On November 2nd, Brittany Maynard ended her life. She had made headlines over the last month because of the decision she made to do so. Maynard had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, a diagnosis which carries with it a guarantee of death. The death she would have endured would been have prolonged, putting stress on her family as she became less and less herself. She took control of her death, and by extension, she took control of her life.
This is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, myself included. It’s hard for us to think of our own mortality at all, but life sometimes has other plans. I spent most of the last three years hospitalized. I had a tumor growing inside me that was wreaking havoc on my brain, giving me seizures, putting me in comas, and all of this was before they even found it and began chemo. There was a period of time, when I was bed-ridden for weeks and too weak to even get up, that I finally understood why people made this choice. I lived, obviously, but I had a moment of clarity. On the other end of my own personal experience with this, I have a parent who is currently extremely ill, with a chronic illness piled on top of cancer. There isn’t much quality of life inherent in being confined to your bed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because of this, the right to die argument is now a regular feature of our conversations.
A lot of people tend to equate taking your own life in this instance with suicide, and I need to stress how off-base that is. Fundamentally, when you discuss nothing more than the act of taking one’s own life, it would be considered suicide. When we talk about suicide in today’s age, it is either a conversation about crippling depression or how selfish an act it can be. This is not the case for doctor assisted suicide. In these cases, the only other option is a slow decline. It’s not a decision anyone makes lightly. I’ve heard from people who have lost family members to illnesses like brain cancer, Huntington’s, or ALS, and a commonality for many of these people is a feeling of guilt. Guilt at wanting their loved one to pass on, guilt that they can’t do anything, guilt that they are still alive. On the other side, loved ones who get sick like this often feel guilt at the burden they put on their family, that they take so much away. These are all natural, very human things to feel. It’s just as human to want to alleviate that, and to take control for yourself.
When you get diagnosed with a disease for which there is no cure, your control has been taken away on a fundamental level. People with Huntington’s or ALS become prisoners inside their own bodies, people with the kind of brain tumors Mrs. Maynard had lose all of the things that made them who they are. Every bit of you is taken by these diseases, piece-by-piece you lose who you were. In these situations, do we as human beings not have the right to say no? No, I don’t want to have my body as a prison. No, I don’t want to forget everything I know. No, I don’t want to become helpless, dependent on those I love for the simplest of tasks. Do we not have the right to take control of our own lives, of our own deaths?
Legally speaking? Mostly no. As it stands, only two states have Right To Die laws on the books. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, New Mexico, and Montana allow patients the dignity to choose when and how they want to go. They have the chance to prepare, to get their affairs in order, and take action before things get too bad.
One of Brittany Maynard’s last requests was for her family to carry on the work she began; to legalize physician assisted suicide, make this an option patients have available, in all 50 states. The end of life advocacy group, Compassion & Choices, is helping achieve this goal. For more information of Brittany Maynard, her life, and her death and mission, please visit http://www.compassionandchoices.org.
It’s a reality we have to face, that there are instances where someone deserves to be able to die on their own terms, with dignity. We have to stop equating this to suicide, as none of the people who turn to this method want to die. Life just has other things in store. It’s a decision that belongs to only one person, the person who is sick. It’s something I’m going to have to deal with, and respect, in my own life soon. There is definitely dignity in taking control of your death, in saying no to everything the illness will throw at you. I hope that the rest of the world can see it that way soon as well.
The Right to Die
Dane La Born
On November 2nd, Brittany Maynard ended her life. She had made headlines over the last month because of the decision she made to do so. Maynard had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, a diagnosis which carries with it a guarantee of death. The death she would have endured would been have prolonged, putting stress on her family as she became less and less herself. She took control of her death, and by extension, she took control of her life.
This is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, myself included. It’s hard for us to think of our own mortality at all, but life sometimes has other plans. I spent most of the last three years hospitalized. I had a tumor growing inside me that was wreaking havoc on my brain, giving me seizures, putting me in comas, and all of this was before they even found it and began chemo. There was a period of time, when I was bed-ridden for weeks and too weak to even get up, that I finally understood why people made this choice. I lived, obviously, but I had a moment of clarity. On the other end of my own personal experience with this, I have a parent who is currently extremely ill, with a chronic illness piled on top of cancer. There isn’t much quality of life inherent in being confined to your bed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because of this, the right to die argument is now a regular feature of our conversations.
A lot of people tend to equate taking your own life in this instance with suicide, and I need to stress how off-base that is. Fundamentally, when you discuss nothing more than the act of taking one’s own life, it would be considered suicide. When we talk about suicide in today’s age, it is either a conversation about crippling depression or how selfish an act it can be. This is not the case for doctor assisted suicide. In these cases, the only other option is a slow decline. It’s not a decision anyone makes lightly. I’ve heard from people who have lost family members to illnesses like brain cancer, Huntington’s, or ALS, and a commonality for many of these people is a feeling of guilt. Guilt at wanting their loved one to pass on, guilt that they can’t do anything, guilt that they are still alive. On the other side, loved ones who get sick like this often feel guilt at the burden they put on their family, that they take so much away. These are all natural, very human things to feel. It’s just as human to want to alleviate that, and to take control for yourself.
When you get diagnosed with a disease for which there is no cure, your control has been taken away on a fundamental level. People with Huntington’s or ALS become prisoners inside their own bodies, people with the kind of brain tumors Mrs. Maynard had lose all of the things that made them who they are. Every bit of you is taken by these diseases, piece-by-piece you lose who you were. In these situations, do we as human beings not have the right to say no? No, I don’t want to have my body as a prison. No, I don’t want to forget everything I know. No, I don’t want to become helpless, dependent on those I love for the simplest of tasks. Do we not have the right to take control of our own lives, of our own deaths?
Legally speaking? Mostly no. As it stands, only two states have Right To Die laws on the books. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, New Mexico, and Montana allow patients the dignity to choose when and how they want to go. They have the chance to prepare, to get their affairs in order, and take action before things get too bad.
One of Brittany Maynard’s last requests was for her family to carry on the work she began; to legalize physician assisted suicide, make this an option patients have available, in all 50 states. The end of life advocacy group, Compassion & Choices, is helping achieve this goal. For more information of Brittany Maynard, her life, and her death and mission, please visit http://www.compassionandchoices.org.
It’s a reality we have to face, that there are instances where someone deserves to be able to die on their own terms, with dignity. We have to stop equating this to suicide, as none of the people who turn to this method want to die. Life just has other things in store. It’s a decision that belongs to only one person, the person who is sick. It’s something I’m going to have to deal with, and respect, in my own life soon. There is definitely dignity in taking control of your death, in saying no to everything the illness will throw at you. I hope that the rest of the world can see it that way soon as well.