Brittany Maynard was 29 when she was diagnosed with a malignant terminal brain tumor. Her doctor gave her six months to live. She had the option to undergo full body radiation treatment that would have lengthened her life but would have left her in constant pain while she withered away. She consciously made the decision that she wished to die on her own terms and moved from California to Oregon where physician-assisted suicide has been legalized. In the early morning hours of a chilly November morning, Brittany took a cocktail of drugs prescribed by her physician. She was surrounded by those she loved and died with the dignity that she wanted. Human euthanasia, although controversial, is a humane way to end a person's life, it can be administered voluntary, involuntarily, or passively. …show more content…
According to Kumar Amarasekara and Mirko Bagaric in the article, "Moving from Voluntary Euthanasia to Non-Voluntary Euthanasia: Equality and Compassion" published in the Ratio Juris, it is no longer a criminal offense to attempt, or to even take, a person's own life, but if someone else, even a doctor, knowingly assists in the termination of another's life that person can be held accountable for homicide (403). It should be noted that there is a stigma against assisted suicide.
The article “Brittany Maynard Death With Dignity Advocate for ‘Death With Dignity’ Dies” by Catherine E. Shoichet delivers the story of Brittany Maynard. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2012 and was told she had from 3-10 years to live. However, in another diagnose that she had she was told she only had about six months to live. Maynard graduated from Berkeley and obtained a Masters in Education from the University of Irvine. She was a California resident and could not obtain her wish of dying with assisted suicide here. She moved to Oregon and there she became a resident. In 2014 Brittany Maynard consumed the drugs and peacefully died at 29 years.
The article “Brittany Maynard Death With Dignity Advocate for ‘Death With Dignity’ Dies” by Catherine E. Shoichet delivers the story of Brittany Maynard. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2012 and was told she had from 3-10 years to live. However, in another diagnose that she had she was told she only had about six months to live. Maynard graduated from Berkeley and obtained a Masters in Education from the University of Irvine. She was a California resident and could not obtain her wish of dying with assisted suicide here. She moved to Oregon and there she became a resident. In 2014 Brittany Maynard consumed the drugs and peacefully died at 29 years.
In the video “Brittany Maynard Explains Why She’s Choosing Physician-assisted Suicide at 29”, Brittany Maynard takes a very strong position for assisted suicide. Her video reached a large audience when it was released in 2014, as she was the first person to not only openly support assisted suicide, but also then use it herself when she chose to die at age 29 due to her terminal brain cancer. Her purpose is to show people that choosing assisted suicide doesn’t mean someone is suicidal, but rather that they want to choose to die peacefully rather than in a degrading and painful way, like the one her future with stage four brain cancer would bring her. Maynard states, “There is a difference between a person who is dying and a person who is suicidal. I do not want to do. I am dying.” Maynard takes a significantly more personal and emotional take on the issue, comparable only to Jennifer Medina’s article in the New York Times where she interviews patients who have decided to use physician-assisted suicide to end their lives. However, Maynard shows a much more personal perspective in her explanation of why she chose to move to Oregon to obtain a lethal prescription under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, and the struggles she went through in coming to that conclusion, as opposed to
Brittany Maynard was a woman terminally ill with cancer and made a decision to end her life with dignity. Topics include her family views, her struggles with a cancerous tumor, mention of her plan to die, and the controversy surrounding her right to die. Maynard had great influence surrounding the right-to-die movement. This essay will also include the topic of state laws that have signed the bill for patients that are terminally ill that choose to end their lives. This article includes the views of those who perceive this right as assisted suicide.
Kara Tippets, a thirty-eight year old married Christian woman with four children suffered from metastatic breast cancer. Tippets strongly did not believe in assisted dying for many reasons. She slowly started accepting her condition over time and knew that her day of death was coming soon. Since her husband was a pastor, they strongly believed in the Christian way to fully live their lives to the best of their abilities. However, a twenty- nine year old woman named Brittany Maynard did not believe in assisted dying. She was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and decided to end her life before the tumor progressed and before her suffering worsened. Maynard strongly believed in the phrase “death with dignity” and was forced to move to Oregon from California to make physician-assisted dying legal. Only five states made physician-dying legal and California did not make it legal until after Maynard had passed away. Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and California were the other four states that made the procedure legal to any individual. Brittany Maynard had chosen to inject herself with lethal prescription with the assistance of a physician on November 1, 2014 to take her life away, but Kara Tippetts did not agree with her decision.
When death is brought into conversation, most might think of the elderly peacefully passing away in the night or the opposite with horrific accidents where an individual cannot be saved, but very little do people consider individuals who make the choice to end it all. As all should know, this act is called suicide and most have a negative perception of it. But what if it is for the greater good? In one of many cases, California native, Brittany Maynard, made the decision to end her life after suffering through the pain of debilitating headaches caused by brain cancer. Maynard received help in her departure through the use of physician-assisted suicide. The acceptance of this procedure is very limited seeing as though it is only legal in a
Death with Dignity is the use of medical practices to end the life of someone who is suffering from severe illness. It was reported on November 2, 2014, by People and various other media sources that Maynard had ended her life on November 1 surrounded by her loved ones. In accordance to Oregon state law regarding death with dignity, a brain tumor is recorded as the official cause of death on her death certificate.The problem with this is that many people believe that it should not be legal for one to chose whether or not they should die. Individuals throughout the U.S. and many other countries believe we should not have the choice of when we die, and that it should all come naturally. In addition to that, many people were conflicted between the idea of suicide and a person dying. The reason for this opposition is because it goes against many religions. For example, Christians believe that it is a denial of God’s power and presence. Even though there is much controversy about this topic, I believe that Brittany made the right choice. Although I do not think the ending of a life is vigorous, I think in certain situations it is justified. She decided to get this treatment in Oregon, where “ Death with Dignity” is legal. As a human being, she has the right to take this option since it is a law. On top of that, it is a right that was afforded to her. Furthermore, she was going through a pain that a normal human being couldn’t even imagine bearing. She was only given six months to live due to her terminal illness, and would only get worse over time. This was the right course of action because she died on her own terms, peacefully, legally, and around those that she loved. This issue (Death with Dignity - Euthanasia) has sparked all across the globe, making many others individually think, is Death with Dignity right or wrong. Is there a difference between someone
Is physician assisted suicide ethically justified? Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is defined as ending one’s own life by taking a fatal dosage of a substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician (MedicineNET.com, 2015). PAS is a very sensitive and controversial topic that raises many moral and ethical questions. While some feel that a person should be able to die with dignity and under their own terms, others feel that this is not a choice we can ethically make. PAS recently made national headlines when Brittany Maynard, a twenty-nine year old woman diagnosed with stage IV glioblastoma, went public with her plan to end her own life under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act that was passed in 1997. Maynard legally received a prescription from her physician for a lethal dose of barbiturates and decided to end her life own life instead of suffering the painful death that loomed in her near future. She ended her own life on November, 3, 2014 with her family by her side (Durando, 2014). There are many moral issues that surrounded Maynard’s decision and whether or not PAS is ethical, however it is important to understand both sides of the debate to truly get the entire picture of the complexity of this issue before making the determination if physician-assisted suicide is ethically justified.
“Is it worse to kill someone than to let someone die?” – James Rachels. At the end of the disagreement, many philosophers say euthanasia, also known as physician-assisted suicide, is a compassionate method of death. At the other side are the opponents of euthanasia, who may consider this technique as a form of murder. In this paper, I will show that it is not important to know the distinction between killing and letting die on request which is performed by a physician. Both killing and letting die on request are similar because it is based on the controversial issue called euthanasia also known as physician-assisted suicide.
Because her body was young and healthy, she was likely to physically stay alive for a long time, but the cancer was eating her brain which would have caused her to suffer in hospice care for months while her family watched her deteriorate slowly. Even with palliative medication, she could develop morphine-resistant pain and lose her verbal, cognitive, and motor skills at any time. For her, that seemed like a nightmare to put her family through. She wanted to live the rest of the life she had left to the fullest, surrounding herself with family and friends, doing things she had always dreamt of doing and saying goodbye to her loved ones in her own time. Much like Dr. Rimmel, Brittany’s quality of life was critical to her happiness. Because the state of California has not authorized death with dignity. Brittany and her family had to move from their home to Portland, Oregon. Oregon was one of five states where death with dignity is legal.
In 2014, Brittany Maynard became the face for those supporting physician assisted suicide or PAS. At 29 years old and newly married, Maynard was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and immediately underwent a partial craniotomy and partial resection. Her tumor came back much stronger, however, and in April she was given six months to live. Maynard’s only treatment option to slow but not stop the growth of the tumor was full brain radiation, but she opted against this because of the unavoidable side effects of hair loss, first degree burns, and the inevitability of death. In consideration of hospice, Maynard feared becoming resistant to morphine and losing her cognitive, motor, and verbal skills. Even more so, she did not want her family
Brittany Maynard was one of the people to use the Death with Dignity Act in Organ and once said,“To have control of my own mind…to go with dignity is less terrifying. When I look at both options I have to die, I feel this is far more humane” (Sandeen, 2014). No matter what, we will all eventually die, but we should have the right to die as humanely as possible. The Death with Dignity Act is an end-of-life choice possibility for terminally ill patients to be given the freedom to decide for themselves what it means to die with dignity. This act allows them to die with dignity by providing them with lethal medications prescribed by a physician (The Oregon Department of Human Services, 2006). The Death with Dignity Act started to allow people with six months or less to live, the right to die in a manner and at the time of their own choosing. Also, even though modern medicine has benefited humanity greatly, it cannot completely resolve the suffering and distress that comes with the dying process, so Death with Dignity can provide a painless end-of-life choice for suffering individuals (Humphry, 2009). Although Death with Dignity is a controversial topic I feel it can be very beneficial especially since people go through a long process just to try to get the medication and the ones that get it really need it. I chose this topic because death always has been interesting to me and I one day hope to have a career
Brittany Maynard, a woman known for her advocacy in the controversial topic of assisted suicide, officially ended her life this fall after learning of her fatal brain tumor. After complaining of horrible headaches, she decided to see a doctor where they gave her this traumatic news. She had two corrective surgeries to try and stop the growth of her large tumor, but they were unsuccessful. Her doctor then suggested full brain radiation, but after months of researching this option, along with many other, she knew her quality of what short life she had left would quickly deteriorate. With the help of her family, friends, and newly-wed husband, she made the decision to move with her loved ones from her California home to Oregon, where death with
Euthanasia is defined as an 'act of killing someone painlessly to relieve his or her suffering'[1]. It's etymology is derived from the Greek 'eu thanatos' which means a good death. It is a contentious issue that provokes strong arguments for and against changing UK legislation to permit it. The UK currently prohibits active euthanasia. Active euthanasia is an act where the intention is to end or deliberately shorten someone's life.
Euthanasia, which is also referred to as mercy killing, is the act of ending someone’s life either passively or actively, usually for the purpose of relieving pain and suffering. “All forms of euthanasia require an intention to accelerate death in order to benefit patients experiencing a poor quality of life” (Sayers, 2005). It is a highly controversial subject that often leaves a person with mixed emotions and beliefs. Opinions regarding this topic hinge on the health and mental state of the victim as well as method of death. It raises legal issues as well as the issue of morals and ethics. Euthanasia is divided into two different categories, passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. “There are unavoidable uncertainties in both active and