Some of you may remember Marty Welsh; he was a family practice doc here, but retired a few years ago after he was diagnosed with ALS (otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease).This was a real tragedy as this is known to be a slowly progressive, debilitating and ultimately fatal and untreatable illness, and also because Marty is a fantastic guy and a model doctor.
About a year ago, he wrote a letter to the opinion pages of the LA Times which is his hometown paper. This letter has been very widely read, posted and cited. It is a very clear and heartfelt letter written my a person dying of ALS, and also from the point of view of a doctor who is now a patient who knows what will happen to himself over the course of the illness.
Sorry it's taken a while to link to it, but better late than never. It's certainly a worthwhile reflection on the meaning of quality of life.
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