My Right To Death With Dignity Analysis

One debate. Several arguments. The headlines November of 2014 read, “My Right to Death with Dignity at 29”. “I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms”, Brittany Maynard exclaims. A wife, a daughter, a victim of a fatal Brain tumor, and an activist of Death-With-Dignity. Euthanasia stands boldly in five states, those being: Washington, Oregon, California, Vermont and Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Despite my strong religious beliefs, through agency, the euthanasia illustrated in Britany Maynard’s case is ethical and is a legitimate moral option.

Oregon’s former governor John Kitzhaber states simply, “I believe an individual should have control, should be able to make choices about the end of their life . . .

Autonomy in life is essential. The majority of medical professionals deem living as the process of breathing and brain activity. However, is an individual genuinely living through suffering? The sixth annual report on Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act concluded, 93% of patients were concerned with losing autonomy, 93% a decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, and 82% a loss of dignity (Department of Human Services, pg.14). Maynard states, “"The worst thing that could happen to me is that I wait too long because I 'm trying to seize each day, but I somehow have my autonomy taken away from me by my disease because of the nature of my cancer." Critics hang on to the notion that these embarrassing matters are simply a part of life and aging, however that is not the outlook of those suffering from terminal illnesses. Individuals, such as, Britany Maynard who at only twenty-nine years of age should not have to endure the debilitating suffering of a disease that would leave her severely physically incapacitated to such an extent that she would have no control of her body, and functions to be at the mercy of those around her when her condition was in effect already a death sentence. Why should she have to allow the disease to dictate the end of her life? This is not just a process of aging there is indeed a difference between an incurable disease that leaves it victims at its mercy and the breaking down of

Those who oppose Euthanasia or Physician assisted suicide often believe that individuals are ending their lives due to financial burden or the prolonged burden/suffering on their loved ones. However, in the same report stated above, Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, only 3.7% of patients expressed those very concerns. In my opinion those concerns are colossal and weigh heavily on those burdened with terminal illness. Britany Maynard mentioned her hopes for her family to move on and continue their lives, “there 's no part of me that wants him to live out the rest of his life just missing his wife, so I hope he moves on and becomes a father." Put yourself in that position. I do not believe any individual wants to live each day knowing that the very illness that is eating at their own life is also corroding away at the lives of those who they love the most. It may sound vulgar, however it many cases it is true. Family members take leave from work, to tend to their loved ones needs, knowing at any point their breathing will stop and their lives will be changed