Brittany Maynard

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Brittany Lauren Maynard (born November 19, 1984 in Anaheim , California - † November 1, 2014 in Portland , Oregon ) was an American who was diagnosed with cancer and who ended her life through medically assisted suicide . After a brain tumor had turned out to be an advanced, incurable glioblastoma upon precise diagnosis , she gained international attention by publicly expressing her intention to commit a doctor-assisted suicide and putting this intention into practice with her family ten months after the initial diagnosis in early November 2014.

Through her public commitment to the non-profit organization Compassion & Choices (in German "Sympathy and Options"), which advocates the further legalization of euthanasia beyond only five US states, she intensified the euthanasia debate there and thus became known in other countries where euthanasia is discussed politically. In numerous interviews and video messages, she had expressed her story of suffering and her intentions and thus reached an audience of millions.

Before she became ill, Maynard studied at the University of California, Berkeley . In the months before her death, she fulfilled a few last life wishes, especially trips to Alaska , the Grand Canyon National Park and Yellowstone National Park .

For the implementation of medically assisted suicide, she and her husband, mother and stepfather were relocated from their native California to Oregon , the first state in the United States to allow euthanasia in 1997 by the Death with Dignity Act . She announced the date of the medically assisted suicide to reporters three weeks earlier . After considering postponing the date because of a temporary improvement in her health, the event ended up taking place as originally planned. As prescribed, she took a lethal dose of medication herself.

criticism

The euthanasia and its public staging of Brittany Maynard has been criticized. The US palliative care doctor Ira Byock was critical of the advertisement for the organization Compassion & Choices at the end of October and said that Maynard would come under pressure to meet the planned suicide date of November 1, 2014, even if she would still find her life worth living.

The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life , Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula said: “Active suicide is absurd. Dignity does not mean putting an end to your own life. ”The medical ethicist Giovanni Maio stated in an interview with Stern that it was“ extremely problematic [...] that this story is now being sold as a kind of advertisement for assisted suicide ”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Christiane Heil: A deadly drug for dignity. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 2, 2014, accessed November 3, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Terminally ill Brittany Maynard ends her life. In: The time . November 3, 2014, accessed November 3, 2014 .
  3. ↑ The Brittany Maynard case: An announced suicide causes new debates , rp-online.de , October 24, 2014
  4. ^ "Vatican criticizes the suicide of the terminally ill Brittany Maynard." Message on the homepage of the ORF from November 4, 2014. Retrieved on November 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ Lea Wolz: "Aid to suicide must not be a service." In: Stern from November 3, 2014. Retrieved on November 4, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Maynard, Brittany
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maynard, Brittany Lauren
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cancer patient
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Anaheim , California
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 2014
Place of death Portland , Oregon