Both direct, and the indirect stuff that doesn't get included in the suicide stats.
My sisters mother-in-law died 3 months after refusing further chemo treatment.
My own mother in law refused food and fluids, causing her body to shut down.
After watching my wife die a slow and painful death from cancer, I don't know how I would handle a diagnosis these days. I know that I would not be as agressive on treatment as we were for her. She wanted to keep fighting, and we did, but I feel that I didn't do her any favors by not letting her go during a crisis two years earlier.
I hear ya J. In 1983 my father was having his 3rd round of cancer. He was diagnosed terminal and he wanted to take his own life, he told me so. I wouldn't allow that to happen and had him hospitalized for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, that took an entire year and he was in misery for most of it.
Two years after his passing my mom got the word of terminal cancer. They told her that they might try some kind of therapy or other but there were no guarantees. She elected to let nature take its course and I was relieved, rough as that was.
In 2003 my brother was diagnosed terminal with two kinds of cancer. He and I talked about it and he was ready for the final curtain. I was with him, a 1500 mile trip for me, when his body said it was time. He was unconscious and the doctor told me the many ways that they could make him live another couple of months, but once again, no guarantees. I asked the doctor to make him comfortable. He passed the next morning and for the first time I felt like I did the right thing.
There are times, in life, when it is probably best to let life pass as it is meant to be.....