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Britanny Maynard, who caught the attention of the world by reigniting the debate on the right to ‘die with dignity’ after being diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer, died on Saturday with the help of lethal medication prescribed by a doctor.
Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization in the US that works towards improving patient rights and choice at the end of their lives, posted the following on their Facebook page:
Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization in the US that works towards improving patient rights and choice at the end of their lives, posted the following on their Facebook page:
She is survived by her husband, Daniel Diaz, whom she married in 2012; her mother Deborah Ziegler and her step-father Gary Holmes .
Maynard, who became the public face of the death with dignity movement, chose to move to Oregon state from California in her last days. Oregon is one of five US states that have a Death with Dignity programme.
"I didn't launch this campaign because I wanted attention; in fact, it's hard for me to process it all. I did this because I want to see a world where everyone has access to death with dignity, as I have had. My journey is easier because of this choice," Maynard had said in a note to Compassion & Choices.
Maynard worked very closely with Compassion & Choices and actively posted videos explaining her choice of ending her life with dignity, quickly becoming a lightning rod for the movement as her video received more than 2.2 million views.
According to news reports, Maynard began increasingly suffering frequent seizures, severe headaches, strokes and body pain. She chose to take her aid-in-dying medication before she was no longer in a position to consciously exercise that option.
According to Compassion & Choices, Brittany chose a little yellow house in Portland to spend the last days of her life in.
“Oregon is a place that strives to protect patient rights and autonomy; she wished that her home State of California had also been able to provide terminally ill patients with the same choice. Brittany chose to speak out and advocate for this patient right and option, which she felt is an informed choice that should be made available to all terminally ill patients across our great nation,” Compassion & Choices said in a statement.
Presenting another side of the story, Joe Neyer, a patient suffering from aggressive brain cancer Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) wrote an open letter to Brittany telling her that "there's another option, too”.
"Brittany, you know we're all in this together. And it is a scary thing to be given a terminal diagnosis. It sure is. But there's more to be investigated. There's more to be learned. There's more to be discovered," Neyer said in an interview to AlJazeera.com.
Maynard picked Nov 1 as the day she would die with the help of medication. People.com quoted her as saying, "I really wanted to celebrate my husband's birthday, which is October 30," she said. "I'm getting sicker, dealing with more pain and seizures and difficulties so I just selected it."
Maynard has sparked a national debate in the US on 'Death with Dignity' laws. Following social media's reaction to Brittany's video, lawmakers in Connecticut and New Jersey have come forward in support of 'Death with Dignity' bills in the country, putting the issue back in the spotlight.
