By now, many of us have heard of Brittany Maynard, the 29 year-old woman who suffered from stage 4 glioblastoma, a fatal prognosis, before ending her own life on November 2, 2014 under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act. After being diagnosed last January and undergoing brain surgery, doctors gave Maynard no more than six months to live.
Following her diagnosis, Maynard, her husband, her mother, and her step-father moved to Portland so she would have the freedom to chose to end her own life on her own terms. The Death With Dignity Act has been in place since late 1997, and is legal in four other states: Washington, Montana, Vermont, and New Mexico. Under this act, doctors prescribe fatal doses of medications to their patients, who can then take the medication to end their lives at a time and location of their choosing.
Maynard originally chose November 1 as the day she would die, however, she passed away this past Sunday, November 2. Maynard was surrounded by her husband, her parents, and her close friend when she took a fatal dose of barbiturates.
While I respect and understand Maynard’s decision, I can’t seem to agree with it. My family and I watched as my grandmother died from cancer. Because of her age and the severity of her disease, her prognosis, like Maynard’s, was fatal and she was given only a few months to live. The doctors had no treatment options for my grandmother; they told us with no uncertainty that she was going to die.
My grandmother spent the last few weeks of her life constantly surrounded by her family and friends. We had family dinners, even when my grandmother wasn’t able to eat anymore. When Nana was no longer strong enough to leave her bed, my cousins and I all crammed into her room, singing and dancing, doing anything to make her smile. It was in these last few weeks of my grandmother’s life that I learned the most about her. She told me stories of how her and my grandfather met and of how my father was growing up.
Maynard stated that she didn’t want to give in to the control the disease had over her, but by taking her own life she gave in to death. Medical miracles happen all the time and no one really know when they will die. Maynard could have had weeks or months of life left, life that she could have kept living to the fullest. I cannot even imagine how painful it must have been for her family and friends to watch her die, but I know that it must have taken an incredible amount of strength for all involved. My thoughts and prayers are with the Maynard and Ziegler families.
Rest in peace, Brittany Maynard.
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