*Note: This event has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 31st *
Much of the country knows Diane Rehm as the radio host whose familiar voice has been on NPR for decades. Fewer people know about her background, and particularly her newfound advocacy in the “right to die” movement. Her new book, On My Own (Knopf, $24), chronicles her life and life-changing experience caring for her ill husband. She’ll speak about the book with Washington Post reporter Mike Rosenwald at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue on Wednesday, March 2nd at 7 p.m. March 31.
Rehm opens On My Own bluntly: John, her husband of more than forty years, is being increasingly incapacitated by Parkinson’s Disease, and he’s certain that he’s ready to die. After years in an assisted living facility, he no longer had use of his hands, arms, or legs, and the disease was only progressing.
Rehm wrote that she and John had talked long before about what they would want in such a situation, and describes how John’s “expectation—and his misunderstanding — was that, now that he had made his decision, he could simply be ‘put to sleep’ immediately, with medication.” But John’s doctor explained this was illegal in the state of Maryland, and the only way John could carry out such a decision would be to stop eating, drinking, and taking medication. He did, and died ten days later.
On My Own then goes back in time as Rehm lovingly and honestly recounts her devoted, but at times complicated, marriage with John, from their courtship when he was a young lawyer and she a secretary in the State Department to their originally traditional marriage and the progression of his illness. Then, the book moves forward to Rehm grappling with John’s death and her deep sense of guilt. Rehm’s story ultimately turns to how she is reclaiming her life and hoping to contribute to this new cause.
The controversial “right to die” movement gained attention in 2014, particularly when Brittany Maynard released a video about her choice to move from California to Oregon to take advantage of the state’s “Death with Dignity” law, which allows certain patients with terminal conditions to essentially take a suicide pill. California has since passed its own version of the law, and similar legislation is increasingly being considered in other states.
Rehm, the daughter of two Middle Eastern immigrants, grew up in Washington, D.C. and married John at the age of 22. She began her radio career as a volunteer for WAMU at American University in 1973, and the Diane Rehm Show started in 1979. Rehm plans to retire after this year’s presidential election, and says she will spend time doing “all I can to promote the right of aid in dying.”
Tickets can be purchased online for $20, with a book for $35, or two tickets and one book are $50. Seating is general admission and doors open at 6 p.m. A book signing will follow the discussion.
