3.1. I would prefer to have a heart attack | ‘I think a heart attack is different. Just a heart attack where you may damage a portion of your heart during the heart attack, I think I could cope with that. As long as I wasn’t impeded in my ability to get around and enjoy life.’ (E-F5) ‘I wouldn’t want to be dependent on anyone, whereas a heart attack, OK, you may have a severe heart attack and you’re gone, that’s OK.’ (SA-F2) |
3.2. I want quality of life, not dependence | ‘I’ve immediately got some reservation about lumping those two together. Because being hospitalised for a heart attack is different to me from being hospitalised for a stroke. My mental function is important to me in my old age and I don’t want a heart attack either, but I’m conscious that a lot of heart attacks these days can be ably managed with stenting and various other things … but those two that have been lumped together are different risks for me in terms of how they would affect me and what I can do in my old age.’ (E-M4) ‘Given the option between stroke, cardiac disease, and death, I think that would be the best [heart attack]. Because after a stroke, life is not really, the quality of life is not the best.’ (SA-M6) |
3.3. I don’t want to die of any | ‘The death probably not, no. I think from what I’ve seen, a stroke would worry me more than anything. The fact of being very active, right throughout my life, brought up on a farm, and carried on since then. Played a lot of sport, to be an active mind in a body that is not going to respond and give me the freedom and the movement and so on would worry me more than, I think, potentially a heart attack. And I would expect that maybe I can do more to prevent a heart attack, maybe, than a stroke, I don’t know, but that’s just my, you know, layman’s view on it.’ (M-M3) ‘For me, I would choose not to have all of them.’ (T-M4, FG1) ‘Prefer to prevent a stroke, don’t particularly want to die from either, but I realise that death is becoming closer. And so I don’t really wanna be disabled and unable to walk or, you know, all these other things. And so, I’m not afraid of death, but I prefer not to die. I’m enjoying life, I regard myself as well despite all these ailments.’ (E-M4) |