# What? No Brittany Maynard thread? (terminal disease, doctor-assisted suicide) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765 "2014-10-19T05:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/241 "2014-11-04T22:22:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why should what scares _you_ make any difference in _my_ end of life decision? Because what scares me isn’t the deciding factor here. We all have obligations to society and to each other. Allowing people to kill themselves, and requiring medical professionals to be involved in that process, makes a mockery of a system which is fundamentally intended to _preserve_ life. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/242 "2014-11-04T22:23:40Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Ah, ok. So given that Maynard had two options, dying - a mere inconvenience - and immediate death - horrifying, terrifying, the truly scary part of death - and she picked the latter, the harder option, makes her courageous, correct? No. She is a coward because she chose to OD and drift off into nonexistence painlessly instead of choosing to live and face whatever might come thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/243 "2014-11-04T22:24:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > They were compelled by law to not view a desire to kill oneself as an indication of insanity. > > I am subject to no such obligation. You also: 1. Never personally examined her and 2. Aren’t medically qualified in the first place. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/244 "2014-11-04T22:26:56Z")
Fixed links: There are [one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=723924&highlight=smapti) or [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638652&highlight=smapti) different ways of spelling it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/245 "2014-11-04T22:28:15Z")
**Smapti** is starting to remind me of Lord Voldemort, what with his whole fear of death thing. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/246 "2014-11-04T22:29:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Because what scares me isn’t the deciding factor here. We all have obligations to society and to each other. Allowing people to kill themselves, and requiring medical professionals to be involved in that process, makes a mockery of a system which is fundamentally intended to _preserve_ life. What obligations? Unless you have personal knowledge the she was denying the medical profession some sort of input that they had requested of her, the only thing I can think of that she denied anyone was months of painful memories that would last a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/247 "2014-11-04T22:30:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You also: > > 1. Never personally examined her and > 2. Aren’t medically qualified in the first place. > > Right? I am as entitled to have an opinion on the subject as you are. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/248 "2014-11-04T22:30:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > No. She is a coward because she chose to OD and drift off into nonexistence painlessly instead of choosing to live and face whatever might come thereafter. Ah, ok. So what you’re saying is that she had a life of fear, pain, and horror ahead of her, a life far worse than mere death alone, before her inevitable death. Is that right? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/249 "2014-11-04T22:31:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What obligations? Unless you have personal knowledge the she was denying the medical profession some sort of input that they had requested of her, the only thing I can think of that she denied anyone was months of painful memories that would last a lifetime. I’ll take months of painful memories over months of mourning any day. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone in my family to have died sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/250 "2014-11-04T22:32:37Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Ah, ok. So what you’re saying is that she had a life of fear, pain, and horror ahead of her, a life far worse than mere death alone, before her inevitable death. Is that right? As do we all. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/251 "2014-11-04T22:33:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What obligations? The obligation to live and to strive to improve the lives of others, because this is the only life we get and ain’t noone else gonna make it better for us. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/252 "2014-11-04T22:36:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The obligation to live and to strive to improve the lives of others, because this is the only life we get and ain’t noone else gonna make it better for us. And how was she going to do that lying in bed wracked with pain? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/253 "2014-11-04T22:37:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > As do we all. No, we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/254 "2014-11-04T22:41:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And how was she going to do that lying in bed wracked with pain? The same way [Jean-Dominique Bauby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diving_Bell_and_the_Butterfly) did? Or maybe you think we’d have been better off if he’d just been allowed to die after his stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/255 "2014-11-04T22:43:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > As do we all. Ah, ok. So you think she made a smart choice to avoid that - to avoid the scariest part of death, the dying. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/256 "2014-11-04T22:49:37Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Ah, ok. So you think she made a smart choice to avoid that - to avoid the scariest part of death, the dying. No, I don’t. It’s dishonest to eat your cake and have it too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/257 "2014-11-04T22:55:05Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The same way [Jean-Dominique Bauby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diving_Bell_and_the_Butterfly) did? > > Or maybe you think we’d have been better off if he’d just been allowed to die after his stroke. 1. I think it was his choice to make. 2. It’s not the same at all, because she didn’t have the choice between living painfully and dying. Her choice was between dying painfully and dying. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/258 "2014-11-04T22:57:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. I think it was his choice to make. > 2. It’s not the same at all, because she didn’t have the choice between living painfully and dying. Her choice was between dying painfully and dying. What’s the difference? All living results inevitably in dying. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/259 "2014-11-04T22:58:04Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > No, I don’t. It’s dishonest to eat your cake and have it too. Dishonest and smart are antonyms? ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/260 "2014-11-04T23:05:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > No, I don’t. It’s dishonest to eat your cake and have it too. > [@](#): > > The braver course would have been to continue existing. She chose to duck having to experience that. Therefore, a person should not have local or general anethesia when undergoing surgery. They are being cowardly by choosing not to experience the pain of surgery. And dishonest by trying to attain the benefits of surgery without experiencing the pain of undergoing the procedure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765.md?page=14)