This past Saturday, November 1, Brittany Maynard ended her own life with lethal medications prescribed to her for this purpose. The 29-year-old California resident was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer earlier this year, and soon after left California. She moved to Oregon to be covered under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act.
From the time of diagnosis until her death, Maynard was an active advocate of Death With Dignity. According to CNN, this movement “advocates that terminally ill patients be allowed to receive 
medication that will let them die on their own terms.” In order to be eligible to receive prescriptions for fatal medications like the one Maynard used to end her life, one must be diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a life-expectancy of less than 6 months. Maynard chose to end her life with a mixture of water, sedatives, and respiratory-system depressants.
Before her death, Maynard used multiple social media platforms to argued in favor of terminally ill people and their right to make informed choices on how they choose to die. One video she posted on YouTube explaining her decision received over eleven million views. Maynard also partnered with Compassion & Choices, a non-profit organization devoted to educating, advocating, and working “to protect and expand options at the end of life,” to develop thebrittanyfund.org, a website about her own journey and a platform to advocate for end-of-life options. In Maynard’s obituary, posted to her website, it stated “she wished that her home State of California had also been able to provide terminally ill patients with the same choice.”
Statements such as these have sparked nationwide conversation about whether Death With Dignity is a right that should be affordable to all. Voices from both sides of the argument have been heard about aid-in-dying practices. Responses have ranged from calling Maynard’s decision “unethical” to calling it “brave.” According to NBC News, lawmakers from New Jersey and Connecticut have spoken out in support of Death With Dignity bills.
There are currently five states that have laws providing aid-in-dying practices. Oregon acted as the trendsetter, initiating its law in 1997. According to the Death With Dignity National Center, Oregon has provided “years of data show[ing] the law is safe and utilized the way it’s intended with no evidence of a slippery slope for vulnerable Oregonians.” This has led to the legislation of Death With Dignity laws in Washington (2008), Montana (2009), Vermont (2013), and New Mexico (2014). Maynard’s death has sparked new life in those fighting for the right to Die With Dignity.