Perhaps you’ve heard about young Brittany Maynard. She was 29, pretty, vivacious, married, a former teacher, and terminally ill with a very large cancerous brain tumor.
And she made it public that she was going to take a huge overdose of a sedative and end her life. According to People Magazine, Brittany’s mom, stepdad, husband, and best friend would be in the room with her.
The cover of People magazine, October 27, 2014
Some days, she felt okay. Others, she battled with severe migraines, nausea, inability to talk, and seizures.
In March 2014, her doctors gave her six months to live. She ended her life November 1, 2014.
She and her family had moved to Oregon because of that state’s “death with dignity” laws, which would permit her to take enough sedatives to kill herself without the family or the prescribing doctor being charged with a crime.
Dying: A Family Writing Prompt
This issue is not going to go away. Here are a few questions you can discuss with your family or ask your children to write down their opinions and then discuss as a family:
1. Do you know anyone who is terminally ill? If so, how are they handling the situation?
2. Do you know anyone who is terminally ill, who has been given a number of months to live, but who has outlived them? [I do!]
3. Do you think it is right for a terminally-ill person to take his or her own life to save themselves the severe pain and humiliation of the dying process?
4. How could “death with dignity” laws be misused? Have they ever been misused or abused in the past?
5. How do you think it affects the doctor, who has taken an oath to “do no harm,” to facilitate someone’s death?
6. If you have read The Giver or seen the movie, explain how being “released to Elsewhere” is similar to and different from “death with dignity.”
7. If you could write a letter to Brittany Maynard, what would you tell her?
8. Why is Kara Tippetts not going to end her own life? Do you agree with her reasons?
9. What can you do that will help or encourage someone who is terminally ill?
I’m sure you can come up with a few questions of your own as well.
Yours for a more vibrant writing class,
.
