# 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:** 6
**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, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/101 "2014-11-04T19:12:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Because it’s irrelevant. She’s setting an example that it’s OK to take the easy way out. Why she did what she did is irrelevant? That’s bull, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought up “in pain or sick…” while leaving out the _real_ reason for her action. ---
**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, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/102 "2014-11-04T19:12:35Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Ms. Maynard has no reason to be troubled by this person calling her a coward. She has no capacity to be troubled by anything, because she no longer exists. ---
**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, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/103 "2014-11-04T19:13:52Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > But you’re extrapolating something that no one is saying. No one is saying that suicide is a preferable option just because you have a tough life and want out. Maynard did. She frittered away her time with selfish pursuits and killed herself because she couldn’t life the lifestyle of a millionaire dilettante anymore. > [@](#): > > But _in this specific circumstance_, her quality of life pretty much didn’t exist and her chances of recovery were as close to nil as you can get. In that case, accepting death on your own terms rather than choosing a agonizingly painful death looks to me to be the more rational choice. Choosing death is never rational. ---
**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, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/104 "2014-11-04T19:14:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why she did what she did is irrelevant? That’s bull, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought up “in pain or sick…” while leaving out the _real_ reason for her action. Fine. There is absolutely nothing dignified about killing yourself. The lesson she is teaching here is that if your life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick, or or dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery, all you have to do is kill yourself and your problems will all go away. Better? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/105 "2014-11-04T19:16:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Maynard did. She frittered away her time with selfish pursuits and killed herself because she couldn’t life the lifestyle of a millionaire dilettante anymore. Frittered away her time? Uh … what was she supposed to do? Stay in bed hooked up to tubes and wires and watch her body waste away? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/106 "2014-11-04T19:18:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There is absolutely nothing dignified about killing yourself. The lesson she is teaching here is that if your life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick, or or dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery, all you have to do is kill yourself and your problems will all go away. Once again, no one is arguing the “life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick’” part. It’s the “dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery” that is the issue. So, please stop bringing that up. ---
**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, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/107 "2014-11-04T19:18:53Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Once again, no one is arguing the “life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick’” part. It’s the “dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery” that is the issue. So, please stop bringing that up. Do you think the only people who will follow her example and kill themselves are the terminally ill? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/108 "2014-11-04T19:19:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > How many lives are going to be thrown away senselessly because of her bad example? Billions, at the very least. I know that next time I stub my toe, I’m going to think “Oh, remember when that cancer girl had pain? Yeah, she set the example about how to handle this” and kill myself. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/109 "2014-11-04T19:19:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “Ending horrible suffering” implies that you fear suffering. As such it remains an act of objective cowardice. Not surprisingly, you don’t understand what a coward is. Acknowledging fear doesn’t make one a coward – acknowledging fear is actually the only way someone can be brave. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/110 "2014-11-04T19:19:20Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Frittered away her time? Uh … what was she supposed to do? Stay in bed hooked up to tubes and wires and watch her body waste away? Apparently doing so, while experiencing whatever pain wasn’t quelled by medication, would have built some character for her, or something. ---
**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, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/111 "2014-11-04T19:19:54Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Frittered away her time? Uh … what was she supposed to do? Stay in bed hooked up to tubes and wires and watch her body waste away? Anything besides go on fancy vacations that most terminally ill people could only ever dream of while blogging about how she was going to kill herself because her quality of life sucked so much. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/112 "2014-11-04T19:20:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The lesson she is teaching here is that if your life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick, or or dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery, all you have to do is kill yourself and your problems will all go away. Unless you believe in an afterlife, this is an objectively true statement. ---
**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, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/113 "2014-11-04T19:20:55Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Not surprisingly, you don’t understand what a coward is. Acknowledging fear doesn’t make one a coward – acknowledging fear is actually the only way someone can be brave. Acknowledging fear leads to bravery. Surrendering to it - as by killing yourself - makes you a coward. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/114 "2014-11-04T19:21:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Do you think the only people who will follow her example and kill themselves are the terminally ill? Yes. Because she’s not setting an example for the depressed, stressed or underly dressed. She’s setting an example for, once again, those “dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery.” That’s what we’re arguing here. Try to get that through your head. ---
**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, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/115 "2014-11-04T19:22:27Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Yes. Because she’s not setting an example for the depressed, stressed or underly dressed. Except that she _is_, because those are the people more likely to be in a state of mind to kill themselves. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/116 "2014-11-04T19:22:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Choosing death is never rational. You are not qualified to make such a judgment. Further, choosing death is sometimes the morally correct judgment. It is morally correct to sacrifice yourself to save others, in some circumstances. I know that you’d never do such a thing, but others have done so, and others would should the circumstance arise. ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/117 "2014-11-04T19:25:22Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You are not qualified to make such a judgment. And you are? What are your qualifications? What are your qualifications to judge my qualifications, for that matter? > [@](#): > > Further, choosing death is sometimes the morally correct judgment. It is morally correct to sacrifice yourself to save others, in some circumstances. That would at least be more productive and beneficial to society than killing yourself because you don’t want to be sick. ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/118 "2014-11-04T19:25:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Maynard did. She frittered away her time with selfish pursuits and killed herself because she couldn’t life the lifestyle of a millionaire dilettante anymore. And it bothers you that this “millionaire dilettante”, who never did you any harm, didn’t spend her last few months on earth screaming in agony and leaving all her friends and family with horrible memories that they would bear for the rest of their lives? ---
**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, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/119 "2014-11-04T19:27:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And you are? What are your qualifications? What are your qualifications to judge my qualifications, for that matter? > > That would at least be more productive and beneficial to society than killing yourself because you don’t want to be sick. Not sick. _ **DYING** _. Quit trying to change the subject. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765/120 "2014-11-04T19:30:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Acknowledging fear leads to bravery. I’m glad to see you’ve changed your mind. That was easy. > [@](#): > > Surrendering to it - as by killing yourself - makes you a coward. Only in some circumstances. But even if it does, killing oneself to avoid suffering is far, far less cowardly than failing to subject yourself to very slight risk to, say, [free some enslaved people](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17719100&postcount=648). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-brittany-maynard-thread-terminal-disease-doctor-assisted-suicide/701765.md?page=7)