[hourislate]

>It fills her with dread when symptoms align with a possible ALS diagnosis. If she doesn't have a conclusion diagnosis she will sometimes not even suggest that something might be ALS because of the suicide risk.

This is a huge problem. Someone close to our family spent a lot of money to get a diagnosis because none of the doctors wanted to "go there". They ended up having to visit the MAYO Clinic for 2 weeks and spent a small fortune to find out, it hurt the family financially.

[xyzzy21]

My middle school chemistry teacher offed himself in his backyard with a shotgun when he started noticing symptoms of Huntington's (which his mother died of). I'd taken chemistry with him the previous year and he was easily the best chemistry teacher ever.

It's an issue but without a cure or even viable ameliorative treatment, suicide is 100% a a legit personal choice.

[adamredwoods]

Suicide is not personal, as with any pre-mature death. It greatly affects the surviving family.

[actually_a_dog]

So does ALS. People only live on average 2-5 years post-diagnosis, anyway, so, suicide really only speeds up the inevitable by a very tiny bit.

[vmception]

The immediate family member dying with Huntington's disease also clearly affected the rest of the family, that's basically saying her death wasn't personal either. Maybe this is an overly reductive false dilemma.

Knowing an immediate family member died of something that has a genetic component gives people catalysts to watch closely for.