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What Does It Mean To Die With Dignity Essay

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What does it mean to die with dignity? For Brittany Maynard, it meant ending her life on her terms, and not on anyone else’s. Maynard had terminal brain cancer and chose to move to Oregon to utilize her freedom of choice and responsibility over her life. She decided to end her pain and suffering with a life-ending prescription that allowed her to die peacefully and without pain. Like Maynard, many terminally ill patients experience immense pain, spend a prolonged amount of time in hospitals, lose the enjoyment of life, and lose control over their lives. To combat these dehumanizing experiences, some patients choose to end their lives with physician-assisted suicide, which can help give them a sense of peace and self-autonomy at the end of their lives.
With the option to die with dignity, terminally ill patients can regain control over their lives. In many cases, battling a terminal illness can be too painful and time-consuming that patients would rather hasten their death than live another day in such a terrible condition. For many of us, it is difficult to imagine having a condition in which we would rather die than spend time with loved ones. However, thousands of Americans live in this state of pain and fear for months until their respective illnesses take their lives. In extreme cases, some terminally …show more content…
In Utah, there are only a few options for terminally ill patients to control how they live their lives; a terminally ill patient can choose to stay in a hospital to fight his/her illness, receive hospice care, or join a support group. If the Utah legislature passed a death with dignity bill, such as Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck’s End of Life Options Act, then terminally ill patients would be given one more option to reclaim their lives and exercise the freedom of choice that we all

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