PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Brittany Maynard stuck by her
decision.
The woman with brain cancer who
revived a national debate about physician-assisted suicide
ended her life Saturday by swallowing lethal drugs made
available under an Oregon law allowing terminally ill people
to choose when to die. She would have been 30 on Nov. 19.
Maynard had been in the spotlight for
about a month since publicizing that she and her husband,
Dan Diaz, moved to Portland from Northern California so that
she could take advantage of the Oregon law. She told
journalists she planned to die Nov. 1, shortly after her
husband's birthday, but reserved the right to move the date
forward or push it back.
Maynard ended her suffering right on
schedule after hinting at a possible delay in a video
released last week.
"She died as she intended - peacefully
in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones," said Sean
Crowley, a spokesman for the advocacy group Compassion &
Choices.
Crowley said Maynard "suffered
increasingly frequent and longer seizures, severe head and
neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms. As symptoms grew more
severe, she chose to abbreviate the dying process by taking
the aid-in-dying medication she had received months ago."
The issue of physician-assisted
suicide is not new, but Maynard's youth and vitality before
she became ill brought the discussion to a younger
generation.
Working with Compassion & Choices,
Maynard used her story to speak out for the right of
terminally ill people like herself to end their lives on
their own terms.
Maynard's choice was not without
detractors. Some religious groups and others opposed to
physician-assisted suicide voiced objections.
"We are saddened by the fact that this
young woman gave up hope, and now our concern is for other
people with terminal illnesses who may contemplate following
her example," Janet Morana, executive director of the group
Priests for Life, said in a statement after Maynard's death.
"Brittany's death was not a victory for a political cause.
It was a tragedy, hastened by despair and aided by the
culture of death invading our country."
Oregon was the first U.S. state to
make it legal for a doctor to prescribe a life-ending drug
to a terminally ill patient of sound mind who makes the
request. The patient must swallow the drug without help; it
is illegal for a doctor to administer it.
More than 750 people in Oregon have
used the law to die as of Dec. 31, 2013. The median age of
the deceased is 71. Only six were younger than 35.
The state does not track how many
terminally ill people move to Oregon to die. A patient must
prove to a doctor that they are living in Oregon. Some
examples of documentation include a rental agreement, a
voter registration card or a driver's license.
Four other states - Washington,
Montana, Vermont and New Mexico - allow patients to seek
help to die.
Maynard earned two degrees and had an
adventuresome spirit during her short life. She taught at
orphanages in Nepal and spent time in Vietnam, Cambodia,
Laos and Costa Rica. She climbed Kilimanjaro a month before
marrying Diaz in September 2012.
She was diagnosed with brain cancer on
New Year's Day of this year and was later told she had six
months to live.
Before dying, Maynard tried to live as
fully as she could. She and her husband took a trip to the
Grand Canyon last month - fulfilling a wish on Maynard's
"bucket list."
Maynard told The Associated Press in
an Oct. 8 interview that her husband and other relatives
accepted her decision.
"I think in the beginning my family
members wanted a miracle; they wanted a cure for my cancer,"
she said. "When we all sat down and looked at the facts,
there isn't a single person that loves me that wishes me
more pain and more suffering."
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