A Pioneer for Death With Dignity - NYTimes.com - 0 views
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/...pioneer-for-death-with-dignity
ethics science medicine health law death
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More than two decades before Brittany Maynard’s public advocacy for death with dignity inspired lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and at least 16 states to introduce legislation authorizing the medical practice of aid in dying for the terminally ill, Senator Frank Roberts of Oregon sponsored one of the nation’s first death-with-dignity bills.
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Medical aid in dying has always had enormous public support. Recent polls by Gallup and Harris show that 69 to 74 percent of people believe terminally ill adults should have access to medical means to bring about a peaceful death. This belief is strong throughout the nation and across all demographic categories, including age, disability, religion and political party.
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First, the phenomenon of Brittany Maynard has transformed the movement for end-of-life-choice into an unstoppable force. Ms. Maynard was the 29-year-old woman dying of brain cancer, who moved, with her family, from her home in California to establish residency in Oregon and gain access to aid in dying. As her pain and seizures escalated and as inevitable paralysis, blindness and stupor approached, she drank medication obtained under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act and died quietly in a circle of her loved ones last fall. Her family vows to fulfill her legacy of legal reform in her native California and beyond. Young and old alike identify with Brittany Maynard. Her experience as a refugee for dignity sparks the “aha!” moment when people understand the grave injustice of government’s withholding from a competent, dying adult the elements of choice and control over suffering.