That must have been hard to hear. She must have been close to the edge though because otherwise a two-week fast would not likely have done it for her. But you are correct. When there is no hope for recovery and no quality of life, we should be able to deny ourselves whatever is just keeping us alive. If that was the case with your aunt, I probably would not have intervened either. And she is now in a better place.
The problem comes in expecting healthcare providers--those who have taken an oath to do no harm--to take a life just because somebody (or their loved ones) don't want to preserve it anymore. There simply must be some better way to handle the problem than by asked a doctor to provide the ultimate solution. There is always that fine line between a right to die and a duty to die. And if we value the sanctity of life, we have to consider that.
My mother suffered horribly in her last months on Earth, but she did not want to give up. I think she believed she could beat the cancer right up to the very last day when she confided to her sister than she was going to accept the inevitable. That very night she died. But so long as she wanted to keep trying, who among us has the right to tell her that she could not? Had she ever said, however, that she didn't want any more treatment and we should let her go, I would have respected that.
On the other hand a beloved cousin, vigorous, full of life, enjoying life to the fullest, on a recent trip to New Orleans contracted fungal meningitis and within 24 hours she was brain dead. She could have been sustained on life support almost indefinitely, but in accordance with her living will it was easy to decide to pull the plug however hard it was to let her go. We knew she was already gone.
We have to assume such responsibility, however. A doctor should never be put in the position of deciding whether somebody will live or die.
