Dying with Ease by Jeff Spiess

Author:Jeff Spiess
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Claims on Our Autonomy: Legitimate

and Illicit

When Brittany Maynard, the young woman with glioblastoma we met in the last chapter, chose to end her life, she was asserting her autonomy—that her body, her life, was her own. She put it this way: “I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms.”[1] She made her story public in part, in collaboration with the advocacy organization Compassion and Choices, to fight for the availability of medical aid in dying (MAID). Responses to Brittany’s very public statements and death were wide-ranging. Some applauded her courage, but others claimed she had allowed herself to be a prop in a publicity stunt. This criticism was particularly made by those identifying as “pro-life.” As I reviewed these responses in writing this chapter, I found those posts from people who had similar diseases and were facing their own demise particularly poignant. One example is that of Philip G. Johnson, a US Navy veteran with a grade 3 astrocytoma who was then in seminary training to become a Catholic priest, who said that he saw Brittany’s decision as “anything but brave.” His view was that making the choice to die “on her own terms” robbed her of the chance to be cared for by family during her terminal suffering, something he envisioned as an intimate and loving gift.[2] Maggie Karner, who spent much of her life working with international medical mission teams and also identified herself as “pro-life” also had developed glioblastoma multiforme. She saw sanctity and value in life, no matter how her body and mind were assaulted by the disease. She then reflected on the quality of the life of her own father, who was quadriplegic, and wondered whether Brittany would have seen such life as “useless.”[3]

As I read these and many other posts from that time, I was impressed by the kind and caring feelings behind these disapproving statements but also by the fact that most of the moral critics seemed to be saying that Brittany Maynard’s “own terms” for dying were mistaken, unjustified, or even evil and that their personal “own terms” were right. Years of medical practice have taught me that the only person who can define their “own terms” for valuing life is the person who is living that life. The only one who can negotiate their way through suffering and death is the one enduring that suffering and dying that death. I may, with all sense of well-meaning, offer my concern and even express disagreement, but it is hubris to think that somehow I have a better understanding of how that person feels and what that person fears than they do. I have not had their life experience, I have not walked a mile in their moccasins, and I have no claim on their life or death. If I exploit that person’s story, suffering, or dying to promote my own thoughts, positions, or political agenda, I do so at my peril. We

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