Death With Dignity Law: One 29-Year-Old’s Decision To End Her Life

A young woman creates a national sensation with her decision to end her life
(credit: People.com)

When 29-year-old Brittany Maynard chooses to end her life next month, she won’t be filed under suicide statistics. That’s because she isn’t committing suicide.

Maynard is one of many who have elected to end their lives to avoid the excruciating pain of a terminal, and 100 percent fatal, diagnosis. Under Oregon’s Death with Dignity law, physicians can legally aid patients in dying if their pain and suffering is too unbearable. Maynard has chosen to end her life after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. What was recently referred to as assisted suicide is now termed a more accurate “aid in dying.”

At 29, Maynard seems primed to embrace life with vigor. She has run marathons; she has hiked up Mount Kilimanjaro; she took in the culture of Southeast Asia for a year and she has a fulfilling relationship with her husband. This is someone who says she loves being alive. This is why her decision is not a suicide.

Like many who have used Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act to ease their own suffering, and the suffering of loved ones, Maynard’s decision was not simple. After physicians told her that her tumor would kill her, and that her death would be extremely painful, she decided the best option is to end her life quietly and peacefully.

We often think of people in their twenties as having their whole lives ahead of them. In Maynard’s case, this won’t be possible. Although she does not get to live to see her first real wrinkle, she says can feel a sense of peace in her death. She selected November 1st as her final day on Earth, a few days after her husband’s birthday. She wanted to celebrate with him before dying.

Credit: inquisitr.com

The impact that this decision has on families can be both devastating and comforting. Maynard’s family has been given the chance to take her to places she has always wanted to go, such as the Grand Canyon. They get to spend as much time as they like with her before her final moments. They are given what many people never get: the opportunity to say goodbye.

While Maynard and her family found comfort in the Death with Dignity law, it’s been the subject of controversy.

Oregon’s Death with Dignity law has faced vehement criticism from some groups for what they viewed as assisting and encouraging suicide. Supporters of the law, and similar laws in a few other U.S. states, say that it is a necessary option for patients to have.

Maynard’s story is unusual in that she is one of the youngest people to make this decision. She is not alone in her choice. As similar laws are passed throughout the country, more people are choosing how they want their final moments to be when they face a painful, deadly illness.

For more information about Oregon’s law and the people who have chosen to use it, read our review of the documentary film How to Die in Oregon, which gives an honest view of both sides of the aid in dying fence.