After reading the Brittany Maynard case, create an original post that compares your professional and personal positions on the case. What are the code of ethics, professional regulations, and policies that support your professional position? Explain how to work through ideas when your professional and personal positions come into conflict. California legislators just introduced a bill to let the terminally ill end their own lives photo-color: Debbie Ziegler, the mother of Brittany Maynard, speaks in support of proposed legislation allowing doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients during a news conference at the Capitol, Jan. 21, 2015, in Sacramento, Calif. Rich Pedroncelli—AP After Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer last year, she decided to move from California, where she was born and raised, to Oregon. She chose it because Oregon was one of just five states in the nation that allowed Maynard to obtain medication to end her own life. Since Maynard’s death in November, six states have introduced so-called right-to-die legislation, including the one she chose to leave. “The fact that Brittany Maynard was a Californian suffering from an incurable, irreversible illness who then had to leave the state to ease her suffering was simply appalling, simply unacceptable,” says California Sen. Lois Wolk, who along with Sen. Bill Monning, both Democrats, have co-authored a bill giving terminally ill patients with six months to live the ability to obtain life-ending medication. The bill, which would require two independent physicians to determine that patients are mentally competent to make an end-of-life decision, is largely modeled after Oregon’s 1997 Death With Dignity law, which was the first state measure to allow terminal patients to end their lives. That law has become a template for other states considering similar legislation. According to the Oregon Public Health Division, 1,173 people have had end-of-life medication prescribed to them as of 2013; 752 have actually chosen to ingest it. Only two other states have passed right-to-die legislation—Washington and Vermont—while judges in New Mexico and Montana have effectively legalized it by saying there is nothing barring doctors from prescribing life-ending medication. For years, the so-called right-to-die movement was most associated with Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician known as Dr. Death for participating in dozens of physician-assisted suicides, one of which led to a conviction of second-degree murder. Maynard offered a far more sympathetic face for the movement. A 29-year-old newlywed who was diagnosed with brain cancer on Jan. 1, 2014, Maynard used her story to advocate for so-called death with dignity laws while publicly discussing her symptoms and plans for her last few weeks. She died Nov. 1 after taking doctor-prescribed barbiturates. Since then, legislators from 14 states have either introduced or pledged to put forwa ...

1. After reading the Brittany Maynard case, create an original post
that compares your professional and personal positions on the
case. What are the code of ethics, professional regulations, and
policies that support your professional position? Explain how to
work through ideas when your professional and personal
positions come into conflict.
California legislators just introduced a bill to let the terminally
ill end their own lives
photo-color: Debbie Ziegler, the mother of Brittany Maynard,
speaks in support of proposed legislation allowing doctors to
prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients
during a news conference at the Capitol, Jan. 21, 2015, in
Sacramento, Calif. Rich Pedroncelli—AP
After Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with terminal brain
cancer last year, she decided to move from California, where
she was born and raised, to Oregon. She chose it because
Oregon was one of just five states in the nation that allowed
Maynard to obtain medication to end her own life.
Since Maynard’s death in November, six states have introduced
so-called right-to-die legislation, including the one she chose to
leave.
“The fact that Brittany Maynard was a Californian suffering
from an incurable, irreversible illness who then had to leave the
state to ease her suffering was simply appalling, simply
unacceptable,” says California Sen. Lois Wolk, who along with
Sen. Bill Monning, both Democrats, have co-authored a bill
giving terminally ill patients with six months to live the ability

2. to obtain life-ending medication.
The bill, which would require two independent physicians to
determine that patients are mentally competent to make an end-
of-life decision, is largely modeled after Oregon’s 1997 Death
With Dignity law, which was the first state measure to allow
terminal patients to end their lives. That law has become a
template for other states considering similar legislation.
According to the Oregon Public Health Division, 1,173 people
have had end-of-life medication prescribed to them as of 2013;
752 have actually chosen to ingest it.
Only two other states have passed right-to-die legislation—
Washington and Vermont—while judges in New Mexico and
Montana have effectively legalized it by saying there is nothing
barring doctors from prescribing life-ending medication.
For years, the so-called right-to-die movement was most
associated with Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician known
as Dr. Death for participating in dozens of physician-assisted
suicides, one of which led to a conviction of second-degree
murder. Maynard offered a far more sympathetic face for the
movement. A 29-year-old newlywed who was diagnosed with
brain cancer on Jan. 1, 2014, Maynard used her story to
advocate for so-called death with dignity laws while publicly
discussing her symptoms and plans for her last few weeks. She
died Nov. 1 after taking doctor-prescribed barbiturates.
Since then, legislators from 14 states have either introduced or
pledged to put forward right-to-die bills, according to
Compassion & Choices, a national organization advocating
death with dignity. The group says it conducted surveys
showing that two-thirds of Californians support end-of-life
legislation.
“The case of Brittany Maynard has brought this into focus for

3. many Californians,” Monning says. “There’s a changed public
attitude and increased awareness, and we think the time is right
for California.”
Wolk acknowledges that actually getting the bill passed,
however, will be a “heavy lift.” The measure could find support
among some Democrats and libertarian-leaning conservatives,
who often favor letting individuals make their own end-of-life
decisions. But resistance will be strong from social
conservatives in both parties. The Catholic Church, in
particular, has long led the fight against similar measures
around the nation. The church has already hired a lobbying firm
from Sacramento to fight the bill, according to the Los Angeles
Times.
The American Medical Association, which believes that doctors
shouldn’t be involved in life-ending treatment, could provide
another obstacle.
Wolk expects the bill will make it out of committee and reach
the Senate floor, but will have a tough time passing both houses
of the legislature. It’s also unclear whether Gov. Jerry Brown
would sign it if it reached his desk. The one-time Jesuit
seminarian has not publicly addressed the issue, according to
the San Jose
Mercury News
. During his first stint as governor in 1976, Brown signed a law
that gave terminally ill patients the right to end life-sustaining
treatment if their death was imminent, the first of its kind in the
nation
If the bill doesn’t pass, however, the issue will likely make its
way directly to California voters. Compassion & Choices is
already laying the groundwork to get it on the 2016 ballot as a
referendum.