California Could Become the Fifth State to Misidentify Suicide as a Medical Treatment

[Judi Lynn]

California Could Become the Fifth State to Misidentify Suicide as a Medical Treatment
Jacob Sullum | Sep 16, 2015

In a CNN essay published last October, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer, explained why she and her husband moved from California to Oregon: so she could legally obtain the barbiturates she would use to kill herself on November 1. "I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity," she wrote. "My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don't deserve this choice?"

There was no good answer to that question, and Maynard's moving story helps explain why California legislators last week approved a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide, which if signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will increase to five the number of states where the practice is allowed. But while Maynard was driven by a determination to maintain her autonomy, her posthumous victory is couched in language that concedes the government's authority to intrude into the most intimate aspects of our lives.

To take advantage of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, Maynard had to establish residency in that state, which required finding a new home in Portland, obtaining a new driver's license, changing her voter registration, finding people to look after her pets and arranging a leave of absence for her husband. As Maynard noted, "The vast majority of families do not have the flexibility, resources and time to make all these changes."

None of that would have been necessary if Maynard had simply been allowed to walk into a store and walk out with the barbiturates she needed. But because the government has decreed that people must have a permission slip from a state-appointed gatekeeper to obtain these drugs (and many others), she and her husband were forced to uproot themselves during an already trying and tumultuous time.

More:
http://townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/2015/09/16/permission-to-die-california-could-become-the-fifth-state-to-misidentify-suicide-as-a-medical-treatment-n2052701

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Good for them. We all deserve the autonomy and dignity to choose our own end times. nt

[mike_c]

2. It's hard to figure out exactly what this author is advocating....

I think he's arguing that people should simply have the right to buy fatal drugs when they want them, rather than making the medical community act as the gateway for their procurement, but I honestly cannot be certain. It's a strange opinion piece.

[sharp_stick]

4. It's from Town Hall

The wackos that infest that little section of the Web aren't known for their ability to edit the stream of consciousness that they like to write.

[Statistical]

3. I favor death with dignity but the article is extreme

"None of that would have been necessary if Maynard had simply been allowed to walk into a store and walk out with the barbiturates she needed."

I don't even think that is legal in Oregon. I also don't think it should be. Barbiturates are obviously dangerous they should be controlled. In fact the described scenario is more like some RW conspiracy "Lethal drugs will be on every street corner, right over the counter probably next to the Flintstone Vitamins"