We Failed Her!

Last Saturday in the state of Oregon, U.S.A., an attractive 29-year-old woman, Brittany Maynard, legally killed herself with a drug overdose legally prescribed by her doctor.  She had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and was told by her doctors that she would have a "painful and prolonged death."  Mrs. Maynard was married with no children.  She said that she didn't want her husband to mourn her for a long time and that she wanted him to have children.

Mrs. Maynard also declared, "Who has the right to tell me I don't have this choice?"  GOD is the source of LIFE and the SOURCE of death!  God had already told her this!  But the societal atmosphere and laws of the state of Oregon had obliterated her awareness of this natural law within her, and she completed her "choice" of when to die.

There are many fallacies in the "Right to Die," or "Euthanasia," or "Death With Dignity" laws, and many fallacies in Mrs. Maynard's thinking, even if we attempt to remove God from the discussion.  Originally, when their patient, Mrs. Maynard, was diagnosed with the brain cancer, they told her that she had from three to ten years to live.  Then the cancer progressed faster in the next few months and they told her she might have six months to live.  Personally, doctors who make predictions are, pardon me, stupid!  Diseases such as terminal cancer are wildly out of their control.

When I was a young woman in my thirties, my dear friend, Helen had inoperable uterine cancer.  This was unknown to me at the time she came to visit me.  I had a large pot of water cooking on the stove almost ready for spaghetti.  She asked me, "What if Jesus came to the door and said, 'It's your time to go now,' what would you do?"  I told her, "I wouldn't even bother to turn off the water on the stove.  I would leave with Jesus immediately." A wise person knows that eventually - we know not the day or time - we will die, and the wise person lives the best he or she can so as to meet God with a clean heart and soul.

Helen died a natural death nine months later. I still miss her and always will.  Mrs. Maynard's husband will miss her for the rest of his life, in one way or another.  Love is like that.  Her ending her life prematurely will not ease any of his pain, perhaps increase it.  He may eventually ask himself, "Why didn't I stop her?"

Doctors also should not tell patients their opinion of the level of pain the dying patient will have.  After twenty years of nursing in hospitals and nursing homes, I can tell you that ALL PAIN CAN BE RELIEVED AND MOSTLY ELIMINATED!  No matter what your condition, you will not die in agony! This is true even with patients experiencing end-stage liver disease.

Yesterday, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen for many years.  She told me that she just celebrated being free of cancer for ten years!  At church earlier this week, I sat behind a friend who had celebrated being free of cancer for five years!  Clearly, the diagnosis of Cancer is no longer a death sentence!

Presently, five states in America have made it legal to kill yourself: Oregon, Washington, Montana, New Mexico, and Vermont.  Mrs. Maynard had moved to Oregon so she could legally kill herself.

When, oh, when will we learn what happens when a country or state chooses which of their citizens it is permitted to kill?  Haven't we killed enough babies - at least 53 million in the United States alone - by legal abortion in the past 41 years?  Don't ever forget: when one category of people is declared unworthy to live, WE ARE ALL IN DANGER OF BEING KILLED!!  ALL!! 

I invite you to read this blog, Monday, January 20, 2014, "On the Fence, #2."  It details the progression of the Culture of Death in Belgium from aborting babies to killing oneself to "mercifully" killing your elder relatives because it is no longer "convenient" for you for them to live!  You may want to read the seven days of related blogs from Sunday, January 19, 2014, "On the Fence, #1," to Saturday, January 25, 2014, "On the Fence, #7."

If we all look the other way while these DEATH LAWS are being made in our state, we really are no better than the Germans who had gas chambers to kill Jews, handicapped children and adults, and all the others the Germans legally killed prior to and during World War II.  WE are WORSE if we look the other way!  We should have learned from the Germans!!  What will YOU do about this?

Yes, Brittany Maynard, we have failed you! I have failed you!  And: YOU have failed us!

Dear Lord in Heaven, please give us all the guts and strength to FIGHT FOR LIFE now and forever in every way we can!!