Patient: I was born a Buckeye screaming with joy. Don't want to die one screaming in pain.

Michael Oser is a Columbus native and attorney. He was diagnosed with aggressive advanced cancer last December.  

The doctors at The Ohio State University gave me life and I want them to give me death in a humane, dignified way at the time and date of my choice but Ohio law forbids it.

My Buckeye story is following the proverbial circle of life.

 I am now being treated at the James: Cancer Treatment and Research Center and I want Ohio State to be involved in my dignified death, free of suffering and surrounded by my loved ones. 

I do not plan to go anytime before my 107th birthday which is August of 2060, but I want to plan ahead. 

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Ohioans should have right to physician-assisted deaths

If I lived in California, Hawaii, or eight other states or Washington, D.C., I could end my life on my terms but not Ohio and that must change. I deserve the freedom to determine the length of time on this earth and not the Ohio General Assembly.

I was born a Buckeye and I was brought into the loving arms of Dr. Beryl and Rose Oser as a beautiful one-and-a-half pound bundle of screaming joy by the caring doctors of the Ohio State University. 

I don’t want to leave this world screaming and crying, but in a restful and calm manner and the doctors at OSU can do that if the law allows them.

At my birth, I was 2 months premature with underdeveloped lungs, but the OSU doctors did their magic to keep me alive. 

The doctors didn’t expect me to survive, but I proved them wrong and I have had a fighting spirit ever since.

 OSU didn’t want to release me because of the whopping hospital bills, but my dad convinced them he was good for the money.       

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I spent my first few years in the View within shouting distance of the Ohio State Football stadium.

 I can still faintly remember the tears and shouts of agony when the Ohio State football Buckeyes were shut out by Michigan 19-0 in 1956, but I vividly recollect our neighbor Flippo the Clown in his three-wheeled vehicle, cheering for the Bucks. Thankfully, Woody Hayes and now Coach Day Ryan make sure we beat the team up north.

I am a Buckeye through and through

Ohio State remained constant in my lives. 

My brothers Boo and Beanie and sister Molly, aka Tex, would sit around the console television set with our dad cheering Saint Woody to victory after victory. My mom would cook while we would howl “Go Bucks” along with the barking of old bulldog a named doc. A truly Buckeye family gathering.

The only time I ever remember my father cursing was because of Buckeye basketball. The Bucks were losing  despite the efforts of Lucas, Siegfried, and Havlicek and Coach Fred Taylor called a time out to rally the troops. My dad asked me to let our Labrador Star out because he was about to hurl so my dad would not need to miss a minute of the game. 

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I was too late and Star barfed and I slipped in it face first and screamed, cried, and carried on while my two older brothers howled with laughter. 

My dad missed the rest of the game because of me, but Ohio State still came back and won despite my dad not watching.  

Ohio State again was in my fond memories.

Ohio State educated my family. Brother Boo graduated from medical school, brother Beanie from law school, and my sister Molly obtained her undergraduate degree. I went to Ohio State my freshman year, but transferred elsewhere to find my way, but I still cheered on the Buckeyes.

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My wife Nadine learned to fly and take photographs at Ohio State and our daughter Cheri graduated from Ohio State. 

Our daughter Devon owes her life to the in utero diagnosis she was given by my brother Beryl, the OSU graduate, and Dr. Jay Iams, a great OSU physician. Devon was born at the Ohio State University Hospital. 

Nadine and Cheri walked our dogs on west campus at OSU and I went to many basketball and football games at OSU including having season tickets with my Buckeye brethren Jeff Liston.

I taught our daughter Devon to shout “Go Bucks” and our 4-year-old grandson now throws a rubber OSU brick at the television set when Ohio State is losing. I am trying to convert my son-in-law Brett, an Illini graduate, to believe that a Buckeye is not a worthless nut and I think I am succeeding.

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Buckeyes deserve death with dignity law

Ohio has not passed a death with dignity law that would allow me to pick the time, place, and method of my death. 

It is time they do so because my clock is ticking. I fought to live at birth and I will fight to die the way I choose. The government should not be in charge of my fate.

I was born a Buckeye at the Ohio State University Hospital, I have been a Buckeye my entire life, and I want to die a Buckeye at the Ohio State University Hospital in the hands of the physicians at Ohio State University Hospital.

Michael Oser is a Columbus native and attorney. He was diagnosed with aggressive advanced cancer last December.