October 29, 2014

My heart goes out to Brittany Maynard. Just as it goes out to all people who are suffering at the end of their lives, and who are forced to suffer through extended times of excruciating pain, dementia, sickness, or worse. My heart goes out to their families, their friends, and everyone who is caught up in this painful, cruel situation. Please click here to read Brittany’s story: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/index.html?hpt=hp_c2 Every human should have the right to choose when they die: the tragedy is when someone is robbed of that right. I am not advocating melodramatic suicide, I’m not talking about teenage angst, and I would not advocate “The Right To Decide” unless it was HEAVILY monitored and carefully controlled. But after I reach a certain age, and within certain strictly defined situations (when death is near, or when life has become too overwhelmingly painful and that pain is permanent, when there is a scientific impossibility of recovering) then there is zero defensible reason why any human should have any say whatsoever in how or when I die, if I so choose. If I am suffering from an incurable disease, and wish to pass away peacefully to avoid causing pain for myself