CALGARY — A Canadian man's family reluctantly began the process of making funeral preparations, as he was too polite to tell his doctor that he didn't want to be euthanized.
Though he had been dealing with relatively minor health issues over the last year and was surprised that his doctor suggested ending his life as the most effective treatment option, Jim Harper didn't have the heart to offend his physician by saying no.
"Ah, geez," Harper was heard saying after the doctor gave her expert analysis. "I'd really rather not do that. But, ya know, Dr. Morton sure is a nice lady. I'd hate to make her feel bad about her suggestion or make her think I don't trust her opinion. Don't want to come off as sexist, eh? Even though -- I'd really love to stay alive. I'll just keep that to myself and be polite. It's a real shame. Well, I guess I had better go start saying my goodbyes to my family, eh?"
Harper's family took the news hard but fully understood his reluctance to correct the doctor. "Yeah, it's too bad," Jim's wife, Debra, said. "We sure do love Jim, but it would be really rude to tell the doctor that he doesn't want to die. We'll just leave that type of thing to the professionals, even though losing Jim will be awful for me and the kids. But, hey, what can ya do, ya know?"
At publishing time, Jim told the mortuary to just go with whatever type of casket and gravestone they thought would be best, as he didn't want to be too pushy with his own wishes.