The decision of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard to end her life
Saturday put an unlikely face to the physician-assisted dying movement —
one of a vivacious young woman.
Maynard's death elevated the attention to the debate nationally, especially among young people.
Before the Maynard coverage, the issue didn't seem "salient or important" in young people's personal lives, said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center.
"What the Brittany Maynard story demonstrates to that group of people is that it is important to their lives, that it could happen to them," Sandeen said.
Younger people have been instrumental in big social changes, like legalizing marijuana and gay marriage, said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics in NYU Langone Medical Center's Department of Population Health.
"Were they to get on this issue, I think legalization would move much more quickly," he said.
Compassion and Choices, the organization Maynard was working with to advocate for end-of-life choice, said Maynard allowed people to "really internalize what the choice must be like and how they themselves would make the choice," said Mickey MacIntyre, the organization's chief program officer.
Maynard had moved from California to Oregon in order to legally end her life. In October, she released a video announcing her decision to end her life after being diagnosed earlier this year with stage 4 malignant brain cancer.
Her story was spread by social media. The Oct. 6 video on YouTube has more than 10 million views. In the past month, her name has been mentioned on Twitter more than 105,000 times, according to social media analytics site Topsy.com.
Polls show increasing support for physician-assisted dying. A Pew Research Center poll last year found 62% of adults believe "a person has a moral right to end their own life if they are suffering great pain and have no hope of improvement." Support is higher among younger people. For example, 65% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 said people have this moral right, compared with 54% of people 75 and older, according to the Pew poll.
Currently, Oregon, Washington and Vermont have legalized physician-assisted dying in patients who have six months or less to live. Montana and New Mexico have court opinions that would prevent a physician from being prosecuted for prescribing medication to a patient who wants to die.
ARGUMENTS IN DEBATE
Regardless of this new public face, the arguments for and against physician-assisted dying are the same. The pro-legalization camp says people should have a right to decide how to end their lives and not suffer.
Critics of legalization, particularly the Catholic Church, have moral objections to suicide.
Some critics also say the so-called death with dignity laws have loopholes that do not protect patients from coercion and abuse by others.
"These dangerous laws ... threaten to pressure sick and disabled populations to take their lives. These laws do not offer a patient 'dignity' but only abandonment from health care workers and family who are supposed to care for patients and loved ones in these dire times," according to a statement from the National Right to Life Committee.
At the time of death, the laws don't require an independent witness to verify it's the patient who is administering the drugs themselves or not being pressured to take the drugs, said Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, a disability rights organization that opposes legalizing assisted suicide.
"You don't really know what's going on behind closed doors," Coleman said.
But Sandeen points to the lack of any charges of abuse in states with death with dignity laws.
Some critics have argued the issue isn't about assisted death but about medical care. In Oregon, 93% of patients who requested medication to end their lives in 2013 said their top concern was loss of autonomy. Coleman said better home and hospice care would address this feeling.
But not everyone wants to "linger in hospice," Caplan said. "They don't want to lose control over bodily functions and cognition."
Caplan said improved hospice access and affordability would help, and this goal should be part of the pro-legalization group's arguments. But the "last resort" option should still be available, he said.
WHAT THE LAWS SAY
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act went into effect 1997, followed by Washington in 2009. In May 2013, Vermont became the third state to enact such a law.
In all three states, eligible patients must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months.
Patients are required to put in two oral requests, with a 15-day waiting period in between, and a written request, before a physician can prescribe a lethal medication. The patient must also see two doctors, who they put in a request with and a consulting physician to confirm the diagnosis and prognosis.
In Oregon, 1,173 people have requested prescriptions and 752 have died from ingesting the medication from 1998 to 2013, and the median age was 71 years old, according to the Oregon Division of Public Health.
In Washington state, 525 of the 549 requests are known to have died since 2009 to 2013, according to the Washington Department Health.
In Vermont, five requests have been submitted to the state but it's unclear how many people have ended their lives, according to an e-mail from Robert Stirewalt, spokesman for the state Department of Health.
Seven states have introduced death with dignity bills in the last legislative session, but five were rejected or missed a deadline to be brought up for a vote, according to the Death with Dignity National Center.
In New Jersey, the bill could be up for a vote in the General Assembly by the end of the year and, if passed, be introduced in the Senate for a vote, said John Burzichelli, a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and the bill's co-sponsor.
"It's a very personal topic," Burzichelli said. "I don't convince someone they should make this choice. My role is strictly as a lawmaker is to make that choice available."
Maynard's death elevated the attention to the debate nationally, especially among young people.
Before the Maynard coverage, the issue didn't seem "salient or important" in young people's personal lives, said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center.
"What the Brittany Maynard story demonstrates to that group of people is that it is important to their lives, that it could happen to them," Sandeen said.
Younger people have been instrumental in big social changes, like legalizing marijuana and gay marriage, said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics in NYU Langone Medical Center's Department of Population Health.
"Were they to get on this issue, I think legalization would move much more quickly," he said.
Compassion and Choices, the organization Maynard was working with to advocate for end-of-life choice, said Maynard allowed people to "really internalize what the choice must be like and how they themselves would make the choice," said Mickey MacIntyre, the organization's chief program officer.
Maynard had moved from California to Oregon in order to legally end her life. In October, she released a video announcing her decision to end her life after being diagnosed earlier this year with stage 4 malignant brain cancer.
Her story was spread by social media. The Oct. 6 video on YouTube has more than 10 million views. In the past month, her name has been mentioned on Twitter more than 105,000 times, according to social media analytics site Topsy.com.
Polls show increasing support for physician-assisted dying. A Pew Research Center poll last year found 62% of adults believe "a person has a moral right to end their own life if they are suffering great pain and have no hope of improvement." Support is higher among younger people. For example, 65% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 said people have this moral right, compared with 54% of people 75 and older, according to the Pew poll.
Currently, Oregon, Washington and Vermont have legalized physician-assisted dying in patients who have six months or less to live. Montana and New Mexico have court opinions that would prevent a physician from being prosecuted for prescribing medication to a patient who wants to die.
Regardless of this new public face, the arguments for and against physician-assisted dying are the same. The pro-legalization camp says people should have a right to decide how to end their lives and not suffer.
Critics of legalization, particularly the Catholic Church, have moral objections to suicide.
Some critics also say the so-called death with dignity laws have loopholes that do not protect patients from coercion and abuse by others.
"These dangerous laws ... threaten to pressure sick and disabled populations to take their lives. These laws do not offer a patient 'dignity' but only abandonment from health care workers and family who are supposed to care for patients and loved ones in these dire times," according to a statement from the National Right to Life Committee.
At the time of death, the laws don't require an independent witness to verify it's the patient who is administering the drugs themselves or not being pressured to take the drugs, said Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, a disability rights organization that opposes legalizing assisted suicide.
"You don't really know what's going on behind closed doors," Coleman said.
But Sandeen points to the lack of any charges of abuse in states with death with dignity laws.
Some critics have argued the issue isn't about assisted death but about medical care. In Oregon, 93% of patients who requested medication to end their lives in 2013 said their top concern was loss of autonomy. Coleman said better home and hospice care would address this feeling.
But not everyone wants to "linger in hospice," Caplan said. "They don't want to lose control over bodily functions and cognition."
Caplan said improved hospice access and affordability would help, and this goal should be part of the pro-legalization group's arguments. But the "last resort" option should still be available, he said.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act went into effect 1997, followed by Washington in 2009. In May 2013, Vermont became the third state to enact such a law.
In all three states, eligible patients must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months.
Patients are required to put in two oral requests, with a 15-day waiting period in between, and a written request, before a physician can prescribe a lethal medication. The patient must also see two doctors, who they put in a request with and a consulting physician to confirm the diagnosis and prognosis.
In Oregon, 1,173 people have requested prescriptions and 752 have died from ingesting the medication from 1998 to 2013, and the median age was 71 years old, according to the Oregon Division of Public Health.
In Washington state, 525 of the 549 requests are known to have died since 2009 to 2013, according to the Washington Department Health.
In Vermont, five requests have been submitted to the state but it's unclear how many people have ended their lives, according to an e-mail from Robert Stirewalt, spokesman for the state Department of Health.
Seven states have introduced death with dignity bills in the last legislative session, but five were rejected or missed a deadline to be brought up for a vote, according to the Death with Dignity National Center.
In New Jersey, the bill could be up for a vote in the General Assembly by the end of the year and, if passed, be introduced in the Senate for a vote, said John Burzichelli, a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and the bill's co-sponsor.
"It's a very personal topic," Burzichelli said. "I don't convince someone they should make this choice. My role is strictly as a lawmaker is to make that choice available."
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