Posted on 10/10/2014 9:11:25 AM PDT by wagglebee
I wasn’t going to write about the Brittany Maynard assisted suicide frenzy. Maynard is apparently dying of brain cancer at age 29, and has decided to mount a pro-assisted suicide campaign, announcing she will kill herself on November 1.
I wasn’t going to write about Maynard because I am not critical of her. No one knows what our limits might be. But more importantly, she is a living, very ill woman. No way I am going to do anything to add to her burden.
But then, I started getting many media calls to comment: Three minutes on TV talking her planned suicide, and next up, “Kim Kardashian shocks again!” No way.
And so I changed my mind. I felt the need to unleash–not at her–but at those who are exploiting her tragedy for their own purposes.
First in line–although Maynard would surely disagree–are assisted suicide advocates:
- Assisted suicide movement leaders are always on the lookout for attractive cases to further their cause, and clearly believe they have one in Maynard because of her youth, beauty, and the tragedy of her condition.
- The movement has obviously orchestrated an expensive and very well planned media campaign to use her planned suicide to force open the door to doctor-prescribed death. I mean the story is all over the place. That doesn’t happen by accident.
- More than that–and most egregiously–by validating and extolling her self-termination, assisted suicide advocates make it harder for her to back off the ledge.
I saw this in the Nancy Crick case in Australia. Assisted suicide advocates and the ghoul Philip Nitschke–were all with her when she planned to kill herself. Then, when Crick had doubts, they backed away from her. The message was clear, kill yourself and we are your friends. Don’t, and we don’t care about you. When she finally did the deed, she had assisted suicide advocates in the room with her. When she took the poison, they applauded.
Even worse, are the media.
- Media know they are being played. But, if it bleeds, it leads!
- By breathlessly pushing the Maynard story, the media are pushing suicide. This totally violates media guidelines for reporting suicide stories issued by the World Health Organization.
- Why is this case making headlines? There have been hundreds of assisted suicides with nary a peep from the media. And cases that make legalized prescribed suicide look bad are assiduously ignored.
- Many of the stories read as if she has no choice but to kill herself. No mention of the potential of hospice and other care opportunities to alleviate her suffering.
- By pushing suicide as death with dignity–and by giving so much attention to her death–the media tell others that suicide is the right answer for them too.
- Many media support assisted suicide and are using Maynard for ideological reasons.
- This is like 60 Minutes playing the video of Jack Kevorkian murdering Thomas Youk, with Mike Wallace repeatedly asking, “Is he dead yet? Is he dead yet?” Or the BBC playing the video of a death at one of the Swiss suicide clinics.
- And here’s the thing: If she kills herself on November 1, they will barely remember who she was on November 3.
So, if anyone wants to talk to me about the above, it would be my pleasure. But Maynard? Nope.
The whole spectacle makes me sick. #vultures
LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.
I agree with Smith that this is a tragic situation, but there are alternatives and the media pushing her to do this certainly doesn't help.
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Here is another article about Brittany Maynard.
She should definitely be forced to suffer and live her last few weeks as a helpless vegetable!
sometimes they win....sometimes they don't but in either case THEY FOUGHT hard....
I have a cousin in law who has had ALS for about 8 yrs now....she has no intention of giving up....she keeps investigating new theories and stays engaged......
what if everyone just killed themselves at any problem, large or small?
Degenerate sons and daughters, it takes life to love life.....
Why are we talking about vegetables? She's not a carrot or cucumber.
Do you even have a clue what this story is about? She's not bedridden, she looks normal, she's giving interviews.
This story is a tragedy regardless of the outcome, so why are you pushing the left's agenda?
God decided on what day she was born. And God will decide on which day she dies. It’s not her decision.
Assisted suicide is one thing..
Euthanasia is another. The big money is in euthanasia, and that is what they really want.
Stories like this are used to advance the ball.
If we start humanely killing people when they become seriously ill instead of trying to cure them, insurers are going to make Trillions of Dollars. That kind of money will not be denied, especially when the biggest insurer is the Federal Government.
Life is cheap to those on the Left. Just look at all the gang murders that are ignored. I will not judge this woman as I am not in her shoes. But the hay that Leftists make out of cases that support their ‘death with dignity’ makes me sick. There is no dignity for those who died in Kevorkian’s van. Applauding someone who has just taken poison to end their life is repugnant and appalling.
God already decided she's going to die and she's working within that framework. Is it somehow better to linger, wasting away and in agony? You really think God wants that for her?
‘insurers are going to make Trillions of Dollars. That kind of money will not be denied, especially when the biggest insurer is the Federal Government’
A fact most people in this country don’t yet understand. They believe the Gov’t will do whatever is necessary when there is National Healthcare. It won’t. Many are going to have a very rude awakening.
She also has a rapidly growing brain tumor that will kill her.
I am well aware of that, but that has nothing to do with a person being in a so-called "vegetative state."
I agree with Smith that this is a tragic situation, but there are alternatives
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Inoperable brain cancer. 6 months to live.
Can you share your thoughts on what those specific alternatives might be?
The notion that she is somehow a dupe to the media I don’t understand or agree with at all. Everything I’ve read about her and that she has herself stated demonstrates one who is quite on top of things.
She is NOT Terry Schiavo. She is a very articulate and intelligent individual in a God-awful situation, not of her making or choosing (the brain cancer).
I have a 29 year old daughter. As a parent, the idea of one of my kids in this situation makes me nauseous. Just thinking about it.
Right.. that comes toward the end.
And yet, self-murder remains murder.
Abandon that principle and you have pulled the cornerstone word ‘unalienable’ out of our national foundation.
Which means your rights are no longer guaranteed or protected either.
Palliative care. The same that is used in the rest of America which still prohibits the barbaric practice of medical suicide.
The notion that she is somehow a dupe to the media I don’t understand or agree with at all.
I don't think she's a dupe at all, the media is using her story and giving it all sorts of press to push their agenda. She is an attractive young white woman, so the media is using her as the face of assisted suicide.
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