Terminally ill ‘death with dignity’ advocate dies

FILE - 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. A spokesman for a terminally ill Oregon woman says she has taken lethal medication prescribed by a doctor and died. Sean Crowley, spokesman from the group Compassion & Choices, said late Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, that Brittany Maynard was surrounded by family Saturday when she took the medication. She was weeks shy of her 30th birthday. (AP Photo/Maynard Family, File) FILE - 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. A spokesman for a terminally ill Oregon woman says she has taken lethal medication prescribed by a doctor and died. Sean Crowley, spokesman from the group Compassion & Choices, said late Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, that Brittany Maynard was surrounded by family Saturday when she took the medication. She was weeks shy of her 30th birthday. (AP Photo/Maynard Family, File)

By Associated Press November 3, 2014 4 min read

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Brittany Maynard stuck by her decision.

The terminally ill woman who revived a national debate about physician-assisted suicide ended her life Saturday by swallowing lethal drugs made available under Oregon’s Death With Dignity Law. She would have been 30 on Nov. 19.

Maynard had been in the national spotlight for about a month since publicizing that she and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved to Portland from Northern California so that she could take advantage of the Oregon law. She told journalists she planned to die Nov. 1, shortly after her husband’s birthday, but reserved the right to move the date forward or push it back.

Maynard ended her suffering from brain cancer right on schedule, after hinting at a possible delay in a video released last week.

“She died as she intended – peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones,” said Sean Crowley, a spokesman for the advocacy group Compassion & Choices.