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A poignant "death with dignity" case

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nota bene

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There are many who passionately believe in the right to a death with dignity, death on one’s own terms, and At the same time, I think there is a desire among those of faith to surrender to the will of God and to say, “Thy will be done.” I read this morning the story of a 29-year old who has chosen, for compelling reasons, to end her life on the first of next month.

One of the links I saw referred matter-of-factly to Brittany Maynard “scheduling her death,” and I find this chilling but wonder if it will become a commonplace. And I am interested in the respectful opinions of others about this case. I myself am troubled and conflicted—I see courage in her decision, and then as I continue to think, I wonder if saying “Not my will, Father, but thine” isn’t even more courageous.

Brittany Maynard: My right to death with dignity at 29 - CNN.com

Terminally ill woman fighting for others
 
nota bene said:
There are many who passionately believe in the right to a death with dignity, death on one’s own terms, and At the same time, I think there is a desire among those of faith to surrender to the will of God and to say, “Thy will be done.” I read this morning the story of a 29-year old who has chosen, for compelling reasons, to end her life on the first of next month.

One of the links I saw referred matter-of-factly to Brittany Maynard “scheduling her death,” and I find this chilling but wonder if it will become a commonplace. And I am interested in the respectful opinions of others about this case. I myself am troubled and conflicted—I see courage in her decision, and then as I continue to think, I wonder if saying “Not my will, Father, but thine” isn’t even more courageous.

Brittany Maynard: My right to death with dignity at 29 - CNN.com

Terminally ill woman fighting for others
Click to expand...

My Mother asked me to put a pillow over her face. If she would have this choice, she would have been happy and so would I
 
I have a personal problem with suicide, as I am sure is not surprising to you. Besides being very personally touched by it, it's also an issue that carries some old religious beliefs along with it, one of them being that life is a gift, no matter how horrible it may seem at times, and philosophically, I have some reservations about it. If someone else wants to end their own life, I have no problem with that, but for me, it would take extreme measures, and a stark change in my state of mind, for me to either kill myself, or have someone else do it.
 
nota bene said:
There are many who passionately believe in the right to a death with dignity, death on one’s own terms, and At the same time, I think there is a desire among those of faith to surrender to the will of God and to say, “Thy will be done.” I read this morning the story of a 29-year old who has chosen, for compelling reasons, to end her life on the first of next month.

One of the links I saw referred matter-of-factly to Brittany Maynard “scheduling her death,” and I find this chilling but wonder if it will become a commonplace. And I am interested in the respectful opinions of others about this case. I myself am troubled and conflicted—I see courage in her decision, and then as I continue to think, I wonder if saying “Not my will, Father, but thine” isn’t even more courageous.

Brittany Maynard: My right to death with dignity at 29 - CNN.com

Terminally ill woman fighting for others
Click to expand...

I can see both sides of this for sure.

I also wonder if going down for what she believed in might be God's will for her also. He works in ways that we can't understand.
 
Carleen said:
My Mother asked me to put a pillow over her face. If she would have this choice, she would have been happy and so would I
Click to expand...

Did you do it?
 
I don't want to derail my own thread, but I wondered that too.
 
lizzie said:
I have a personal problem with suicide, as I am sure is not surprising to you. Besides being very personally touched by it, it's also an issue that carries some old religious beliefs along with it, one of them being that life is a gift, no matter how horrible it may seem at times, and philosophically, I have some reservations about it. If someone else wants to end their own life, I have no problem with that, but for me, it would take extreme measures, and a stark change in my state of mind, for me to either kill myself, or have someone else do it.
Click to expand...

Yes. Me too, and I know what you mean about the "old religious beliefs." We do carry some of them forward, I think, in parts of our hearts...or at least we never quite forget them. And one of them is that life is a gift.

Still, in this case a 29-year old is going to die and soon, and it's only a matter of when and how. Her husband is supportive and agreed to moving to Oregon for the purpose of her, hmmm, purposeful death. I haven't read anything about her parents and siblings but wonder what they think.

As I say, I'm troubled by this.
 
nota bene said:
One of the links I saw referred matter-of-factly to Brittany Maynard “scheduling her death,” and I find this chilling but wonder if it will become a commonplace. And I am interested in the respectful opinions of others about this case. I myself am troubled and conflicted—I see courage in her decision, and then as I continue to think, I wonder if saying “Not my will, Father, but thine” isn’t even more courageous.
Click to expand...
She isn't in some kind of competition to appear as courageous as possible in your eyes. She has, though terminal illness, reached the end of her life and she is seeking the best manner to minimise the pain and suffering her death entails. There's an argument that it's the very opposite of courageous but it's a perfectly rational cowardness that I think we're all entitled to if we choose. I'd suggest that choosing to face great pain and suffering when it isn't necessary extends beyond courage and in to stubborn (though we're all entitled to be stubborn if we choose too :) ).
 
You're projecting; I've neither said nor insinuated any sort of "competition." How bizarre.
 
nota bene said:
Yes. Me too, and I know what you mean about the "old religious beliefs." We do carry some of them forward, I think, in parts of our hearts...or at least we never quite forget them. And one of them is that life is a gift.

Still, in this case a 29-year old is going to die and soon, and it's only a matter of when and how. Her husband is supportive and agreed to moving to Oregon for the purpose of her, hmmm, purposeful death. I haven't read anything about her parents and siblings but wonder what they think.

As I say, I'm troubled by this.
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I am not troubled by someone wishing to do this in her specific situation. What is troubling is that someone so young would need to face that choice to begin with. There are also many situations where people desire to kill themselves that I don't like. .. such as depression which can be treated.
 
My mother, age 83, said she wanted to die. She told us that several times, as a matter of fact. She didn't have a terminal illness that we knew of, but my dad, to whom she had been married since the age of 17, did. She did not want to live without him.

She died about a month before he did, and not through any sort of suicide, assisted or not, leading me to wonder whether people can will themselves to die.

Now, I'm wondering how many people without terminal illnesses would opt for assisted suicide due to life changing events such as the impending death of a spouse.
 
Dittohead not! said:
My mother, age 83, said she wanted to die. She told us that several times, as a matter of fact. She didn't have a terminal illness that we knew of, but my dad, to whom she had been married since the age of 17, did. She did not want to live without him.

She died about a month before he did, and not through any sort of suicide, assisted or not, leading me to wonder whether people can will themselves to die.

Now, I'm wondering how many people without terminal illnesses would opt for assisted suicide due to life changing events such as the impending death of a spouse.
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This is exactly why I will never commit suicide no matter how sick I am, and I have been plenty sick in the past few years. I will not do that to my wife. Aside from that, I am a fighter, and I will give up when the battle is truly lost.
 
In this case, the husband is on board and Maynard's mother too. I don't know what I would do if my child asked me to accept a decision such as this...whether I could be there in the room.
 
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nota bene said:
In this case, the husband is on board and Maynard's mother too. I don't know what I would do if my child ask me to accept a decision such as this...whether I could be there in the room.
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Euthanizing my dog was hard enough...
 
As much as we love our animals and regard them as our "children" of sorts, there is simply no comparison between euthanizing a pet and watching your child commit suicide.
 
nota bene said:
As much as we love our animals and regard them as our "children" of sorts, there is simply no comparison between euthanizing a pet and watching your child commit suicide.
Click to expand...

Which is exactly why I consider the idea of suicide unthinkable.
 
nota bene said:
As much as we love our animals and regard them as our "children" of sorts, there is simply no comparison between euthanizing a pet and watching your child commit suicide.
Click to expand...

Or, perhaps, living in pain and agony. Sometimes, watching someone in the processes of dying is worse than them actually finally dying.
 
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