her fear and anxiety of death was obvious happy with the choice that she made. I think the doctors and everyone involved in her care were right in respecting her wishes. I think the lady started her laughing madness, and then the mind eventually took over the body and continued its organism's natural course of descent into madness and eventual death.
I really enjoyed the story by the way. Thanks.
Rzip
The lady who laughed at everything
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> Nothing frightened her more than death, and she had decided very early on that she would go stark raving mad way before her time would come. She was quite candid about her fear of dying and wish for madness, and often she told her friends and relatives: 'before I die, I will go mad and find everything funny. By the time death comes to my door, I will be laughing incessantly, utterly unaware of any reality around me.'
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> The madness began gradually, with a small giggle after minor a car accident. That evening, she occasionally sniggered and giggled while explaining the incident to her family. The giggling was mild and went largely unnoticed, and in fact, her relatives giggled along with her, not quite knowing what was so funny other than their mother giggling.
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> Gradually though, the giggling got worse. And at first, her relatives were happy that she was so full of cheer, though they couldn't figure out what she found so funny. But a few months after the car accident, she found herself desperately trying to suppress her laughter at her best friend's funeral as the coffin was being lowered into the cold ground. Fortunately, her attempt at suppressing her laughter made it sound like hysterical crying and did not degenerate into guffaws.
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> But then a week later, her husband was diagnosed with cancer, and when the doctor broke the news that it wass too late to do anything, she exploded with laughter. At first, her reaction was considered a normal response to the shock of the news, but she truly could not stop laughing to the point where she had to take sleeping pills to sleep that night.
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> She woke up the next day in her chirpy mood, though the rest of the household was somber. That evening, her husband, quite confounded asked her if she still loved him which sent her into gaffaws, and that's when he first noticed that something was seriously wrong.
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> From that moment on, things truly deteriorated. She'd laugh at the news as the announcer spoke about children dying in local hospitals, she'd laugh at the commercials. she'd laugh at the weather report, and laugh at wars, droughts and famines throughout the globe. She could no longer cook, clean, shower, as everything around her seemed more and more funny, and her relatives would often find her laughing on the floor withn difficulty breathing. The truly sad thing was, that the more horrible the news or event, and the more graphic the images, the more her laughter was loud and uncontrollable. Communication with her had become impossible.
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> Her relatives finally took her to see a neurologist, and told him how she had planned her madness, and her laughter at the horrors of world we live in. The doctor proceeded to examine her. He asked her how she was. She responed with laughter. 'Do you know today's date?' More laughter. 'Can you tell me what do you find funny?' he asked. She tried to reply but broke into laughter again, tears running down her cheeks. 'How long have you felt this way?' he inquired. This question sent her hyperventilating with laughter on the floor of his office. He knew very well that she could be treated with neuroleptics, but he chose to let her be. Instead, he told her relatives that she was terribly ill and recommended hospitalization.
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> She spent the rest of her life in a psychiatric hospital, laughing and giggling at the walls, the patients, the nurses, the doctors, the pills and the bedpans, and when death finally did come to claim her, she was still laughing in its face, utterly unaware of the reality of her situation.
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> Questions for discussion:
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> Did she choose and navigate her laughing madness ....
> Was the doctor irresponsible?
> Was choosing to let her be an abrogation of his oath?
> Was it immoral to leave her untreaded?
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poster:Rzip
thread:1074
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001011/msgs/1077.html