Brittany Maynard Dies, Bringing New Attention To Right To Die Laws

Brittany Maynard died this weekend after the terminally ill 29-year-old administered a pill prescribed to her by a doctor and in doing so re-ignited the attention and debate over right to die laws.

After receiving a terminal diagnosis for brain cancer, Maynard decided to move to Oregon to take advantage of the state’s right to die law.

As a young and attractive 20-something, Maynard quickly became the face of the right to die movement. She appeared in a video describing her decision and wrote an article for CNN.com telling her own story and advocating for a patient’s right to die on their own terms.

“I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity,” she said. “My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice? That I deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain? Why should anyone have the right to make that choice for me?”

As Brittany Maynard died, she drew attention to an issue that for many was unknown, said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center.

“What the Brittany Maynard story demonstrates to that group of people is that it is important to their lives, that it could happen to them.”

While many hailed Maynard as a hero and champion of the movement, her decision had its detractors as well. The Catholic Church opposed her decision, while others said right-to-die laws open the door for possible abuse and allow for some patients to be coerced into it.

“These dangerous laws… threaten to pressure sick and disabled populations to take their lives. These laws do not offer a patient ‘dignity’ but only abandonment from health care workers and family who are supposed to care for patients and loved ones in these dire times,” according to a statement from the National Right to Life Committee.

Experts on both sides of the right to die debate say that Brittany Maynard brought the issue to the forefront, predicting that it will grow more intense with so many more Americans aware.