People still thought that she was “committing suicide” after her wise comments. She did not agree with these people, because she believes that people who commit suicide want to die, and since she did not want to die, she did not consider relieving herself of pain as suicide. This is similar to when George decided that killing Lennie while being peaceful would be the best decision, rather than letting a belligerent such as Curley end his friend’s life over a mistake. If Brittany decided to live until she died naturally,
Luckily, Belgium followed in the Netherlands footsteps and legalized euthanasia in 2002 in order to help the terminally ill patients. An article in the Daily Mail by Darren Boyle discussed the thoughts of incurable patient Laura and declared, “Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful. I played all my life with these thoughts of suicide, I have also done a few attempts. But then there is someone who needs me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone.
To understand the ongoing debate about active and passive euthanasia, we must first look into Rachel’s
Public opinion polls showed increased support for physician assisted suicide. This was due in part to technological advances in medicine as well as a greater recognition of patient’s rights.” Twenty-nine-year-old Brittany Maynard, utilized Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, took her own life in November 2014 following a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. “A Pew poll conducted after Ms. Maynard’s death, revealed that people viewed this as a heroic act. Also, revealed, the majority of Americans, most likely including physicians, now favor legalizing physician-assisted suicide for painful and incurable conditions: 68 percent in favor, 28 percent opposed.
We can always turn on our televisions and hear about a current controversy on all of our news channels. Near the end of 2014, we saw one story that was brought to attention to our whole country. Brittany Maynard created controversy on how sick patients should be able to choose their own death given their current situations. Moving to Oregon, Maynard would bring their Death With Dignity Act into her play, and be the face of their advocacy. Brittany Maynard was just 29 when she was first diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Recently the media brought forth a story about Brittany Maynard who was 29 who ended her life on November1st after being diagnosed last spring with stage-4 glioblastoma. She moved to Oregon, which was one of the states that have Death with Dignity law. Some say that she should have fighting her glioblastoma. Yes, she planned out her month to experience new endeavors with her family but she could have stayed alive longer to experience more out of live. Now that she ended her life many more states will want to legalize Death with Dignity Laws (Vasquez,Samantha).
Brittany Maynard chose to the “Death with Dignity” option after learning that she only had six months to live after her brain cancer became more aggressive and turned to a grade 4 glioblastoma. She moved from California to Oregon in order to legally receive a prescription of a lethal dose of barbiturates. Oregonis one of five states in the U.S that has the passed the Death with Dignity Act. Brittany chose this option because she did not want to go through radiation or live the last of her days in pain while her family watched. Brittany stated, “Because the rest of my body is young and healthy, I m likely to physically hang on for a long time even though cancer is eating my mind, and my family would have to watch that,” (page 565).
At age twenty-nine, Brittany had been diagnosed with a stage four malignant brain tumor which then classified her as a terminally ill patient. Suffering from daily symptoms everyday became worse. Some of these symptoms would include seizures, head and neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms. Brittany soon became an advocate for death-with-dignity laws and spent her days advocating, especially those days that were her final ones. This is the reason why Physician-assisted suicide is an option.
Brittany Maynard was a young woman who campaigned for “Death with dignity” and was an advocate for the organization “Compassion and Choices” that aims at defending the rights and choices of patients at the end of their lives. She was in her late twenties when she experienced a painful malignant brain tumor. She posted a video on YouTube in which she stated that she had chosen to pass away claiming that this decision would alleviate her pain just because she will die the way she wants and not the way she was supposed to. In fact, she had been undergoing terrible headaches, nausea and seizures, but when the symptoms aggravate the pain, she made that decision of prevailing over the tumor by taking deadly drugs prescribed by a doctor and consequently
Many people like to say that people take the role of God into their own hands and that they shouldn’t be allowed to do that. One of the biggest critics of this is the Catholic Church who released a statement of disagreement with the way that Brittany Maynard attempted to control her own destiny. While the church wanted to make clear that they were not judging Brittany Maynard herself, they were critical of her planning her death (Kedmey). They think that since God is the one that put us here that person (the patient) should not be allowed to take his life away simply because they are suffering from a terminal disease. Some people believe that it is easy, that the pain can be numbed, the silent suffering can be heard or understood, that all things can get better.
As an illustration, The Washington Post tells the story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old terminally ill patient wished to end her life with dignity. “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more,” said Maynard. Not only did Brittany wish to be assisted in death by a physician, but she also spent her last days advocating for “death-with-dignity”
I support euthanasia, but only in certain cases. Yes, euthanasia should be legal, yet, once again, only, in certain situations. In Maggies case, yes it should be allowed. If you are terminally ill and there is nothing else the doctors can do, then why suffer anymore. Brittany Maynard decided to slip into an irreversible sleep after she found out she had 6 months to live.
A strong advocate for the “right to die” movement, Brittany went on the publicly say that she will not tell others how to die but instead said who has the right to tell her to. She is just one of many who had to leave their home state to die with dignity. The details of her journey and her face itself became the public face or the “right-to-die”
The possible legalization of euthanasia can cause a great disturbance in how people view life and death and the simplicity of how they would treat it. "There are many fairly severely handicapped people for whom a simple, affectionate life is possible." (Foot, p. 94) As demonstrated, the decision of terminating a person 's life is a very fragile and difficult one, emotionally and mentally. Nevertheless, it’s a choice we can make if it is passive euthanasia being expressed.
Brittany Maynard has been fed up with the government making medical decisions for her and patients in the same situation as her. This is what was on her mind “How dare the government make decisions for terminally ill people like me. Unfortunately, California law prevented me from getting the end of life option I deserved. No one should have to leave their home and community for a gentle death.” She has set things right for terminally ill patients in California.
