11/17/2015
Brittany Maynard and death with dignity Baltimore Sun
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Brittany Maynard and death with dignity f
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At the anniversary of his wife's death, Brittany Maynard's widower speaks out for Death with Dignity laws.
NOVEMBER 1, 2015, 6:25 AM
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t was one year ago today that Brittany Maynard, a 29yearold woman suffering from and incurable and aggressive brain tumor, died peacefully, in her sleep, at home and surrounded
by her family. Death came at the time and manner of her choosing because, faced with a prognosis of six months to live, she had moved from California to Oregon, which allows some terminally ill patients to receive prescriptions for fatal doses of medication. Oregon's Death with Dignity law is two decades old, but Maynard's death gripped the nation's attention the way no other had before. In early October of 2014, she had posted a video on YouTube explaining her choice, and it was viewed more than 9 million times in a month. She appeared on the cover of People magazine, and the last weeks of her life became a fascination for millions. Perhaps it was her youth and beauty that made her story so captivating, or perhaps the frankness with which she announced the date on which she would end her life, but she set off a national reckoning over the right to die, one that continues to this day. Last week, Maynard's husband, Dan Diaz, was on the East Coast to speak with lawmakers considering Death with Dignity legislation, and he stopped in Baltimore to meet with The Sun's editorial board. He recounted his wife's story simply and powerfully, his emotions undimmed by the number of times he must have told it. She was diagnosed with a stage 2 brain tumor on Jan. 1, 2014, he said, and had surgery to remove it. A followup scan revealed that the tumor had quickly returned and in a more aggressive form. Treatment options were limited — radiation and chemotherapy might add two or three months to her sixmonth prognosis, but at the cost of debilitating side effects. And death, when it came, would be horrific — intense pain, seizures, possibly the loss of vision and speech and even paralysis would lead to an inevitable end. Article continues below
Maynard did not want that, her husband said. She did not want to give control of her life to the tumor. The couple moved to Portland, found an apartment on Craigslist, got utility service and did http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bseddeathwithdignity20151101story.html
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11/17/2015
Brittany Maynard and death with dignity Baltimore Sun
the other things needed to establish residency, and then found a palliative care doctor willing to consider her for Oregon's Death with Dignity program. Her acceptance into it was not automatic. She had to make two oral requests to her doctor at least 15 days apart, and a written request witnessed by two people. Her doctor had to question her extensively, without her husband present, to ensure that she was capable of making the decision on her own and that her judgment was not impaired by depression or another psychological disorder. Two separate physicians had to confirm her diagnosis. From 19972014, Oregon physicians wrote 1,327 prescriptions under the Death with Dignity Act, and 859 people had died from taking the medications. In 2014, that amounted to 0.31 percent of all deaths in Oregon. Mr. Diaz said his wife received the medication in May but settled on Nov. 1 as the date when she would take it. She wanted to travel — the couple went on a tour of National Parks in the last months of her life, culminating in a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon — and she wanted to make it past their Sept. 29 anniversary and his Oct. 26 birthday. Her physical suffering started in September — including pain so intense that it could not be controlled even with powerful drugs. Because Oregon law requires the patient to administer the medication herself, she did not want to wait too long for fear of becoming incapacitated. But simply having the medication in the house was a comfort to her, he said, because it gave her a sense of control. On Nov. 1, Mr. Diaz said, Maynard had a small seizure in the morning. The two took a walk with their dogs, and at home she set to the task of preparing the medication — dozens of capsules that had to be broken and mixed with water. She said it tasted terrible. Within five minutes of taking it, she was asleep. After 30 minutes, her breathing slowed and stopped. "It was a gentle death," Mr. Diaz said. "The tumor would not have allowed that." In the weeks that followed, lawmakers in Maryland drafted legislation modeled on the Oregon statute, with the backing of Dick Israel, a former legal counsel to the General Assembly and a former Annapolis alderman who was suffering from the final stages of Parkinson's disease and would die a few months later. Legislative leaders didn't bring the bill up for a vote this spring, avoiding a heated debate on an issue about which there was clearly not yet a consensus. Since then, a work group has been hashing out the details, and House Speaker Michael E. Busch has announced his support for the concept. We look forward to a real debate next year. This is not an issue Maryland can avoid any longer.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bseddeathwithdignity20151101story.html
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