Dead or alive: whose life is it anyway?
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We can't choose the way we're born, but usually we can make arrangements for the way we die. At the very least, most of us would want to die peacefully in bed and surrounded by loved ones who can remember us the way we look just then. We'd be free from di
That was how Brittany Maynard, 29, chose to go last Sunday, having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and her choice has provoked unexpectedly broad discussion, spurred on by videos of her explaining her decision in YouTube videos and on the social media.
Maynard was a resident of California but ended her life in Oregon, one of only five US states that have enacted the Death with Dignity Act. Her decision to die by taking a medicine prescribed for the purpose was by no means controversial, but it did stir up extension discussion about our presumed freedom to die in the manner we choose.
In death, Maynard has become the face of “death with dignity”, inspiring people to consider how that right is actually so limited in practice.
Helping even terminally ill people end their lives has been considered immoral for much of the modern era, even if disguised by calming terms like “euthanasia”.
More recent legalistic variations like “assisted suicide” tend to have the opposite effect, causing fear and misunderstanding. Suicide is such an unkind word.
Maynard’s case provides insight and light.
“To have control of my own mind, to go with dignity, is less terrifying,” she said. “When I look at both options I have for dying, I feel this is far more humane.” Her preferred option, by curtailing the agony of cancer, meant less pain for both her and her family, she pointed out.
I had three friends who recently died of cancer. They might have chosen the same option too if it had been available in Thailand. Like Maynard, they all knew they would soon die. But, with no such legal avenue open to them, they had to yield entirely to the disease and wait until it had its own way, in its own time. Their last days were spent being wheeled in and out of intensive-care units.
Of course my friends might have foregone the opportunity, even if the option were legal here. There are surely many people who believe that ending their lives by lethal medication would be morally wrong, a form of suicide.
It’s important that “dying with dignity” legislation is available (in those places that allow it) to anyone with a terminal illness. No one is pressured to make the choice. Maynard wanted to live, but cancer stole away her autonomy, usurping her will.
The legal option turned out to be the best route for her and her family. She could die while she still recognised her husband, her mind unencumbered by disease or drugs. She left a body in good condition and never endured the smaller indignity of losing control of her bladder.
Attempts to cite religious or even political arguments against death with dignity ignore the suffering that the victims and their families undergo, often for drawn-out periods.
Maynard and the more than 1,100 other Americans who have found respite in the law didn’t choose to die – they merely chose how to die. All they received was “aid in dying”. It was entirely their call as to the how and when – and it was no longer up to the disease.
“There’s a difference between a person who’s dying and a person who’s suicidal,” Maynard said. “I don’t want to die. I am dying.”
If freedom and liberty are to become universal assets, we should be able to choose not just how we lead our life but also how we end it once the mind and body lose their ability to function. Advanced medicine and technology are not just there to help us live better and longer but also to provide a painless end should the cures elude us.
What good are rights and freedoms if they are held back when we need them in a situation like this? It is a curious world in which we can demand the political right to protest and yet lack the right to autonomy over our own bodies.
At the end of the day, all that matters in this life is you and your family. Maynard was struck by the realisation. “The thoughts that go through your mind when you find out you have so little time is all the things you need to say to everyone you love.”
