It’s the way he would have wanted to go

Modern medicine has presented another challenge to the Death with Dignity school.

Pacemakers have been a wonderful boon for keeping many heart patients alive; unfortunately, they become a boom when the patient finally dies.

Despite all the legal paperwork, most doctors forget to mention to crematorium staff that the deceased was fitted with a pacemaker.

In around half of all cases, the body quite literally explodes when the curtains are drawn around the coffin—and within earshot of the mourners.

Around 17,000 pacemakers are fitted every year in Britain alone, so a failsafe way of reporting the presence of a pacemaker needs to be explored.

Otherwise, more and more people will be going out with a bang (Pharos International, 2002; 68: 6-10).