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Live and Let Die: Need for a Federal Law on Physician-Assisted Suicide

Zac Halden

Brittany Maynard took her own life on a cold November morning at the young age of twenty-nine.[1] Brittany had been battling brain cancer and had undergone multiple surgeries to remove her tumor.[2] However, when she learned that the surgeries did not free her from illness, she chose another way to deal with her illness: physician assisted-suicide (PAS).[3] She chose assisted-suicide to avoid medical care that would have ended her quality of life.[4] Additionally, the treatment would have only extended her life for another several months.[5] Brittany did not want to die, but when someone is faced with choosing between two paths to death Brittany asked herself, “Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice?”[6]

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