Breaking: Brittany Maynard, Death With Dignity Advocate, Dies At 29

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...n_6091142.html

Brittany Maynard, the Oregon woman who had become an outspoken advocate for patients' rights following her terminal cancer diagnosis, died on Saturday, the Oregonian reported. She was 29.

"Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love," she wrote in a Facebook post, according to People. "Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness... the world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers... goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

Earlier this year, Maynard learned that she was suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma and had only six months to live. After hearing what the disease would to her body in its final stages, she decided that she wanted to die on her own terms.

[Suzanimal]

RIP

Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old who said she had terminal brain cancer, took medication to end her life under Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act," advocacy group Compassion & Choices said Sunday.

"Brittany chose to make a well thought out and informed choice to Die With Dignity in the face of such a terrible, painful, and incurable illness," a post on her website said. "She moved to Oregon to pass away in a little yellow house she picked out in the beautiful city of Portland."
In a statement, Compassion & Choices, an end-of-life choice advocacy group that has been working closely with Maynard, said she "died as she intended -- peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones."

Maynard passed away Saturday, said the group, which released an official obituary.
The epitaph contained a final message from Maynard, who expressed a note of deep thanks to all of her supporters, whom she "sought out like water" during her life and illness.

"It is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks who are happiest. If we change our thoughts, we change our world! Love and peace to you all," she said.

Maynard graduated from University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Masters in Education from University of California, Irvine, according to the obituary. She was a world traveler who volunteered at a local animal rescue organization before her diagnosis and lived 29 years of "generosity, compassion, education, travel, and humor," it said.

Maynard is survived by her husband and his family, her mother and stepfather.
"While she had longed for children of her own, she left this world with zero regrets on time spent, places been, or people she loved in her 29 years," the obituary said.

Maynard's story spread rapidly on social media as a video explaining her choice garnered more than 9 million views on YouTube.
She became a prominent spokeswoman for the "death with dignity" movement, which advocates that terminally ill patients be allowed to receive medication that will let them die on their own terms. She also became a lightning rod for criticism from people who oppose that approach.
"I quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for me and my family," Maynard wrote in an opinion column for CNN explaining her choice. "We had to uproot from California to Oregon, because Oregon is one of only five states where death with dignity is authorized."
Maynard: I hope my family is proud of me Explaining 'Death with Dignity' law Brittany Maynard: I don't want to die
In a video released last week, Maynard said she hadn't yet decided when she would end her life.

"I still feel good enough, and I still have enough joy, and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn't seem like the right time right now. But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It's happening each week," Maynard said in the video, which was produced by Compassion & Choices and released to CNN last Wednesday.

Maynard said she had stage IV glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of terminal brain cancer.
When she first started speaking out about her decision, Maynard said that in early November she planned to take the medication she'd been prescribed. In her latest video, she said she was waiting to see how her symptoms progress before deciding on a date.
But taking too long to make that choice was one of her greatest fears, Maynard said.

"The worst thing that could happen to me is that I wait too long because I'm trying to seize each day," she says, "but I somehow have my autonomy taken away from me by my disease, because of the nature of my cancer."

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/02/he...html?hpt=hp_t3

[tod evans]

RIP

[Cleaner44]

This is the first I have seen of this lady. I just watched her original video and then her video from a few days ago. I hope her mission succeeds because every human should have their right to decide when they die protected from those that want to infringe upon it. This is an issue that I can see many social conservatives getting wrong and taking the statist path. It should not be illegal for anyone to choose to end their own life.

[Suzanimal]

This is a dupe post.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...ate-Dies-At-29

[Suzanimal]

She was a beautiful brave woman, so sad. I respect her determination to live and die on her own terms.

RIP

This is the first I have seen of this lady. I just watched her original video and then her video from a few days ago. I hope her mission succeeds because every human should have their right to decide when they die protected from those that want to infringe upon it. This is an issue that I can see many social conservatives getting wrong and taking the statist path. It should not be illegal for anyone to choose to end their own life.

Agreed.

[XNavyNuke]

Carrousel comes a year early (or eight years too late if you've read the book) to Ms. Maynard. Societal evolution will eventually get there and it will be celebrated as even more enlightened than this woman's death.

XNN

[jmdrake]

Actually there is a clinical trial for using proton therapy to treat the kind of cancer she had.

http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/c...oblastoma.html

What I wish is that there was a "terminal illness guinea pig act" where any terminally ill patient could have access to any experimental therapy as long as he/she was willing to pay for it.

[donnay]

RIP

[GunnyFreedom]

Actually there is a clinical trial for using proton therapy to treat the kind of cancer she had.

http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/c...oblastoma.html

What I wish is that there was a "terminal illness guinea pig act" where any terminally ill patient could have access to any experimental therapy as long as he/she was willing to pay for it.

Change "pay for it" into "mutually agreeable terms" and I'm 100% on board. Many drug companies benefit tremendously from conducting human trials, and they often have to pay their subjects good money. Chances are while the drug is still experimental, the drug companies will be MORE than happy to offer the drug for free. Forcing the patient to pay anyway via legislative fiat is not something I'd get behind, since there is a good chance the drug company would make such cases part of their human trials, and therefore offer the treatment for free.

Therefore change it from requiring the patient to pay, into requiring the patient and the drug company to agree on terms, and I'm 1000% in favor.

[jmdrake]

Change "pay for it" into "mutually agreeable terms" and I'm 100% on board. Many drug companies benefit tremendously from conducting human trials, and they often have to pay their subjects good money. Chances are while the drug is still experimental, the drug companies will be MORE than happy to offer the drug for free. Forcing the patient to pay anyway via legislative fiat is not something I'd get behind, since there is a good chance the drug company would make such cases part of their human trials, and therefore offer the treatment for free.

Therefore change it from requiring the patient to pay, into requiring the patient and the drug company to agree on terms, and I'm 1000% in favor.

Okay. Yeah I agree. All I was really trying to say is that taxpayers and/or insurers should be forced to pay for unproven treatments. But yeah, if the drug company doesn't want to charge or is willing to pay the patients then I'm not against that.

[William Tell]

Euthanasia of 'undesirables' is coming.

[John F Kennedy III]

Actually there is a clinical trial for using proton therapy to treat the kind of cancer she had.

http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/c...oblastoma.html

What I wish is that there was a "terminal illness guinea pig act" where any terminally ill patient could have access to any experimental therapy as long as he/she was willing to pay for it.

Also I'm sure cannabis oil treatment would've at least helped. Suicide instead of trying every option? /fail

[Todd]

Euthanasia of 'undesirables' is coming.

I'm not sure this type of personal decision based on an illness with a death sentence is the slippery slope. I think it's when someone other than yourself in sound mind gets to decide when to end a life. Such as the Terry Schiavo case.

[tangent4ronpaul]

RIP

[JK/SEA]

Euthanasia of 'undesirables' is coming.

we already do, its called war.

[William Tell]

I'm not sure this type of personal decision based on an illness with a death sentence is the slippery slope. I think it's when someone other than yourself in sound mind gets to decide when to end a life. Such as the Terry Schiavo case.

I look at it differently. Suicide is one thing, it is something that obviously, and sadly, cannot be stopped in all cases. However, when you move into euthanasia, it opens a whole new can of worms. You start to have people with poor mental faculties manipulated into signing documents they do not understand. Any 'Doctor' who feels like violating his Hippocratic Oath, and dealing potentially dealing with angry next of kin after the fact, is insane in my opinion.

[mad cow]

If you don't own your own life,what do you own and who does own it?Society?The State?If you can hire a professional to tile your bathroom,why can't you hire one to kill you painlessly if you no longer wish to go on living?

I do think that there should be videotaped and signed,witnessed and notarized contracts involved in this transaction to avoid fraud,murder and such.

[donnay]

I look at it differently. Suicide is one thing, it is something that obviously, and sadly, cannot be stopped in all cases. However, when you move into euthanasia, it opens a whole new can of worms. You start to have people with poor mental faculties manipulated into signing documents they do not understand. Any 'Doctor' who feels like violating his Hippocratic Oath, and dealing potentially dealing with angry next of kin after the fact, is insane in my opinion.

I wholeheartedly agree.