Hello Everybody,   
      
   She got her wish.  Death.  At the ripe old age of 29.   
   She had approval from her husband and her family.  As   
   well as from her doctor, who gave her the pills to do   
   herself in.   
      
   Brittany Maynard was terminally ill, given only a few   
   short months to live, and was in much pain and suffering.   
   She ended her life in Oregon, one of five states in the   
   US that allows doctors to help assist the terminally   
   ill of sound mind to do so.   
      
   Our society chooses to condem people who decide to end   
   their own lives, and forbids doctors and other health care   
   workers to help them do it.  Even though five states have   
   recently chosen to allow doctors to assist patients to end   
   their own pain and suffering, society continues to give   
   a cold shoulder to the idea.   
      
   Five states - Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and   
   New Mexico.  What is wrong with the rest of America?   
      
   "She died as she intended - peacefully in her bedroom,   
   in the arms of her loved ones." - Sean Crowley, spokesman   
   for the advocacy group Compassion & Choices   
      
   Why should anybody be denied the right to die with dignity?   
   Why should anybody be forced to endure more pain and suffering   
   than is necessary to maintain a decent standard of life?   
      
   When it becomes an impossibility, or undue hardship, to   
   maintain a quality of life worth living, then an individual   
   should have an absolute right to end his/her own life.   
      
   Suicide is illegal.  In every state.  The reason for such   
   laws is to protect insurance companies.  That is why doctor   
   assisted suicide is also illegal in every state.   
      
   Except in five states, where the termnilly ill of sound mind   
   can choose to end their own life, with the help of a doctor.   
   As long as the terminally ill individual does it alone, such   
   as swallowing or injecting the drugs.   
      
   No more accidental overdoses for folks in those five states.   
   They can off themselves on purpose - and insurance companies   
   are still on the hook for paying the beneficiaries.   
      
   "First do no harm" - Doctors give death row inmates the juice,   
   and now are allowed to give terminally ill patients the means to   
   give themselves the juice.  Or happy pills.  Whatever works.   
      
   More than 750 people in Oregon have chosen to off themselves   
   since December 31, 2013.  Most of those folks were old geezers,   
   the median age being 71.  But six of those people were under   
   the age of 35.  I wonder what society would think if one of   
   those people was a child, say of about age 5 or 6?   
      
   What about a baby born without a brain?  Would it be okay   
   for a doctor or a nurse to off the baby?  I mean, the baby   
   would not be able to do it alone, needing help from an   
   adult.  And I doubt that mommy (or daddy) would be up to   
   the task ...   
      
   How many terminilly ill people move to Oregon to die?  Nobody   
   knows since the state does not keep track, or really much care.   
      
   "I think in the beginning my family members wanted a miracle;   
   they wanteda cure for my cancer.  When we all sat down and looked   
   at the facts, there isn't a single person that loves me that isn't   
   a single person that loves me that wishes me more pain and more   
   suffering." - Brittany Maynard, interview with the AP, 10/8/2014   
      
   She told the AP her husband and other relatives accepted   
   her decision to end her own life.  The question is, when will   
   society as a whole ever accept the right of each individual   
   to make such a decision.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)