DEATH WITH DIGNITY

By Gentry Salm
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why is it not socially acceptable? (slide 3)
What is it? (slide 4)
Brittanys Story (slide 5-6)
Which states allow it? (slide 7)
Who is eligible? (slide 8)
Why it is not acceptable (Slide 9-11)
Why it should be accepted (slide 12)
Citations (slide 13)
 WHY IS IT NOT SOCIALLY
ACCEPTABLE?
Say your grandfather has brain cancer, and has been sick for years. He is
given six months to live, yet does not feel good or have the energy to live an
amazing life those last six months. You watch him slowly start doing worse,
having headaches and seizures frequently. One day he stops eating. Soon
after stops getting out of bed. Soon he is unresponsive and lays in bed for
days unable to respond or care for himself, leaving you or hospice to take
full care of him including changing and repositioning him every two hours
one week into that he passes away
It is an awful thought to think about! Why would you deny him the right to
choose dying before he is unresponsive and in bed? Wouldnt you want to
be able to talk to him and allow him to have a good last day?
 WHAT IS DEATH WITH DIGNITY?
On October 27, 1997, Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity Act which
allows terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives through the voluntary self-
administration of lethal medications, expressly prescribed by a physician for
that purpose.
Death with Dignity statutes allow mentally competent adult state residents
who have a terminal illness with a confirmed prognosis of having 6 or fewer
months to live to voluntarily request and receive a prescription medication to
hasten their inevitable, imminent death.
Since 1997, Four other states have enacted the Death with Dignity act.
Brittany Maynard was a 29-year old who was Diagnosed with Brain Cancer in 2014. She had
been married just over a year when she was Diagnosed. Our lives devolved into hospital
stays, doctor consultations and medical research. Nine days after my initial diagnoses, I had
a partial craniotomy and a partial resection of my temporal lobe Brittany said to CNN.
Brittany and her family moved to Oregon so she could proceed with Death with Dignity.
Brittany chose the perfect dayafter her husbands birthday. She said the challenges were
becoming a resident of Oregon to be able to receive it. She had to find a new home, Get a
new Drivers License, Find new Physicians, and even change voter registration information.
I've had the medication for weeks. I am not suicidal. If I were, I would have consumed that
medication long ago. I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own
terms. Stated Brittany Maynard. Now that I've had the prescription filled and it's in my
possession, I have experienced a tremendous sense of relief. And if I decide to change my
mind about taking the medication, I will not take it.
Having this choice at the end of my life has become incredibly important. It has given me a
sense of peace during a tumultuous time that otherwise would be dominated by fear,
uncertainty and pain.
Now, I'm able to move forward in my remaining days or weeks I have on this beautiful Earth,
to seek joy and love and to spend time traveling to outdoor wonders of nature with those I
love. And I know that I have a safety net.
 STATES WITH DEATH WITH DIGNITY?
1. California (End of Life Option Act; 2016)
2. Colorado (End of Life Option Act; 2016)
3. District of Columbia (Death with Dignity Act; 2017)
4. Oregon (Oregon Death with Dignity Act; 1994/1997)
5. Vermont (Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act; 2013)
6. Washington (Washington Death with Dignity Act; 2008)
 WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
To qualify for a prescription under physician-assisted dying laws, you must be:
A resident of California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington
18 years of age or older
Mentally competent, i.e. capable of making and communicating your health care
decisions
Diagnosed with a terminal illness that will, within reasonable medical judgment, lead to
death within six months.
You must also must be able to self-administer and ingest the prescribed medication. All
of these requirements must be met without exception.
Two physicians must determine whether all these criteria have been met.

All of these requirements must be met without exception. You will not qualify under aid-in-
dying laws solely because of age or disability.
 WHY IS DEATH WITH DIGNITY
SOCIALLY NOT ACCEPTED?
Death is always a hard subject for any person. It is something no one wants
to deal with, yet everyone deals with at some point.
Death with Dignity is often looked as a glorified Suicide or Euthanasia.
Doctors may make mistakes, and give the drug to a patient who is not
actually suffering.
 IT IS EUTHANASIA.
Euthanasia refers to the act of deliberately causing the death of another
person who may be suffering from an incurable disease or condition,
commonly performed with a lethal injection. An injection is never involved
under Death with Dignity laws, which require patients to take the medication
prescribed under the law themselves.
 IT IS SUICIDE.
In fact, terminally ill patients who legally access the Death with Dignity Act
find the word suicide offensive and inaccurate.
The people approved for Death with Dignity are suffering, and expected to
die within the next six months. Most of these people dont want to die

Im not committing suicide, and I dont want to die. Im not killing myself;
bone cancer is taking care of that.JACK NEWBOLD
 WHY SHOULD IT BE ACCEPTED?
It will decrease the suffering in the person who is receiving Death with
Dignity.
The person has to be able to make that decision for themselves.
The person has to be okd by two different doctors to receive this.
It ends the horrible end of life suffering for the people who are able to
receive it.
 CITATIONS
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-
dignity/index.html
https://www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/death-with-dignity-acts/
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/death-dignity-advocate-
brittany-maynard-dies-oregon-n235091
https://www.deathwithdignity.org/terminology/\