Asking Your Doctor to Help You Die.

Human life is a gift.  Death, too, can be a gift.  Is it ever appropriate for us to choose the timing of our death?

Brittany Maynard, 29, was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive and uniformly fatal brain tumor.  With the blessing of her family and millions of supporters around the world, she ended her life in Portland, Oregon, with a fatal dose of barbiturates prescribed by a physician.  Oregon is one of five states, in addition to Washington, Montana, Vermont, and New Mexico, that allow Physician Assisted Death (PAD), and its Death with Dignity Act of 1994 was the first of its kind.