Brittany Maynard Death: Decision Sparks Death With Dignity Discussion

Last Saturday, Nov. 1, Brittany Maynard, who was terminally ill with cancer, chose to end her life "with dignity."

Her decision to "plan her death" sparked a discussion about "Death With Dignity" laws in the U.S.

Maynard was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year. She underwent partial craniotomy and also partial resection of her temporal lobe. However, her tumor returned. By April she found out that it was a Stage 4 glioblastoma.

After the recurrence, doctors recommended that she undergo a course of full brain radiation to treat the large tumor. However, Maynard did not avail herself of the treatment after she learned that her hair would fall off as a result of the treatment. Also she likewise learned that her scalp would be left with burns and that her quality of life would deteriorate significantly thereafter.

In her statement, which was released on CNN after her death, Maynard explained how she did not want to die in a hospice because "even with palliative medication, I could develop morphine-resistant pain, suffer personality changes, and experience verbal, cognitive and motor loss."

She opted instead to continue with medication to treat the swelling in her brain which resulted in weight gain and facial swelling. She also had numerous seizures caused by the brain tumor.

Maynard finally decided to move from California to Oregon where she could make use of the state's Death With Dignity Law and legally get a physician to prescribe drugs to end her life. She then publicized her decision to end her life on Nov. 1, noting that she might delay taking the drugs if her condition improved dramatically.

After her death, Sean Crowley, a spokesperson for Compassion & Choices, stated that she took the drugs that she had kept for months as scheduled because she began having "frequent and longer seizures, severe head and neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms."

Maynard was one of some 800 terminally ill people who had used the Death With Dignity law to end their lives since it was enacted in Oregon in 1997.