美29歲女子選擇結束生命捍衛“死亡權”

美國29歲腦癌患者布列塔尼·梅納德服藥結束了自己的生命，她選擇按照自己的意願過完剩下的日子，“死亡權”倡導組織Compassion & Choices週日宣佈。

在發現自己的治療無法挽救自己的生命時，梅納德和家人決定遷至俄勒岡州波特蘭市，那裏有《尊嚴死亡法》，允許身患絕症、剩下不到6個月生命但心智健全的成人遵醫囑自行用藥結束自己的生命。

梅納德是“死亡權”倡導者，她和Compassion & Choices密切合作，發起了“有尊嚴地死去”運動，呼籲美國“死亡權”合法化，希望更多地方立法，允許人們保有尊嚴離開人世。

梅納德在一則視頻中解釋了自己的選擇，900多萬人次觀看了這則視頻，她的故事在社交網上也引發了廣泛討論。

Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old who said she had terminal brain cancer, took medication to end her life under Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act," advocacy group Compassion & Choices said Sunday.

"Brittany chose to make a well thought out and informed choice to die With Dignity in the face of such a terrible, painful, and incurable illness," a post on her website said. "She moved to Oregon to pass away in a little yellow house she picked out in the beautiful city of Portland."

In a statement, Compassion & Choices, an end-of-life choice advocacy group that has been working closely with Maynard, said she "died as she intended -- peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones."

Maynard passed away Saturday, said the group, which released an official obituary.

The epitaph contained a final message from Maynard, who expressed a note of deep thanks to all of her supporters, whom she "sought out like water" during her life and illness.

"It is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks who are happiest. If we change our thoughts, we change our world! Love and peace to you all," she said.

Maynard graduated from University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Masters in Education from University of California, Irvine, according to the obituary. She was a world traveler who volunteered at a local animal rescue organization before her diagnosis and lived 29 years of "generosity, compassion, education, travel, and humor," it said.

Maynard is survived by her husband and his family, her mother and stepfather.

"While she had longed for children of her own, she left this world with zero regrets on time spent, places been, or people she loved in her 29 years," the obituary said.

Maynard's story spread rapidly on social media as a video explaining her choice garnered more than 9 million views on YouTube.

She became a prominent spokeswoman for the "death with dignity" movement, which advocates that terminally ill patients be allowed to receive medication that will let them die on their own terms. She also became a lightning rod for criticism from people who oppose that approach.

"I quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for me and my family," Maynard wrote in an opinion column for CNN explaining her choice. "We had to uproot from California to Oregon, because Oregon is one of only five states where death with dignity is authorized."

In a video released last week, Maynard said she hadn't yet decided when she would end her life.

"I still feel good enough, and I still have enough joy, and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn't seem like the right time right now. But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It's happening each week," Maynard said in the video, which was produced by Compassion & Choices and released to CNN last Wednesday.

Maynard said she had stage IV glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of terminal brain cancer.

When she first started speaking out about her decision, Maynard said that in early November she planned to take the medication she'd been prescribed. In her latest video, she said she was waiting to see how her symptoms progress before deciding on a date.

But taking too long to make that choice was one of her greatest fears, Maynard said.

"The worst thing that could happen to me is that I wait too long because I'm trying to seize each day," she says, "but I somehow have my autonomy taken away from me by my disease, because of the nature of my cancer."