Brittany Maynard stuck by her decision.
The terminally ill woman who revived a
national debate about physician-assisted suicide ended her life Saturday by
swallowing lethal drugs made available under Oregon’s law that allows
terminally ill people to end their lives. She would have been 30 on Nov. 19.
Maynard had been in the national spotlight
for about a month since publicizing that she and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved
to Portland from Northern California so that she could take advantage of the
Oregon law. She told journalists she planned to die Nov. 1, shortly after her
husband’s birthday, but reserved the right to move the date forward or push it
back.
Maynard ended her suffering from brain cancer
right on schedule, after hinting at a possible delay in a video released last
week.
‘‘She died as she intended — peacefully in
her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones,’’ said Sean Crowley, a spokesman
for the advocacy group Compassion & Choices.
Crowley said Maynard ‘‘suffered increasingly
frequent and longer seizures, severe head and neck pain, and stroke-like
symptoms. As symptoms grew more severe, she chose to abbreviate the dying
process by taking the aid-in-dying medication she had received months ago.’’
The issue of physician-assisted suicide is
not new, but Maynard’s youth and vitality before she became ill brought the
discussion to a younger generation.
Working with Compassion & Choices,
Maynard used her story to speak out for the right of terminally ill people like
herself to end their lives on their own terms.
Maynard’s choice was not without detractors.
Some religious groups and others opposed to physician-assisted suicide voiced
objections.
‘‘We are saddened by the fact that this young
woman gave up hope, and now our concern is for other people with terminal
illnesses who may contemplate following her example,’’ Janet Morana, executive
director of the group Priests for Life, said in a statement after Maynard’s
death. ‘‘Our prayer is that these people will find the courage to live every
day to the fullest until God calls them home. Brittany’s death was not a
victory for a political cause. It was a tragedy, hastened by despair and aided
by the culture of death invading our country.’’
Oregon was the first U.S. state to make it
legal for a doctor to prescribe a life-ending drug to a terminally ill patient
of sound mind who makes the request. The patient must swallow the drug without
help; it is illegal for a doctor to administer it.
More than 750 people in Oregon used the law
to die as of Dec. 31, 2013. The median age of the deceased is 71. Only six were
younger than 35.
The state does not track how many terminally
ill people move to Oregon to die. A patient must prove to a doctor that they
are living in Oregon. Some examples of documentation include a rental agreement,
a voter registration card or a driver’s license.
Oregon voters approved the Oregon law 1994,
then reaffirmed it with 60 percent of the vote in 1997.
Four other states — Washington, Montana,
Vermont and New Mexico — allow patients to seek aid in dying.
Maynard earned two degrees and had an
adventuresome spirit during her short life. She taught at orphanages in Nepal
and also spent time in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Costa Rica. She climbed
Kilimanjaro a month before marrying Diaz in September 2012.
She was diagnosed with brain cancer on New
Year’s Day of this year and was later told she had six months to live.
Before dying, Maynard tried to live life as
fully as she could. She and her husband took a trip to the Grand Canyon last
month — fulfilling a wish on Maynard’s ‘‘bucket list.’’
Maynard told The Associated Press in an Oct.
8 interview that her husband and other relatives accepted her decision.
‘‘I think in the beginning my family members
wanted a miracle; they wanted a cure for my cancer.’’ she said. ‘‘When we all
sat down and looked at the facts, there isn’t a single person that loves me
that wishes me more pain and more suffering.’’
