A 29 year old woman named Brittany Maynard decided to die on Saturday. She had been found to have a terminal brain cancer in January 2014, she was only given six months to live.
Brittany wishes to die on her conditions instead of battling cancer; she transferred to Oregon with her parents that has Death With Dignity Laws. These are laws that let terminally ill patients to choose for doctor-assisted death, sometimes it is wrongly referred to as doctor-assisted suicide by taking prescribed deadly medications.
Brittany was very open about her right to die and her story went viral in public, surrounding by advocates from both pro and con groups on whether assisted death should be lawful. She made a video with the non-profit organization, Compassion & Choices in early weeks of October, her death made headlines on November 1, this made people around the world aware about Death With Dignity.
Five states in the US let doctor-assisted death, Vermont, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Montana. But only Vermont, Oregon and Washington have implemented Death With Dignity Laws, established from Oregon's first Death With Dignity Act, but other states have the same legislations applied.
Based on the laws, terminally, competent and mentally ill state residents can ask for and have prescription medication to have their deaths. The end of life care choices in the three said states, based on the Portland, Oregon Death with Dignity National Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization in legal defense charge, promotion and education of Death With Dignity Laws.
Each state Death with Dignity Laws is applied on a person basis between licensed doctors and eligible candidates. Here is what the Death With Dignity National Center states about the patient's eligibility: Below are the requirements and a patient should be: A resident of the three states, Vermont, Oregon and Washington, 18 years old and above, able of making and talking about health care decisions for him/herself and diagnosed of terminal illness that will cause death in six months.
