Expanding Assisted Dying Accessibility to those with Severe Dementia

Provide assisted dying preparation services to people. Use some of that money to fund legalization of assisted death for those with dementia.

I'm originally a midwesterner, hitch-hiked around the US, learned to program, and now doing R&D with a startup trying to solve the space debris problem.

About this idea

Something I’ve heard repeatedly from older, men- tally healthy people is that they wouldn’t want to keep living if they had severe dementia. Then there are two end-of-life narratives that follow: their life ends without ever having severe dementia, or they get severe dementia and live with it for an indefinite amount of time until they die (usually not directly from dementia). We need to build the business and legal processes to enable the end-of-life choice to not live with severe dementia.

Impact

Giving people the option to choose to end their life if they get dementia, and all the legal, medical, and emotional support systems that will help make the process palpable. For many seniors, the idea of being forced to live with dementia is their biggest fear, and I'd like to enable a world for them (and future 'us') where that fear is disarmed.

What I'll do with $5,000

Organize and host information sessions with five senior communities (60 - 80 year old without dementia). I'd like to get early feedback on the idea to gauge interest and decide if this is a project worth moving forward. Initially, I'll mostly inform people of their current options and how they can best prepare themselves in the case they get dementia. I'll work with lawyers or other familiar with the legal system, to better understand the process to pass a law like this, and understand the history and pitfalls of similar grassroots movements.

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About Zach Smith