In a recent interview for People magazine, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard explained why she is planning to take her own life. To accomplish this, she and her husband have moved from California to Oregon, one of the five states that allow elective death. And the date is set, November 1st, just two days after her husband’s birthday.
As Maynard explains it, she is not committing suicide. Instead, she is planning a “death with dignity.”
Earlier this year, Ms. Maynard was diagnosed with a lethal form of brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme.
“My glioblastoma is going to kill me, and that’s out of my control,” she says. “I’ve discussed with many experts how I would die from it, and it’s a terrible, terrible way to die. Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.”
Read the full story: Terminally Ill 29-Year-Old Woman: Why I’m Choosing to Die on My Own Terms
During the time she has left, Maynard is attempting to change the way we think about elective death or “dying with dignity.”
It is Brittany’s wish for any American to be able to exercise the right to die when faced with a terminal diagnosis that would result in a lingering, painful death. She sees it as unjust that just because she and her family have the economic resources to pick up stakes and move to accommodate her literal dying wish they are in a position of privilege that most Americans are not.
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not moses
I am currently dealing with a pt with multiform glioblastoma. He’s 68, slipping into dementia, worrying his wife into severe stress of her own. He’s not interested in elective euthanasia, and has every right not to be. But what I am witnessing has triggered powerful questions and emotions in my own mind. . . . . One wonders — at least on the basis of the experiences I have had with DNRs being wantonly violated in the service of “loss prevention” — if it isn’t really all about brainwashing to common cult-ural norms to benefit the accumulators of wealth. Big Pharma, Big Medical Supply, Big Medical Equipment: all benefiting enormously from prolonging the lives of those who suffer, if for no other reason than they really have no desire to get out of bed again to deal with a world going increasingly crackers. Why is it =anyone= else’s business if one wishes to go to sleep permanently? The answer seems obvious: Because there’s no money in it. And there’s a =pile= in keeping people alive because it’s “the right thing to do.” Forgive me, but I have seen way too many examples of that not being the case.