Why This Woman Scheduled Own Date with Death

WASHINGTON -- Brittany Maynard doesn't fit the typical image of an assisted suicide patient. She's young, recently married and seemingly healthy. But this vibrant 29-year-old woman is dying. 

Maynard has inoperable brain cancer. The doctors give her six months, but she doesn't want to wait that long. She plans to die on her terms and in her own time -- November 1, 2014 to be exact.

Her video testimonial explaining her decision has gone viral, with more than 5 million views on YouTube alone.
 
Maynard moved from California to Oregon in order to utilize the state's Death with Dignity Act. She's not alone.

Since enacting the DWDA in 1997, the state of Oregon has had more than 750 patients choose their own day to die.

In order to qualify, the patient must be a mentally competent adult with a terminal illness and be approved by their physician.  Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico have adopted similar laws.
 
Dr. David Prentice, senior fellow of Life Sciences for Family Research Council, disagrees with the law, saying it is the complete opposite of what these patients need.

"Instead of trying to prolong their life, instead of trying to love them and make them comfortable, it's a matter also of giving up on somebody, telling them that they are no longer useful to society, that their life is no longer worth living," he told CBN News.

In Oregon, that decision comes down to a tiny pill.

Secobarbital is most commonly prescribed. Patients are instructed to take the lethal drug on an empty stomach to expedite the absorption. If it's ingested properly, the patient will die.
 
Maynard says she has carried the pills for weeks. 

"I am not suicidal. If I were, I would have consumed that medication long ago. I do not want to die. But I am dying, and I want to die on my own terms," Maynard told CNN.

Others say the options for patients with terminal illness go beyond assisted suicide. Another similar story highlights the hope in death: the story of Kara Tippetts.

Like Maynard, Tippetts also has terminal cancer. The married mother of four has taken the opposite approach and urges Maynard to do the same. (LINK)

In a letter to Maynard she writes," My heart longs for you to know this truth, this love, this forever living. You have been told a lie -- a horrible lie that your dying will not be beautiful. That the suffering will be too great."
     
 
Just like Maynard, patients that choose death with dignity say they are not suicidal. In fact, many say they are religious.  According to the Death with Dignity National Center, almost 50 percent of those who choose to end their own lives consider themselves religious.
 
"I can't even tell you the amount of relief that it provides me to know that I don't have to die the way that it has been described to me," Maynard said in a statement on TheBrittanyFund.org.
 
She is using this opportunity to spread the message of Death with Dignity. The words "assisted suicide" are often blanketed by images of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The infamous doctor was convicted of second degree murder in 1999 for his direct involvement with a case of voluntary euthanasia.

Supporters of the law point out euthanasia and death with dignity are two separate things. Euthanasia is enacted by the physician, while death with dignity is administered by the patient. 

Many supporters of assisted suicide choose Death With Dignity in order to lessen the financial and emotional burden placed on loved ones. The majority of patients say they fear losing autonomy and control of their own bodies.

But opponents say it was medically wrong in the case of Kevorkian and it's medically wrong now. Many physicians are also opposed to assisted suicide, saying it's in direct contrast with a doctors oath to do no harm. 

Dr. Prentice agrees.

"For health professionals, these types of laws pervert the medical field. It takes that 'do no harm idea' and turns it upside down, where you are intentionally harming a patient and ending their life...as we know medical miracles happen all the time," he told CBN news.
 
Some physicians also fear patients with depression will use the law to end mental suffering. A poll conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine says that 67 percent of medical experts are still opposed to assisted suicide.

One faith-based medical facility is taking a stand. In Washington, St. Joseph's, a Catholic-run hospital, has opted not to carry out the law on its premises.
 
While the law is limited in the U.S., assisted suicide has become popular overseas.

"We've already seen this slippery slope take place in places like Belgium, The Netherlands and even Switzerland where there's now a suicide tourist industry. We don't need these laws. They are simply an enticement for someone to end their life," Dr. Prentice said. 

Tippetts echoes that sentiment in her letter to Maynard directly imploring to reconsider. 

"Brittany, when we trust Jesus to be the carrier, protector, redeemer of our hearts, death is no longer dying," she wrote.