MetroDad posed an intriguing question.  The context was provided by an episode on TV in which the character gets the opportunity to make a significant decision about Life… and Death…

The doctors eventually realize that the patient cannot be cured and will soon die. The boyfriend is given the choice whether to let her die peacefully in her sleep or to have her awakened so that they can say goodbye to one another and he can tell her about her impending death. This being television, he naturally chooses to have her woken up. They lie together on the hospital bed for a few hours, tell each other how much they love one another, and then she naturally slips into a coma and dies.

I posed this hypothetical to the BossLady and she didn’t hesitate either. After thinking about if for a brief millisecond, she told me that she wouldn’t want to be woken up either.

Me? I thought there was something romantic about it. I would want to be woken up. I could tell my wife and daughter how much I loved them. I could offer them my last lessons on life. Also, I think it would help provide closure for everyone and maybe make their suffering a little less painful.

… Andrew thinks I’m a romantic idiot and that the idea of being woken up, only to be told that you were about to die, is morbidly disturbing. He thinks if we asked 100 people, 99 would not want to be woken up.

Would you want to be woken up from a coma so that you could say your goodbyes and be told that you have only hours to live?

Personally, I found it more interesting to answer the question for myself.  Statistics of percentages would matter less.

I think the answer would depend on how one has lived.

I try to live each day… each moment… as if it were my last.  I’ve already said “I love you” to my wife and kids, and do it again every day.  I don’t hate any one, and wouldn’t want to waste my last few breaths on such folks anyway.  I don’t think I’ll come up with any last-minute sensational modifications to how I’d like my ashes scattered.  So, I guess, the only reason left would be for closure for others’ benefit… 

So, for me, I think it’ll come down to what the wife would want more.  I’d be at peace, either way.

Recommended Reading:
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying