Brittany Maynard’s death: Her last words never mentioned God or eternity?

[beam me up scottie]

I found this site when I was chasing links about TN's Amendment 1, it has a weird feature where you can see recent comments in a panel on the left, so I clicked on one and found this speculation about Brittany's death:

What do we know about Brittany Maynard’s death?
We can’t be certain

Did Brittany Maynard die freely? This is the question that must be asked after the attractive 29-year-old woman with a brain tumour announced earlier in the week that she would probably postpone the assisted suicide she had scheduled for Saturday, November 1.

...

It could be the opening for a Kay Scarpetta novel. How can anyone be sure now that Brittany died freely? How can anyone be sure that Compassion & Choices did not apply moral pressure on her to fulfil her commitment and not to disappoint the wonderful people who had made her famous?
...

Laws must be changed, in other words, to support absolute autonomy. But if this is the case, isn’t it discriminatory to restrict this to the terminally ill? Why not lovelorn teenagers or impecunious grandmothers? It’s a blindingly obvious objection which is not refuted in Brittany’s video.

Ironically, the same tear-soaked argument was used by the Nazis to persuade Germans to support assisted suicide. Brittany’s beautiful wedding photos, her artfully scripted message, the lachrymose piano chords, her family’s words of love and support — they all reminded me of a competent 1941 German melodrama called Ich Klage An (I Accuse). The young wife of a doctor begs for release before she becomes “deaf, blind, idiotic”; the family doctor refuses; her husband obliges. In a final speech before a jury her grieving husband accuses the law of being inhumane.

http://cal-catholic.com/?p=16025

What's even worse are some of the comments below:

Micky says:
November 3, 2014 at 1:10 pm

What do we know about Brittany ? – That she could have stayed home in CA and committed suicide there, instead of moving to Oregon.
An overdose of pain medication works anywhere in the world.
No need to “legalize” anything.
Her last words never mentioned God or eternity.

Her attempt to get public sympathy may add to the ‘legalization’ of many other deaths,.

Linda Maria says:
November 4, 2014 at 2:53 am

What a terrible tragedy! Young people of today, are no longer brought up with faith in God, nor Christian morality– and the necessity of always following a moral conscience, in decisions! Ultimately, we must answer to God! Our decisions are NEVER a careless “choice,” for our self-centered whims! Suicide is a mortal sin– unthinkable! And look what Christ, our Savior, went through in His Passion and death, for our eternal Salvation! With a solid Faith in Him– we can get through what we must, while on earth! I have seen older people lose their minds to dementia and to Alzheimer’s. They too, must accept the pain of life, which is all in Gods hands, along with their beloved family members! It is a big responsibility! America must return to God! And this poor young woman’s soul, is in need of many prayers! Assisted suicide must STOP!!

They must "accept the pain of life".

Wow, how Mother Teresa of her.


All kinds of crazy there, and some sick motherfuckers.

[arcane1]

1. Yep, the agony of terminal illness is "jesus kissing you" after all.

So with that twisted, cruel reasoning, attempts to avoid that agony are blasphemy by definition.

Reason #8,238 why I'm glad I'm not religious.

[beam me up scottie]

3. I wonder how many of them refuse pain medication?

I mean, if god wants us to suffer, who are we to interfere?

Don't fill that prescription for grandpa's vicodin after his recent hip surgery, Linda Maria.

And make sure you skip the epidural, we want you to feel every last bit of God's love as he punishes you for that whole apple thingy:

God multiplies the pain of women in child bearing.

(Genesis 3:16)--"To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall bring forth children; Yet your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.'"

Why would God increase the pain of childbirth because of Eve's disobedience to Him? Some think it is an unfair penalty to make all women suffer for Eve's sin.

The answer lies in two things. First, we must understand that Eve was the means God commanded to fill the earth with people. Her union with Adam was supposed to produce children for the perfect world that God had created. But, Eve rebelled against God. Since sin brings pain and suffering, it was a natural consequence that she have pain and suffering in the very thing for which she was brought forth because she had rebelled against God.

http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/genesis-deuteronomy/god-multiplies-pain-women-child-bearing

[RussBLib]

6. it sounds like a bad science fiction novel

like a bad novel:

Her union with Adam was supposed to produce children for the perfect world that God had created. But, Eve rebelled against God. Since sin brings pain and suffering, it was a natural consequence that she have pain and suffering in the very thing for which she was brought forth because she had rebelled against God.

...and every woman after Eve has to suffer for Eve's sin? Wow, what a psycho God was.

So, even Alzheimers and dementia are not enough to make them wonder if maybe the whole God thing is a ruse?

It's all part of God's plan?
Or maybe they have doubts but they are far too ashamed and embarrassed to admit to doubts.

In my mind, life really opens up once you get past the idea of God.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Wut? Who wouldn't want to worship the guy?

And thank you for the opportunity to post one of my all time favourite quotes:

[onager]

8. That reminds me of another fave...

"Religion. The only business with customers who blame themselves for product failure."

[beam me up scottie]

9. That's so true!

[AlbertCat]

23. It's all part of God's plan?

God works in mysterious ways..... except...


If you eliminate god.... the mystery disappears. Childbearing is painful in Homo Sapiens because the bigger brain, and head make it more difficult. Also....one is "programed" to forget actual pain (men too). Oh I'm sure women remember they were in pain, but not the actual pain itself. If they didn't forget it, every woman would have a single child and that's it.

[Warpy]

2. What these god addled cretins will never admit

is that seriously ill people have always turned to suicide when it got too hard, either a ritual opening of an artery accompanied by one's family or a trip to the garden for oleander, hemlock, amanita muscaria.

These religious bloviaters all seem to want the rest of us to wring every drop of misery we can out of a futile existence when all hope of recovery has gone, simply because they are afraid of their own deaths and judgments before a hostile god.

They also don't seem to realize that assisted suicide is done more quickly and efficiently than attempts by people who don't know lethal doses and aren't prepared for vomiting and surviving the attempt.

[beam me up scottie]

10. I don't understand their fear.

If heaven is all they say it is, why be afraid of death?

[theHandpuppet]

13. +1000

That's always puzzled me, too. That, and why would anyone worship a god who wants them to suffer?

[beam me up scottie]

18. Snake handlers.

People who swing around half-dead, starved and chilled copperheads, timber rattlers and cottonmouths think they're so brave, even though most will survive if bitten (almost all if they're not too stupid to go to the hospital).

I say if you think your special kind of faith will protect you from serpents, why not try that with a black mamba, or a king cobra.

Drinking diluted arsenic?

That's poison for pussies, here, try some of this Polonium-210.


I mean, if you really think that you're safe, and you really want to prove that you're protected by god, why use second rate serpents and poisons...

[theHandpuppet]

25. Why is it...

...humans are expected to prove everything and god nothing?

[Warpy]

14. Because they're all a bunch of fucking frauds and they know it

and are hoping tithes paid to a crooked preacher will buy their way out of hell, of which they've heard even more descriptions, and they're just not sure it will.

[Arugula Latte]

19. I'm afraid of Heaven.

It would be like being stuck at an Amway meeting for all eternity.

A never-ending afterlife? No thanks. Frankly I find the prospect terrifying.

[beam me up scottie]

20. "It would be like being stuck at an Amway meeting for all eternity."

Thanks for the laugh, man I needed that after the week we've had.

[Rob H.]

30. That reminds me of a quote from 'Frasier'

Niles: I've always liked the notion of meeting the great figures of history. But then I think, what if it's like high school and all the really cool dead people don't want to hang out with me?

[AtheistCrusader]

27. I'm convinced they know. They all know, on some level.

Deny all they want, they know it's bullshit, it's imaginary. What's more, they know it's fear. Pitiful, weak, fear. Fear of an end. So much fear, they invent a forever with a good outcome, and a bad. One for themselves, and one for everyone they hate.

Fear of a simple end. Self importance writ large. In their eyes they are just too fucking important to be anything but a special snowflake the entire universe was built to pleasure and sustain, forever. So special, they've earned it.

So they bull shit themselves until they sort of believe they really are just so important. But they know.

There's always that nagging feeling, that it's all a fairy tale.

[LostOne4Ever]

4. That last comment you quoted, in particular, epitomizes everything wrong with religion

[font style="font-family:papyrus,'Brush Script MT','comic sans MS',fantasy;" size=3 color=teal]The real tragedy is that the people who believe such vile things and in such an evil god think they are the ones who are moral! Fuck her and fuck her imaginary god.

No one should have to go through such pain, but then to blame the people who are suffering so horribly that they would rather take their own life? Just goes to show if anyone is lacking morality its those who choose the words of a stone-age book of myths over the thought and opinions of the suffering.[/font]

[beam me up scottie]

11. And it gets worse:

FrMichael says:
November 4, 2014 at 6:53 am

I have a terrible fear that prayers for this wilful suicide will be of no assistance to her, but out of charity we ought to anyway.

Ed says:
November 4, 2014 at 7:30 am

What Mickey says is correct, why all this drama when you can go to a local pharmacy and buy stuff to put in a drink to kill you. To me it sounds like this is their way to get back at God.

[AlbertCat]

24. To me it sounds like this is their way to get back at God.

For what???? Giving her the terminal disease?????

And that would be getting back at a god that is omnipotent and omnipresent. How do you "surprise" something all powerful and all knowing??????

Religion is ridiculous.

[Warren Stupidity]

29. yikes that is really foul.

"get back at god".

Holy shit.

[skepticscott]

5. You had to know the people writing this were scum

As soon as you hit the phrase "attractive 29 year old woman". Only a certain class of creature would have found it relevant to characterize her appearance.

[beam me up scottie]

12. I know. And "the wrinkled crew at Compassion & Choices"?

What is certain is that Brittany’s story was exploited to the hilt by the wrinkled crew at Compassion & Choices. There can be no more persuasive explanation than an attractive, intelligent young woman with tears trickling down her cheeks. As she dabs at her eyes, the trembling words always sound heart-piercingly right. Perhaps from an evolutionary perspective, we’re programmed to agree with her, because young women need to be protected so that they can live to have a family.

Wtf?

[Lordquinton]

26. Bingo!

That leapt out at me too.

[AtheistCrusader]

28. I actually couldn't hear the sexism over the roar of their base inhumanity.

[Curmudgeoness]

15. "Young people of today".....

I had not heard that this was legal in Oregon, or any other states, until this August when I was told by my 91-year old uncle that he had chosen to die on September 4 and had gotten the prescription already.

So it is not just those godless young people who are taking their life, and death, into their own hands.

And for the record, this is not exactly "assisted suicide", since you have to take the drugs of your own accord.

[beam me up scottie]

16. It's legal in my home state of Vermont.

I miss it, no matter how bad things got in the rest of the country you just felt safe.

sigh...

[Curmudgeoness]

17. I know what you mean.

I also wish that I was living in a progressive state.....and PA is not the worst of the states.

[beam me up scottie]

21. Right now I'd settle for anywhere in the northeast.

My years spent in PA were happy ones.

[AlbertCat]

22. Ultimately, we must answer to God!

Whadaya mean "we"?

Nothing is judging you or anything else....except other people.

The universe and nature are indifferent. People, not so much.