This undated file photo provided by the Maynard family shows Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old terminally ill woman who plans to take her own life under Oregon’s death with dignity law. Maynard has fulfilled a wish on her bucket list when she visited the Grand Canyon with her family last week.PORTLAND, Ore. – A young woman who moved to Oregon to take advantage of the state’s assisted-suicide law took lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor and has died, a spokesman said Sunday.
Brittany Maynard, 29, was diagnosed with brain cancer on New Year’s Day and was later given six months to live. She and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved from California because that state does not allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor.
Maynard became a nationally recognized advocate for the group Compassion & Choices, which seeks to expand aid-in-dying laws beyond a handful of states.
Sean Crowley, a spokesman for Compassion & Choices, said in a statement late Sunday that Maynard died Saturday “as she intended – peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones.”
Maynard’s story, accompanied by photos from her pre-illness wedding day, got attention across the globe while igniting a debate about doctor-assisted suicide.