Podcast appearances and mentions of Brittany Maynard

It's not always nice to think about, but giving people the choice to end their life might be the greatest gift we can offer. Today we hear from two people who were there when their loved ones ended their lives via voluntary assisted dying, and what they want you to know about that journey. Plus we look at how the laws are accessed, or not, across Australia too.  THE END BITS Support independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here $33 off - Mamamia's biggest Black Friday discount ever.Get an all access pass to Mamamia for just $36. Enjoy $33 off a yearly subscription by heading here. GET IN TOUCH Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at thequicky@mamamia.com.au CREDITS Host: Claire Murphy With thanks to:  Dr Linda Swan, CEO of Go Gentle Australia Dan Diaz, Right To Die Advocate Lauren Pink Executive Producer: Taylah Strano  Audio Producers: Tegan Sadler Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Explore how famous cases like Karen Ann Quinlan, Terri Schiavo, and Brittany Maynard influenced the Right to Die movement in America. This episode delves into the history of the Death with Dignity (DWD) acts, examining the intersection of medical technology, individual rights, and morality. Learn about the political movements and legislative changes driven by these high-profile stories. #RighttoDie #DeathwithDignity #KarenAnnQuinlan #TerriSchiavo #BrittanyMaynard #assisteddeath #euthanasia #medicalethics #individualrights #DWD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Death is understandably difficult – and for some people, nearly impossible – to conceive of and talk about. Especially our own. It may seem like there's nothing we can do to prepare for our last moments on earth, but several innovative panelists at the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival would disagree. Alua Arthur is a “death doula,” who helps people find peace with themselves when nearing the end of their life. A former lawyer, she founded the organization Going With Grace to help redefine the end-of-life experience. Dan Diaz was thrust into advocacy when his wife, Brittany Maynard, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2014 at age 29. Maynard wanted control over how she died, and the couple moved to Oregon for the last months of her life, where medical aid in dying was legal. Diaz has been pushing to expand legalization of medical aid in dying ever since, and has helped pass legislation in several states since Brittany's death. Designer Katrina Spade invented a way to turn humans into compost after life, and founded the company Recompose. Human composting is now legal in five states, thanks to efforts led by Recompose. Stanford medical professor and health care culture advocate Dr. Lucy Kalanithi moderates the conversation. Kalanithi's husband Paul Kalanithi died of cancer in 2015, after writing the memoir “When Breath Becomes Air.” aspenideas.org

It was heart-wrenching. The whole world seemed to be talking about Brittany Maynard's medical death sentence. It happened some years ago, she was a young wife, in love with her husband, and looking forward to having children. And then she was told that her incurable cancer would, after a painful decline, take her young life. It was controversial. Her decision to take the pill that would end her life on the day - and in the way - of her choosing. Her state's "assisted suicide" law afforded her that choice. Her decision added a face and more fuel to what is one of the deeply emotional debates of our time. Should a person have the right to legally abbreviate their suffering and hasten their death? Now, some were very quick to pass judgment on a woman who was gone and being grieved. Some were quick to canonize her as the symbol of a crusade to legalize a decision like hers. But I was processing this kind of thing on a personal level. I couldn't help thinking about the young people we've loved who've chosen to die because of the pain of a break-up or a tragedy in their family. I've been at their agonizing funerals. I've held the shattered loved ones, I've seen the ones devastated for life by their loved one's choice. And then, I remember the people who've deeply touched my life - and many others - with this supernatural hope they radiated from their deathbed suffering. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Death's Big Question." For me, I cling to the Bible's assertion that "all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." And, as Job said, that "man's days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months..." (Job 14:5). In other words God has given me my life. But for all the questions this tragic situation has raised, they leave unaddressed the most important question death raises. Not about what leads up to it. But what happens after it. Again, I'm driven to the only One I believe can be trusted as the authority on that question. The One who gave me my life. In the world's best-selling book, the Bible, it says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Well to say the least, that's disturbing. But it's vital to know. I actually think many of us have a sense of that buried somewhere in our soul. That we'll meet God on the other side of our last heartbeat. And we will face our defiance of the One who made us. By pushing Him to the edge of the life He gave us. And hijacking the running of our lives from our Creator. Our worst nightmare is being unprepared for my appointment with God. That's why in our word for today from the Word of God in Amos 4:12, the Jewish prophet Amos said, "Prepare to meet your God." Well I know only one way to be ready to meet a sinless God. My only hope is to have every sin of my life - of which there are many - somehow erased. Then I hear across the centuries the words of Jesus as He was dying on the cross. "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34). The Bible actually says that Jesus "carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). I decided to take Jesus at His word. "Whoever believes in the Son [That's Jesus, the Son of God] has eternal life" (John 3:36). See, that's the word that Jesus added to "life." "Eternal." I believe Him because He didn't just talk about eternal life. He proved He's got it to give. By walking out of His grave three days after He died. He's the only one who ever has. And this very day He stands ready to walk into your life. And not only forgive your sin, but to secure for you, once and for all, a place in Heaven. He already paid for it when He died on the cross for you. And you can know from this day forward, you are ready to live, you are ready to die, and you are Heaven bound. Do you want that? Would you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours" today? Go to our website and you'll find there the very information from God's Word that will lead you right into a relationship with Him. It's ANewStory.com. Because Jesus has answered forever death's most important question - "Are you ready to meet the God who's on the other side?"

Judith Bishop breaks down the misconceptions of legalized assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Judith spent her career as a midwife, helping bring countless babies into the world.  Although she retired, she was not done helping families.  Now she helps them in a different way, she volunteers to aid individuals who are terminally ill with ending their life through legalized assisted suicide. We discuss Brittany Maynard, a young woman, who brought the difficult subject matter to the forefront when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and decided it was the right decision for her and for her family.  The country followed her story as she was forced to move to Oregon in order to do it legally. Judith brings humanity to this very hot button issue, allowing us a behind the scenes look at the doctors and patients behind the headlines.  Some might not agree with what she does, or those who choose to do it, but it's an incredible story worth listening to and learning from. ——————————- VISIT OUR SPONSORS! This episode is sponsored by⁠ Rocket Money.⁠ Stop throwing your money away! Cancel unwanted subscriptions – and manage your expenses the easy way – by going to ⁠⁠RocketMoney.com/UNDERSTOOD⁠ —————————— Follow Rachel on Instagram @RachelUchitelNYC Executive Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alison Goodman Please like, share, subscribe, and give us a 5-star review! Do you have show ideas, media requests or sponsorship opportunities? Email the show at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠infomissunderstoodpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen on Apple or Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. Watch Every Episode On YouTube! @missunderstoodpodcast

Ep 135: One woman's terminal diagnosis leads her to search for death on her own terms. This is the Brittany Maynard story Sources for Today's Episode: Wild and Precious Life by Deborah Ziegler People.com Deathwithdignity.org Thebrittanyfund.org  Comapssionandchoices.org American medical association Credits: Written and Hosted by Amy Shlosberg and Meghan Sacks Produced by James Varga Audio Editor, Seiler Burr Script Editor, Abagail Belcastro Music by Dessert Media Show your Support: The easiest way you can support us is by leaving a review, telling your friends, sharing on social media or by sending us a note. We love to hear from our audience!  You can also support the show through the following ways:  Follow Us on Social: YouTube | Instagram | Tik Tok | Facebook | Reddit | Twitter Patron - ad-free shows starting at $2 a month, or upgrade to get an extra episode every month, exclusive AMAs with the hosts, lecture series on criminal justice, our true crime book club, and more! Check out our Patreon page for more info: https://www.patreon.com/womenandcrime Apple Subscriptions - Ad-free shows are now available through Apple's podcast app for only $1.99 a month. Merchandise - For T-shirts, Hoodies, notebooks, stickers and mugs check out: https://www.womenandcrimepodcast.com/merch Help is Available: If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic or other violence, there are many organizations that can offer support or help you in your specific situation. For direct links to organizations please visit https://womenandcrimepodcast.com/resources/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sean Illing talks with reporter Katie Engelhart, whose book The Inevitable is an up-close look at physician-assisted dying. This is the practice of receiving state-sanctioned medical aid to end one's life — a practice now legal in 10 U.S. states, Canada, and elsewhere around the world. They discuss the details of the procedure — including why people fight for this right and exercise it — as well as many of the moral and legal questions that it raises. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Katie Engelhart (@katieengelhart), journalist; author References:  The Inevitable: Dispatches on the Right to Die by Katie Engelhart (St. Martin's; 2021) Brittany Maynard's legislative testimony   Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineers: Patrick Boyd, Paul Robert Mounsey Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the predatory atrocities of Bill Cosby to Brittany Maynard's right-to-die advocacy, Nicki Egan has been at the top of her game and at the fore of award-winning journalism for decades. She is the author of Chasing Cosby - The Downfall of America's Dad and the host and executive producer of the podcast based on the book. On this episode of Bar Fights, Nicki talks about her journey and provides an insider's view on the case that brought down a TV idol.  

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Brittany Maynard moved to Oregon, then (2014) one of only four states with legalized physician assisted suicide. She was a big activist for legalizing suicide for terminal patients, allowing them to "die on their own terms". In this class, we take a deep dive into the traditional sources on suicide and physician assisted suicide across many texts in the written and oral law, discussing such questions as: Is there any allowance for suicide in the Torah? What is the Torah's perspective on pain and pain management? Are we obligated to treat every disease or can we let it run its course? What is the Torah's perspective on "quality of life" vs. life itself? Happy Listening! Rabbi Moshe thethinkingjew.com To sponsor a podcast or make a tax-deductible donation to support this podcast and DATA of Richardson: https://thethinkingjew.com/support-us/ To contact me with questions, topic requests or for speaking engagements: thethinkingjewpodcast@gmail.com Original source sheet from class (Hebrew): https://tinyurl.com/pashalacha Online source sheet (Eng/Heb): https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/425238

Brittany Maynard was perhaps the greatest advocate for Medical Aid in Dying in the state of California.  Diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2013, Brittany was forced to leave her home state of California in a move to Oregon so she could take advantage of their Medical Aid in Dying law.  Her husband, Dan Diaz, was with her throughout this experience, supporting and loving her throughout her bout with cancer.  In this episode, Dan Diaz joins us to share Brittany's story, why Medical Aid in Dying was so important to her, and why he continues to be an advocate for the movement today.  Learn more about the podcast & follow our story - deathwithdignitypodcast.com // @DWDPodcast2021 (Twitter)

Dan's wife Brittany Maynard sought adventure up until the very end. When it became clear that the brain tumor she'd been diagnosed with would ultimately take her life, Brittany chose to end things on her own terms. Medical aid-in-dying, commonly known in the U.S. as "death with dignity," enables someone with a terminal illness to request a prescription for medication that will end their suffering. In the final episode of season 4, we explore end-of-life choices and the social and legal systems that either allow or prevent individuals from determining how they die. Featuring Dan Diaz, an advocate for the legalization of medical aid in dying, Kim Callinan, CEO of the organization Compassion and Choices, and Dr. Rob Jonquiere, Executive Director of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. -- Finding Humanity is a production of Humanity Lab Foundation and Hueman Group Media. Subscribe, rate and leave us a review. For more information, visit findinghumanitypodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter @find_humanity and Facebook.

In this episode, Samantha Trad and Stacey Golden-Lisnock discuss:Patient-centered and patient-directed end of life careThe California End of Life Option ActAid in Dying medicationKey takeaways:Important to note that there are certain medical organizations with religious affiliations such as Dignity Health where you will not have the full range of End of Life options because doctors are not allowed to practice them due to their ties with the church.In many cases, the medication is not used but it is the peace of mind of knowing there is an option should the terminally ill person's suffering escalate.There are locations to return the lethal dose of Aid in Dying medication and advice on how to correctly dispose of it should you decide not to use it.In California, Medicare DOES cover the Aid in Dying medication.Medical Aid in Dying IS NOT assisted suicide. It is utilized when a terminally ill person who is given a prognosis of six months or less to live who is mentally capable can request medication to self-ingest to bring about a peaceful death.Find Compassion and Choices on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CompassionandChoices Website:https://compassionandchoices.org/ To purchase the Emergency Info File course, please visit:https://www.gotittogethernow.com/eif If you are interested in being a guest, with a story to tell, go to the website and complete the Storyteller Application. at https://legacytherapypodcast.com/getinterviewed If you are a service professional and would like to be a guest, please complete the Industry Professional Application at https://legacytherapypodcast.com/getinterviewed

Episode 89 Despite the fact that all living things die, most people refuse to talk about it until it directly affects them. That's too bad, because planning for death can make living so much more vibrant. In this episode, we talk about physician assisted dying, guerilla funerals, the importance of ritual, and the nature of life itself.    Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis    Transcript This transcript was automatically generated by www.otter.ai, and as such contains errors (especially when multiple people are talking). As the AI learns our voices, the transcripts will improve. We hope it is helpful even with the errors.       Zack Jackson 00:05 You are listening to the down the wormhole podcast exploring the strange and fascinating relationship between science and religion. This week our hosts are   Adam Pryor 00:15 My name is Adam Pryor. I work at Bethany College in Lindsborg Kansas. I hope that when I die, someone will put me in the mushroom burial suit invented by Jim Ray Lee   Ian Binns 00:27 Ian Binns Associate Professor of elementary science education at UNC Charlotte. And see I would be cremated and put into the hilt of the first real lightsaber.   Rachael Jackson 00:41 Rachael Jackson Agoudas, Israel congregation Hendersonville, North Carolina, and after I die, I want a traditional Jewish burial. So buried in some sort of decomposing box, I don't really care if it's pine or cardboard. And, yeah, just to be buried in the ground, nothing just simple.   Zack Jackson 01:06 Zack Jackson, UCC pastor and Reading Pennsylvania, and when I die, I want to be composted.   Rachael Jackson 01:13 Kendra Holt-Moore, PhD candidate at Boston University, and when I die, I want half of my body to be pressed into a gemstone that will become an heirloom of my family. And the other half of my body will be buried in one of those tree pods that grows into a forest. I can't remember the name of the person who invented these tree pods. But it's a similar idea, I think, to the mushroom suit, but you become a forest of death.   Adam Pryor 01:44 That is oddly specific.   Zack Jackson 01:48 Yeah, yeah. It's a wonderful story in Greek mythology about that,   Ian Binns 01:52 with the force of a point out that all of you all y'all came up with something? Like somewhat reasonable. I mean, I just wanted to play. How cool would that be, instead of being like, displayed on someone's, you know, mantle in a box, or an urn that can be displayed as a lightsaber hilt?   Zack Jackson 02:14 There you go. Or I can just give my carbon back to the earth that sustained me. Yeah, see, I   Ian Binns 02:20 mean, that's probably what will happen. But I wanted to fantasize   Adam Pryor 02:23 I'm hung up on the gemstones.   Ian Binns 02:26 Okay. Kendrick, Tell us. Tell us about   Zack Jackson 02:29 death. And which, which half of you is going to be a gemstone I want? I'll leave that up to   02:36 the left half.   Adam Pryor 02:37 Is it like? Like, certain parts? Are you? The person chopping you up? I thought they would like, without the ashes. That's not what I envisioned no harm. And how about foot?   Zack Jackson 02:59 That's absolutely the way this has to go. Now. It's like, Don't cremate and turn you into a diamond. Let's just take like your arms or legs and squish them.   Ian Binns 03:08 Yeah, let's just squeeze them all together. You're going to create a gemstone,   Kendra Holt-Moore 03:12 whichever parts would make the best gems.   03:22 Oh, yeah. I guess   Rachael Jackson 03:28 it's as good as it's gonna get. Um, yeah, so we're talking about death today. And there's so much that we could talk about. So let me just say that. I think that death is a pretty fun subject to talk about, mostly because a lot of my own work is about at least implicitly. So it's just so a lot of the stuff that I do comes out of this social psychological theory called terror management theory. And that's terror. Not what people often Yeah, terror. Some people hear me say that and they think I am saying Tara, marriage management theory or like Tarot management theory. But no, it's terror. t e r, r o r, like, you're terrified.   Ian Binns 04:19 I do like to Taro. Sounds kind of cool.   Rachael Jackson 04:24 Yeah, that's a different thing. But terror management theory is a theory that was first proposed in the 80s by a social psychologist, and the whole there's, there's a lot that has been done over the last several decades on it. But the basic idea is that when people are primed to think about death, or they're exposed to some kind of trigger that causes them to reflect on death, and there are explicit and implicit ways of doing this, but basically, these Death triggers or what they would call mortality salience triggers. And they they make us more defensive. And these defense mechanisms can look a lot of different ways. But the basic idea is that like, people don't want to die, whether we're talking about physical death, or even like, a more like metaphorical figurative kind of death. So think, you know, apart from dying in your body, maybe you're also another kind of death would be like, total social isolation and exclusion, that's the kind of like social death. So there's something that is not, we're not just talking about, like physical death, even though that's a huge part of it. But also, you know, a kind of ego death, if you will, where, what it means to be human, the connectedness we feel in community, like there are ways of dying, that disconnect us from those pieces of what it means to be human as well. So anyway, terror management theory is something that touches on all these different kinds of death, and shows how people become more defensive of the things that are meaningful to them, or the things that make us feel like we have a purpose and a sense of significance in the world. And when we don't have those things, those ties of significance, those like foundational building blocks of meaning and community and purpose, that we are a lot more vulnerable to, like psychological dysfunction, and other forms of dysfunction and even death. And so there's, you know, all kinds of ways of, of testing this, but just to give like, one example of what this means is, there was a study years ago, where a group of researchers, they, they took a group of Christians, and they divided the Christians and half and half of the Christians were exposed to some kind of mortality salience, or like death trigger. And usually, that's a couple of questions where you're being asked explicitly to reflect on what you think about death, like what you think will happen to your body when you die, stuff like that. And then the other half of the Christians, were not asked those questions. And then all of the Christians were brought back together and given a series of questionnaires in which they were asked to evaluate an out group, in this case that outgroup was another separate group of Jewish people. And what they found was that the Christian group who had been exposed to the mortality salience trigger, that they had a slightly harsher evaluations against the the Jewish group, than the the half of the Christians that were not exposed to a death trigger. And so this is like, first of all, just say, this has nothing to do with like, like, implicit, like, inherently being like Christian or Jewish, like you could have put in like, Canadian American, like any kind of like identifier. But this goes to show that, like, religion is often a very, like salient and important and strong form of identification for people. But what this showed was that, you know, whenever we're threatened in some way, with these, like ideas of data that we really, we want to like, strengthen our in group markers, and we become a little bit more suspicious of ideas or people or communities that are different from us, or that threaten what we see as like the nature of the universe, the order of the cosmos. And so this is just like one example and hundreds of studies that have been done at this point that that show this idea, and like I said, you could do this with a number of things, but I chose the, the religious example because of, well, what are conversations usually turned to so the point though, is just to say, like, we, as people, we think about death a lot, and we a lot of what we do in our lives, we're trying to like, make, you know, make meaning and like find a sense of belonging in the world, and that death is just like part of being human. And it's something that at some point, we will have to think about more explicitly, and have to really reckon with and so that is just like some background I guess, into like, why this this last episode. In our What is the serious medical ethics? Is that loosely That is correct. But yeah, just to give a little background unto like, how to like orient to this conversation about like the nature of death, the concept of death and how it how it can be a really powerful motivator of, of human behavior. And so, yeah, I guess, like one of the, one of the stories that I was thinking about, and this is sort of transitioning to a slightly different direction than what I was just talking about, but I was thinking a lot about the Death with Dignity movement, this week. And that, for those who don't know, like, there's a lot of, I think, every year, there's still like, ongoing discussion and debate about how this looks in policy. But the state of Oregon was the first state to implement a policy, I can't remember the year, if anyone knows that off the top of their, their head, for Feel free to say, but we can find that later. But they, Oregon was the first state to implement a policy in which people who were terminally ill were are able to ask for a lethal dose of medication to end their lives, so that they don't have to suffer. And that they, you know, the The purpose of this policy was to give terminally ill patients a sense of control, and a sense of, you know, dignity and normalcy in their last days with family. And so the, the story that I had read long ago was a woman named Brittany Maynard, or main art, I'm not sure exactly how to say her name, but she, she died by this voluntary lethal dose of medication on, I think, in 2014. But before that, she had been diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, and she was 29. And she and her husband, you know, they were young, and there, they knew that there was nothing that was going to save her. And brain cancer is, you know, just, it's a, like a horrifying thing to go through, and would lead to a lot of suffering and a lot of deterioration in her body and in her, like, mental capability and personality, and she didn't want her family to have to watch her suffer that way. And she didn't want to, sorry, my mind's going on here. And she had didn't want to suffer that way. And so she and her husband established residency in Oregon, so that she could participate in the death with dignity. Act. And so anyway, this, this has led to a lot of conversations, and in a lot of different like religious communities and, and medical communities about like, what this means, like, what are the implications of something like this? And this is just like one example in, in medicine have like, conversations about death. Like, there are other things that, you know, we could talk about, like, defining what death even is, because that has changed over the years as well. But I was thinking a lot about this conversation, because there's something that seems almost like paradoxical I guess about it, you know, and I think that's part of what the controversy brings out is, we feel like, you know, especially many people from religious communities who say, well, all life is sacred, and we should, you know, stand by the sanctity of human life and things like that. And so how does something like the Death with Dignity act, violate that principle, or even, you know, uphold it? And, and so, I just wanted to, like, make that our example and to maybe see, especially like, the clergy in the room, what if, what this has looked like in your communities, if this is something that you've come across, and how that conversation has, has played out? Because when I think about it, I, I think a lot about how, you know, and in, you know, like my academic work, what it means to look at something like the death of dignity, like assisted suicide issue and how that is a way of, like fighting death, or, like, Is it a way of fighting death or giving into death? I think that's sort of the Controversy here and that there's like, a lot of different ways to sort of analyze and interpret what this very personal decision actually means. And it's just so interesting because you, you can, you can really understand it, I think from several different angles, that it, it's like a fight against the suffering and the humiliation that the dying process can bring. So that you, you know, maybe like, remain in your friends and family's memories as a vital, like healthy person. Whereas other people see it as like maybe as a kind of giving up. And it's just like, so it's such a personal issue. And so, so yeah, that's, that's what I wanted to just sort of set on the table to get us get us going.   16:02 These are really great things that you're talking about Kendra. And I will say that I have taught about dignity and death from a Jewish perspective. And I want to throw in a couple couple, you post a couple of dichotomies. And I think there's far more there, there's several others dichotomies as well. And so just want to look at that, when we think about death, dignity in dying, right, which is a better terminology than physician assisted suicide. Right, we're giving somebody dignity? Well, we asked, we have to ask ourselves the questions that in the last 100 years, we have progressed and our medical intervention in such incredible ways that we prolong people's lives. Right, I mean, that's vaccines, antibiotics, surgery, right, just simple things like that, that have prolonged people's life. So from from my perspective, there's really this question of our way of prolonging suffering and the suffering part of life and what part of it right so those those pieces and I, I feel I have to live into the roles that I have set up for myself, and I want to share a story. If that is okay, this comes from comes from Tom but of course, because that's where I like to quote a lot of and everyone wants the full full citation Babylonian Talmud traffic to boat page 104 eight. And this, this will lead into part of the conversation that I was thinking. I made servants of Rabbi Yehuda hanasi went through the roof and said, the upper realms are requesting the presence of Rabbi Yehuda hanasi. And the lower realms are requesting the presence of Rabbi Yehuda hanasi. May it be the will of God that the lower world should impose their will upon the upper worlds. However, when she saw how many times he would enter the bathroom, remove his phylacteries exit, put them back on and how he was suffering so with his intestinal disease, she said, may it be the will of God that the upper world should impose their will upon the lower worlds, and the sages, meanwhile, would not be silent, meaning they would not refrain from begging for mercy so that Rabbi Yehuda hanasi would not die. So she took a jug through it from the roof to the ground. And due to the sudden noise, the sages were momentarily silent and refrain from their begging of mercy. And at that moment, Rabbi Yehuda hanasi died. So we use this and modernity we use this story to say, Who are we doing this for? Who are we prolonging the life and therefore the suffering for? Is it because we can't bear to let this person die? Or is it because that's what is necessary? So that's, that's one way we use this story. The second way we use this understanding is from an ethical standpoint. medical ethics has this idea of personal autonomy, resources, my use of adequate resources and do no harm non maleficence. If a person is clearly suffering, is it not the job of the physician to do no harm? Right? So we really ask we really have to under Stand are we causing harm by allowing someone to live? So having said that, a couple of case questions that I was thinking about, if there is a person who has, you know, the example that Kendra gave, right? So this woman has a brain tumor. Let's say she now develops completely Incidentally, just randomly has nothing to do with the brain tumor, she develops severe bronchitis that turns into aspirational pneumonia. Right? Do you treat the pneumonia? Not rhetorical. Do you treat the pneumonia? Not we're not again, we're not touching the brain. We're not doing anything, do you treat pneumonia?   Ian Binns 20:50 I would still defer to the patient's wishes. I said, if the patient says, Hey, I don't want you to treat my pneumonia, and then argue against that? Well, probably, especially if I've made the decision that I'm going to continue on with my life as long as I possibly can until the cancer finally gets me, then yeah, I would treat it   Zack Jackson 21:20 as a doctor, you do what the patient wants. But if it were me, I don't know if I would, I might see that as a grace. Pender Adam,   Rachael Jackson 21:33 I guess it depends how much time I thought I had left. But I'm inclined to answer I guess similarly to to Zack, that maybe I would if I, if I still had like a good bit of quality of life left. So yeah, I guess I would lean more towards Yes.   Adam Pryor 21:57 I don't have enough information to decide. No, I do like information you have. So no, like. So like, what I think about are the answer I might give to that question look very different when I am 29 versus 39 versus 49. versus 59. It looks really different depending on what my familial situation looks like. And to me, it also looks really different based on the this specific type of brain cancer and its prognosis. So there's, there's a spectrum of I might answer yes or no.   22:44 could go either way. What about you, Rachel? Either way, if I were the patient, in this case, I would not treat the pneumonia.   Ian Binns 22:55 Can you explain why?   22:57 Yeah. If I know I'm going to die soon, right? We're all going to die. But if I know that I'm going to die, and it's going to be a terrible dying experience. I wouldn't want to leave that for anyone including myself. Pneumonia is considered old man's friend. Right?   Zack Jackson 23:19 Right. That's why I mentioned it. I see it as a grace. Yeah, but I would still want it. Not to be cured. But I feel like I would want some kind of comfort, at least in it. Recently drowning   23:33 you aren't? Yeah, you I mean, that's the difference, right? You can cure most people. I shouldn't say most times, pneumonia has the ability to be cured. Right. It's not an automatic death sentence if you get pneumonia, but there are plenty of symptom relief things that you can also take, you know, also just like, have enough morphine that you don't care for feel any of it. I bring this up because there are real life examples. Right there real life, right? There's a there's a response that that we look at responses, the Jewish way of saying, Hey, I have this question that doesn't actually have an answer. Hey, rabbis, can you give me an answer, where it talks about a 95 year old woman who has Alzheimer's, severe, severe Alzheimer's? And they compare that to a 16 month old who has severe cannabis disease? Right, both of them will die within the year. What do you do with them? Does their happiness matter does how long they live matter? What matters when we make these decisions? And who is making these decisions? Right in the case that Kendra provided for the death and dignity, the patient themselves is making the call. Oftentimes, when we are faced with questions like this, the patient themselves is not the one capable of making that call, for one reason or another again, in terms of the death, they did In Oregon and Washington, Oregon, I just looked at my notes that was 97. Washington was oh nine. So both those two states habit, and in those cases, the patient themselves must be the one it cannot be a guardian. And there's lots of doctors involved and psychologists and it has to be a hospice situation of six months or less verified by multiple doctors. I mean, it's really above board. This is not the 1990s Kevorkian questions, which is a different question entirely. But I know that that's clouded. Those of us that remember those years very differently than these laws in Washington and Oregon, Washington State and Oregon? Um, I think it's, I think it's all of those pieces. And then when we look at the question of what are we doing for prolonging life, if someone you know, what is death? And I so let me just answer that real quickly. I know I'm jumping all around. And for our listeners, I apologize that I'm just sort of chunking my statements here, I unfortunately will have will have to exit and leave this wonderful conversation. So I just want to put in a couple more thoughts.   Zack Jackson 26:08 Without Rachel, it's gonna turn dark,   26:10 it's gonna get dark, it might turn it gets dark. So I'll have to listen to your statements when they come out, then.   26:22 Um, what what do we classify as death A long time ago, it was when you stopped breathing, and then it became when you stopped having a heartbeat. And then it's when your brain ceases to have brainwaves. Right. And that's where that's where we're at now, is brainwave death. So if your heart is still beating, your body is technically living alive. But your brain is not and cannot be, we don't have a way to resurrect that. So what do we understand death to be. And this is where I see hope in our society. This is where I'm hoping we will get to go that rather than asking these questions of being that we're removing the sanctity of life, we're redefining what life can be. So here's the optimism that you're just going to have to hold on to for just a little bit, because I can't, I can't end the episode this way, because I'm not going to be there. But it's optimism that rather than being afraid of death, which is what so much of our society is dealing with. And as a clergy person facing one's mortality is a question that we face a lot. And I know other third year the same way, and recognizing that, you know, bring on the Lion King, it's the circle of life, it's the circle of life where we're really looking at life, and that death is just a part of that. So getting down and drilling down, what are the things that we're afraid of, and it's, it's often a fear of difficulty and dying, or it's often a fear of an afterlife for some people. So that's not which it's not just death that we're afraid of, in our society with all these medical techniques, we have the ability to, to say, Okay, now we have the control. Right, we have the ability to Yeah, how are we using that control? How are we taking ownership of ourselves and our life, which includes this portion of?   28:27 So that's all for me.   28:33 Good luck.   Zack Jackson 28:55 I'll jump on the religious aspect, because the United Church of Christ actually has made Yeah, you have statements about this topic? Because of course, we have   Ian Binns 29:09 a lot of topics. That's not a complaint.   Zack Jackson 29:15 No. And you know why we do that is because the United Church of Christ is a congregational denomination, which means that the national setting has no power to enforce anything on local churches. So when we get together every other year for General Synod and we make these grand statements of, of witness and whatnot, there's no actual accountability that has to come with that. We can just say these things and then send it to a committee to make a study on it and send out materials to churches. And so unlike other denominations, where when they say something, they actually have to do something about it, we can just say a lot of things. So that's kind of nice, but we did in 2007 have For a resolution on the sea, the resolution was called legalization of physician aid in dying. And as a result of that, they, they voted in to affirm this, which sent it to a committee to do research on the topic and to create a six week study guide for small groups and churches. It was designed to be used during Lent, which is the time in which traditionally, we imagine ourselves in the tomb with Christ. And looking forward to resurrection. And so it's very theologically focused. I will put a link in, in in the show notes. But, you know, one of the things that it really focuses on is that Christians should not be afraid of death, death, and resurrection is kind of our thing. Like, it's, it's an important part of the Christian tradition and story. And so if we believe that death is not a final thing, but a transition into something else, then how one's life ends, his lesson is not all that important. And so whether that person dies by natural causes or dies, in physician assisted ways, the it is still a transition into into what is next. And we believe that people are more than just their physical bodies. And so keeping a physical body alive is not inherently more virtuous than allowing a physical body to die. And so we came down on the side of supporting, but also in an informed way.   Rachael Jackson 31:58 Zach, just to get out of like a clarifying question, maybe, because I think what a lot of what we've been talking about is, you know, the policies and statements that are for this kind of, you know, choice in deliberating like how someone wants to die, but just in case, there's any confusion for people who didn't like grow up in, in a community where there was a lot of opposition to this. I just wanted to, like, put out there some of the ways that people have been thinking about, like, aid and dying, and, and I personally didn't grow up with a ton of conversation around this. So I'll just say, like, from, from what I understand, like some of the verses, I guess, that were, that could be used to, like, deny someone the ability to have, like their own, like authority in determining when they could die if they were terminally ill, or versus, like one in or several, I guess, in the New Testament, but I'll just read one, which is in First Corinthians 316 through 17. And it says, Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you, if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. And so it's like, versus like that, that I have these vague memories of people sort of using that as like, the theological argument of like, Well, someone shouldn't have should, someone shouldn't be able to make the decision to die before their time. Because, you know, like, the idea that your body is not your own, and that you just have to, like live until, like, God decides that it's not your time anymore. And so that's, that's, that's my memory of like that how that discussion went, but I like it. What else is there Zack? I feel like you probably have more like experiences and memories of how people have maybe argued this does that sound pretty? Pretty right to you? It does.   Zack Jackson 34:27 I was taught as a kid that taking any human life is a sin. And so taking your own human life is a sin. And because you took the life and then died with that sin, having not the opportunity to repent from it, then anyone who took their own life whether in this setting or in you know any other way would end up in hell was what I was taught in no uncertain terms. Yeah, which I think I've mentioned in a previous episode before, that my mom's explanation to me was that anyone who takes their own life, their brain typically has some issues going on. And God would see that in the same way that God would see the brain of someone with down syndrome who doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the ancient Creed's or, like, something like that. And it's also, as I reflect back now, I think about how those same people who would tell me that taking a life is a sin. Also found ways of getting around it when it was the death penalty or war. They found ways of theologically explaining those things, but not typically suicide, whether physician assisted or otherwise, or abortion, those were the two that were like, there's no way around that. But war and death penalty, they often found theological ways around it. And that's usually what we do, isn't it? when we, when our worldview supports something, we find a way of making our theology support it.   Ian Binns 36:15 So we cherry pick? Yeah, this this part supports my my conclusion. So I'm going to love this part, even if many other parts don't support it, I'll ignore this. Yeah, and I think that   Rachael Jackson 36:30 what you just said back to like that, that also resonates are I remember, some of my, like early conversations, saying that exact thing like about people going to hell when they make that decision. And I think what is what was always absent from those conversations, though, those like theological interpretations, it seemed like there was a conflation of all the circumstances in which someone might choose to, like, take their life. And obviously, it's like a super sensitive subject and really complicated, but I think that, like, a lot of what we've been talking about here, right now is, you know, the idea that, like, we're talking about a reduction in suffering, or like the attempt to reduce suffering and, like, focus on like, quality of life, rather than quantity of life. Which, you know, still still tricky, still controversial, but that that's really, I think, the core of what people are are thinking about when they like support something like the Death with Dignity act, and it's, it's, I think it does in in a lot of cases come down to are you are you emphasizing quality, or quantity? And it's not always easy to like separate those things out but that's where I see the difference and maybe like the the core of some of the disagreements about like whether this is a good thing.   Zack Jackson 38:11 I think I would be really interested in hearing different points of view based on profession. Yeah. Cuz I think a couple of years ago, this whole topic would have made me very uncomfortable. But I'm death is just such a part of my life. As a pastor of a primarily older congregation. All all day, all week all year, I'm, I'm with the dead and the dying and it has lost its staying. death itself is no longer something that really terrifies me. It's it's become this kind of more beautiful part of being alive. This transition that it's hard to explain, because then it makes you sound callous, and a little dead inside. But I think it's one of the most beautiful experiences when I can be present with someone at the end of their life. It is this holy and sacred thin space when somebody is breathing their last breaths. So I'm not afraid of it anymore. You know? Plus, I live with a pastor who used to be a hospice chaplain. So like, we talk about death around the dining room table.   Rachael Jackson 39:34 Just your everyday dinner conversation.   Zack Jackson 39:38 Yeah, so I almost kind of like the idea of getting to choose when you go because then you're not, then you're not worrying about the process of dying. Adam. Oh,   Adam Pryor 39:51 Zach, what you mean like death became a part of life. You said that, which is only interesting to me because Rachel said it too. Is that? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I'm after.   Zack Jackson 40:07 All right, so. So I did a CPE, which is clinical pastoral education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. And my very first day, I was training with one of the chaplains, I walked into a room, because she had given called in, and the woman had died. Just maybe 15 minutes before we got there. And I didn't know that. And I'm standing in the room, and somebody mentions that she's dead. And I looked over at this person laying there that could have just been sleeping. But then suddenly, I was aware that this person had died. And I felt so weird. And I felt so creepy because this person wasn't prepared and dressed up and you know, the whole, like, Oh, they look just like they're, they look so good. The way you do it a viewing. This is a person that was still hooked up to machines and looked pretty bad, and was dead. And it was horrifying. And there's a certain smell that comes with death. And I thought about that for days and weeks. And then I just kept going and doing it. And as a chaplain being called when people were at the end, and sitting down with people, and you kind of I don't know, you do a scary thing a couple of times, and you get through it, and it's not as scary. And then once you're less afraid, you start to notice the more holy aspects of it. You know, for example, when a person is dying, and they know that they're dying, and they have disavowed themselves have the this mythology that they will live forever, and they know that the end is near, do you know the kinds of conversations you can have with a person in that state? They are the most honest conversations that that person has ever had in their life. And to be able to just speak openly about like, what do you think it's gonna be like, later on? Today? Maybe even? What do you think? those spaces, those conversations, it's almost like talking with an astronaut before they they go off into the great expanse, you know, you're, you're about to go see something that I'm not gonna see for a long time. And I want to talk with you about how you're feeling about it. And so I do this, and I've done this for years. And yeah, this is why most pastors were telling me they prefer funerals to weddings. There's less drama, and there's way more honesty, and it's a much more sacred and holy place that, that thin space at the end of life.   Adam Pryor 42:51 So I mean, I'm kind of sad, Rachel is not here, because I think it's like, probably the like place where like, we were gonna line up more than she would want to give credit for. I mean, I'll still still poke at her. But especially cuz she's not here to defend herself. But I'm an academic, that's what we do. So what I'm thinking about Zach is like, I think this language that both you and Rachel use, I think it comes from a very, like, pastoral. I mean, that in the broad sense, right, a sense of care place, to delimit to expose a place of scientific overreach, I don't think is like what we would describe it as doing, but I think it's implicitly what, what's happening, right? Which is, in a sciency way, right? Life is not dead. How do you define life? It's the persistence of not dying. Right? And if life is taken as that it's terrifying to die. But that's a very, I think, particularly in the 20th 21st century, right? Like, that's a very scientific way of getting at this right. It's this sense of saying, science has described for me, the ways in which something is living. Right, called biology. And, and what I think like, what I think is interesting, is that the pastoral approach that I think both you and Rachel want to take, wants to put the brakes on that for a second and say, hold up. what we think of as living might not line up directly with a definition Have the mechanics of a body or thing, trying to continually self perpetuate itself. And, on the one hand those sound like, like, Okay, so that's how religion is going to do this. And on the other hand, there are these sciency things that you can do, which are great. And, you know, sometimes great, and sometimes we should use them. And sometimes we shouldn't, but, but I think what, what I would push on is that, I think how we decide when to use and when not to use those medical and scientific interventions, lines up with, not how we think about death. But how we've defined life. Like, by bringing death into a part of life, right, you've reframed the conversation in a way that you can't, in the scientific context, because for somebody to be dead, be fundamentally not to be alive. Right, whereas that binary gets broken down. If you make death part of life.   Zack Jackson 46:27 at its best, one of the things that religion is supposed to do is to suppress the ego. And a person. Religion is a way of connecting a person to something larger than themselves. And one of the ways that my personal religion my faith does that is through knowing how interconnected that I am, that I mean, in my faith, I'll call that the Holy Spirit. I will also from my, you know, scientifically, I'll talk talk about the the atoms and molecules in my body, that are constantly being introduced and sent back out and you know, re forming and fighting back against entropy in order to create this thing. But that, you know, stars exploded A long time ago. And those those star pieces made this, and they made countless other living creatures before me, and they will make so many more after me. And so the me I see as a we, I don't, I'm not so worried about the death of my ego, because my religion has helped me to kill most of it anyway. And so, you know, people talk about having leaving a legacy, how will people remember me? How will I be remembered, they build these pyramids in the desert, because they want to be remembered, the ego has to live on well afterwards, which completely misses the entire point of the interconnectedness of the universe, and just the miracle of life, you know, Carl Sagan said that we are a way for the universe to know itself. And I love that I think that's has such, so spiritually profound. Those, those atoms that were created in those supernova are now able to know themselves because of this brief instance that we call Zack Jackson. And I love that, and I, so I think of death. And this is why I said at the beginning, that when I die, I want to be composted. Because I, when you cremate someone, you'll lose a lot of a lot of that organic material to the combustion. When you bury someone in a, like, traditionally, you know, you don't give back and I want 100% of, of what I am to go back, because I want it to live on as it lived on before me.   Rachael Jackson 49:13 And when you're pressed into a gemstone, similarly, you also live on   Zack Jackson 49:19 100%. I mean,   Adam Pryor 49:24 I think I mean, there's no segue from pressing people's bodies into gemstones that I can that I can make. I so yeah. I I'm also thinking about the question that Rachel asked Dan. And like, where that falls into this and like how I would think about it, and to not give the like snarky I need more information answer. Like Well, I I'm gonna stick with my snarky, like, I need more information, but not in the like, not in the sense of like, Okay. In an almost snarky or sense, don't worry, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go deeper, which is to say like, even if you gave me the information, okay, I don't know if I could answer the question one for anyone but myself. And two. For me this sort of like I, I'm very sympathetic to this idea that that like death is part of life right to overcome that dichotomy, right and that it has this, that making that movement and using religious traditions to make that movement de centers as in really, really important ways. So, I am 100%, on board there, it still leaves me with a big, long polling question, right, which is almost I think, harder, which is then to say, like, we will, but then how do you define that living thing? Like, how do you find that living thing that can be subject to death? And now, it's not just living by being a proxy of not being dead? Like, that's the question that that for me, comes immediately after the very pastoral movement that I heard you and Rachel making. And I mean, I think it's exciting because I don't think there are great answers to it. But also, I would take a stab at answering it, which is, I think what makes Rachel's predicament so difficult to deal with. So, I, I would play a language game, unsurprisingly. Right. Which is to say that we when we when we say something is living, or what it means to live, right, we can meet it in two senses, grammatically, and in transitive and a transitive sense. So we can mean it as something is alive. Right? as a state of situation, or we can mean it as the experience of living. Right? So that it's this this lived experience that one has not a state of being something, right. So it has these two senses when we use it. And for me, I think it's getting in to and being cognizant and about that sense of the lived experience, that's really important. Can I identify a set of experiences that living stuff house, that's essential to how I would think about whether or not I'm not actually ending my life is that 29 year old with the brain tumor who now has pneumonia. But as the 29 year old with a brain tumor, who's now got pneumonia, was I already dead? Because I had ceased to do the things by which I would constitute having living experience. So I'm not actually dying. And doing that no one's assisting me in dying, I was already dead. Even everybody that looks around me says, aha, you're alive because you have a heartbeat, or brain function, or this or that other thing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know this goes down like a, an ethical, good. gray area might not be the right description, ethical terror, then that that can result. But I do think it's really I think it's really important to shapes the way that I think about life in what it means to live in really, really critical ways. I'm so sorry. Now I'm monologuing. Right? But like my, my bit here would be to say like, my cheeky answer of like, I need more information. Is that like, when Rachel puts that scenario forward? What I think about is me at 29. And at 29. I've got a three year old kid. And there are a vast number of things that I desire to have in relationship to the people who are in my life at 29 that says, Hell no, go treat that pneumonia. But I can also imagine a 29 year old for whom those desires for relationships which would be really critical to how I would define life are really gone. And then the pneumonia is, is the friend that makes a death that is already realized for that person available to everyone else to mourn?   Rachael Jackson 55:11 Yeah, I see a lot of what you're saying, Adam, as relevant to, like, the way that we kind of started and talking about, like, what, what are these different kinds of deaths and that we have, understandably, like an over emphasis maybe on like, the physical death. Because, you know, that's like, our physical bodies are a threat everyone, like sees and experiences immediately and, you know, I guess it's like, easier to make policies that affect those physical.   Adam Pryor 55:53 Like, I can measure the thing that I just,   Rachael Jackson 55:55 exactly. And that's what it like, the the scientific piece is, um, you know, it's far from simple, but it is simpler. And some cases, when you're dealing with, like, the physical stuff, but that there is, you know, we can talk about social death, or whatever other kind of death, but I think like, what you were just elaborating is, like, what I would call a social death of being totally disconnected, having like, no support system and no drive or capacity to be connected to a community or to a support system. And, you know, I get that that can like sound a little dramatic, I guess, to say, like, you're socially dead if you don't have those things. But, I mean, there's no, there's no denying that that makes an impact on people's lives, and all sorts of measurable ways that like social science has been measuring for, you know, many, many decades. And so that there's something about that feels really intuitive to me, even though, yeah, like you said, there's also like all kinds of other ethical conundrums that come up. But also,   Adam Pryor 57:13 let me just say, I mean, I'm cheating. I did write part of my dissertation on like, phenomenologies of life and death. So like, it's not like I just like came out with this quickly, like, I mean, I've been thinking about it for a decade. So yeah, I just, I feel like I should I want to do research,   Ian Binns 57:39 that I should all do research. I don't really wish you'd come up with these answers totally on the fly. So I'm gonna have to just dismiss everything you said?   Zack Jackson 57:49 Well, I learned all of my lessons about death from the school of hard knocks out on the front lines.   Adam Pryor 57:57 I mean, I will say too, though, I, I do think about it in personal ways, right? Like by my mother has pretty severe dementia. Right? Which has an interesting place within how people talk about death with dignity, right? It doesn't fit the legalistic framework that's been set up for like the Death with Dignity movement. And I think that's, its mean, a sound super cold. And I don't mean it that way. But it's like, in some ways, sort of interesting to see the ways in which working with a person who loses mental faculties illustrates the ways in which one's life is not one's own.   Ian Binns 58:47 Well, what is the difference? I feel like I know the answer to this, but the difference between death with dignity and a living will   Zack Jackson 58:55 a living well just says what you want to happen to you.   Ian Binns 59:00 Right? So you know, if you're,   Zack Jackson 59:03 if you're in a state where that sort of thing is legal, then you could put that in your living well,   Ian Binns 59:09 right. Well, you make that but I mean, if you're in a situation like that's where you write down, you don't want any extraordinary measures are taken that kind of stuff.   Zack Jackson 59:18 Right? Which listener if you don't have a living will, it's not hard to do and you should, you should definitely do it. My wife and I both have it you never know. You never know and it is always better for the people who are trying to take care of you if they know your wishes ahead of time and then every hospital   Adam Pryor 59:35 chaplain will thank you Yep.   Ian Binns 59:38 In my having written down Yes, every hospital chaplain will take you haven't officially written down and a living will takes away all those questions.   Zack Jackson 59:48 Write and right let it let everyone know what you want for your funeral for my mom has been making a playlist for her funeral for years, which includes Zombie by the cranberries which I told her is in bad taste   Adam Pryor 1:00:07 that decision   Zack Jackson 1:00:14 Yes, she at one point wanted time if your life by green days she was going through something in the 90s until I told her that the name of the song is actually good riddance. And then time of your life, it's a tongue in cheek song. Despite the fact that every single graduating class in the late 90s, early 2000s used it in their graduation. It is not what you think when you talk   Ian Binns 1:00:39 about like, for some reason, maybe think about this. But Did you all hear the story of the Irish man who died in 2019? And he set it up so that when his casket was being lowered into the grave, he had recorded himself? Oh, he was a prankster. As it's going down, all sudden, you hear his voice being like, hey,   Adam Pryor 1:01:06 let me out. Let me Oh, stuff like that. That they put out, right? Yeah. The soul Bell like, you know, because sometimes they got it wrong. You weren't really bad, or people were afraid that they got it wrong, or that you weren't really dead. So you could ring a bell and they would open the casket real quick. And you know, usually that was gross.   Rachael Jackson 1:01:25 Yeah, no, that is terrifying. Which is why if you get pressed into a gemstone and then have the rest of your body buried as Dustin of death, you can, you don't have to worry about that.   Zack Jackson 1:01:39 This is the reason why Thomas the campus is not a saint, despite the fact that he wrote the second best selling Christian book of all time, the imitation of Christ, when they zoomed his body, they found claw marks on the top of the coffin because he had been buried alive and they said a real saint would have just accepted his debt instead of fighting it. And so they never canonized him, which is Bs, which is why I think I call him a saint when I when I think about my bookie and that's all that matters, right? Oh, boy.   Ian Binns 1:02:13 So yes, dear listener, if we don't have in our notes, look it up Irishman pranks his family funeral, it was hilarious to watch. But the thing is that everyone expected it. Yeah. Okay, so first read it. They all tell everyone to do stuff like that. If you don't know, I don't think. I don't think he told them that he was gonna do that. I think maybe if you knew, but at least they knew he was a prankster. Right? And tell the funeral director telling jokes. And oh my gosh, it's so funny. To see all those people just chuckling. So, yeah, I think I'm gonna put some like that. So everyone   Zack Jackson 1:02:58 wants that everyone wants people to laugh at their funeral. Everyone I've ever talked to about this, they always go, I don't want people to cry and be sad at my service. I want people to be happy and tell stories and laugh. And every single person said this, I always tell them, do you think there's anyone out there who wants their loved ones to cry? No. But we're going to, because we're going to miss you. You're not going to be there. So you really don't get a say in this. And I'm going to cry at your funeral. And there's nothing you can do to stop me. And if you want to haunt me, go ahead. I'd actually kind of like that, I think, at least for a little while. Don't do anything weird and creepy. So like, my grandma told me, she doesn't want to serve us because she doesn't want people crying. And I said, I don't care, grandma. And she looked at me and she was like, might you wait, no, this is what I want. And I said, I don't care, because you're not going to be here. And these services are for the living and not for the dead. And there have been too many times people didn't want to burden someone else by you know, they don't want them to be sad, and then they don't get closure. So I'm all for respecting people's wills and wishes and all of that. But I am not above throwing a gorilla funeral service. When I need to   Ian Binns 1:04:13 fly I want to be I like in the various cultures around the world that treat it more as a celebration of life. Where they still have the moment and the funeral or somewhere where it is sad and things like that. But that it is a I remember, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica, that was what they were. Someone was explaining to me it's it's a celebration of that person's life.   Zack Jackson 1:04:32 I learned recently that Church, The Orthodox Church has an annual Feast on the day of a person's death for the first couple of years. So you get your family back together. You have a big meal and you share stories of that person on the anniversary of their death. And I think that's   Rachael Jackson 1:04:48 spectacular here. The dead one that's a great opportunity to hot people.   Adam Pryor 1:04:54 Absolutely. So efficient and catterall. There. That's what everybody longs for.   Zack Jackson 1:05:03 Just get them all in one place takes a lot of energy to haunt Adam.   Ian Binns 1:05:08 Yeah, I will have to say, Zack that I do feel like this conversation was probably a little bit more uplifting than the conversation about middle age,   Zack Jackson 1:05:21 which is hilarious, right? And a part of that, I think is because I wasn't there. I   Ian Binns 1:05:25 feel I feel happier. After this one than I did the last one,   Zack Jackson 1:05:30 the middle aged conversation was about the fear of death. And this one is about the acceptance of accepted it. It's great.   Kendra Holt-Moore 1:05:41 Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna end with a quote that was gonna bring us back down. But I guess I'll just leave that off. Because I feel like we're in a good place. Oh, God, go   Ian Binns 1:05:49 ahead. Go ahead. Bring it No, I   Kendra Holt-Moore 1:05:50 don't know that it fits. It also takes us back to like terror management theory, which we've kind of not really been talking about. So this is good.   Zack Jackson 1:06:00 Okay, well, we can end our series with an announcement then, that this is the last episode in this mini series, which will bring us to, I think just about our two year anniversary. And so in celebration of that, and also because we have a whole bunch of professors that are going to be doing a lot of transitioning in this period, and a rabbi who will be entering into high holy days, and me who's just doing stuff. We're gonna we're gonna put up some of our favorite episodes from the first two years. And so if you missed them, or if you just want to listen to him again, because I've been listening to some of the older episodes, and there's some they're made of Kendra in there. And then after that, when we're gonna What's that? Yeah, they're made Oh, cuz they're gem gems. Ah, that was a call back I gotcha. Very well played. So when we come back from that, we've got a whole slate of new interviews and a new format for the show that will focus around storytelling, and a variety of new segments, which we're excited to bring you, which may or may not include books we've read or demons that we've loved or dead Christians. We want to tell fun stories about   Rachael Jackson 1:07:29 and listener questions gonna leave you   Zack Jackson 1:07:31 with that and listener questions. Oh, yeah, that's the important one. So we've got a lot in store for year three, and we're excited to bring it to you. gonna end it with that.

Five years after 29-year-old, terminally ill Brittany Maynard makes national news by choosing to end her life early, medically assisted death continues to face enormous legal and social barriers. And yet public support of the practice is high. As life-expectancy and palliative care improve, we face new questions: Under what circumstances are people allowed to choose when and how they die? And how might rethinking the conversation and practices around death change our very conception of it? To find out, Laura and Leah speak with California's leading end-of-life doctor and a healthy octogenarian who plans to quit while she's ahead.

As part of the ReImagine virtual festival celebrating Life, Loss, and Love, and in collaboration with Keeper Memorials, Death Doula LA, and Compassion and Choices, The Adventures of Memento Mori hosted a conversation about Medical Aid In Dying. Joining me were two family members whose terminally ill loved ones decided to peacefully end their own lives: Myra Shulman, daughter of Beverly, and Dan Diaz, husband of Brittany Maynard.

In 2014, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer, moved from California to Oregon to take advantage of the death-with-dignity law. She later ended her life that same year. Today, physician aid-in-dying is legal in eight states and Washington D.C. What is a physician’s role in death, and can aid-in-dying be successfully instituted in the United States with our current healthcare system?

In this episode, Samantha Trad and Stacey Golden-Lisnock discuss:Patient-centered and patient-directed end of life careThe California End of Life Option ActAid in Dying medicationKey takeaways:Important to note that there are certain medical organizations with religious affiliations such as Dignity Health where you will not have the full range of End of Life options because doctors are not allowed to practice them due to their ties with the church.In many cases, the medication is not used but it is the peace of mind of knowing there is an option should the terminally ill person’s suffering escalate.There are locations to return the lethal dose of Aid in Dying medication and advice on how to correctly dispose of it should you decide not to use it.In California, Medicare DOES cover the Aid in Dying medication.Medical Aid in Dying IS NOT assisted suicide. It is utilized when a terminally ill person who is given a prognosis of six months or less to live who is mentally capable can request medication to self-ingest to bring about a peaceful death.Find Compassion and Choices on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CompassionandChoices Website:https://compassionandchoices.org/ To sign up for the waitlist for the Emergency Info File course:https://www.gotittogethernow.com/GotItTogetherNowWaitlist544459-3038 If you are interested in being a guest, with a story to tell, go to the website and complete the Storyteller Application. at https://legacytherapypodcast.com/getinterviewed If you are a service professional and would like to be a guest, please complete the Industry Professional Application at https://legacytherapypodcast.com/getinterviewed

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the U.S., including deaths by suicide. In 2017 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 47,173 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. On average, someone in the country dies by suicide every 12 minutes.   With those totals, we are all bound to be involved in investigating suicides.  Suicides can be acute, meaning short term or spur of the moment final decision, or a well planned and risk assessed action.  In this episode of Coroner Talk™ we are going to look at the pros if there be any, and the cons of a planned suicide. Featured in this week's show is a PBS production of  Frontline that deals with the topic of a well-planned suicide and the legal and moral implication that accompany such a decision.  Regardless of where you stand on the topic, this episode will start you thinking of the other side. The Assisted Suicide Debate Since Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 1997, more than 700 people have taken their lives with prescribed medication — including Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with an incurable brain tumor, who ended her life earlier this month. Read More at the website HERE  

Episode 121. After being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2014, Brittany Maynard made headlines when she decided to use medication to end her own life at the age of 29. ElderLawAnswers National Director Rebecca A. Hobbs speaks with Brittany's husband, Dan Diaz, to share the story of Brittany.“My dream is that every terminally ill American has access to the choice to die on their own terms with dignity. Please take an active role to make this a reality.” – Brittany Maynard(http://thebrittanyfund.org/)

Episode 122. ElderLawAnswers National Director Rebecca A. Hobbs speaks with Brittany Maynard's husband, Dan Diaz, who talks about his advocacy work for right-to-die laws. Brittany Maynard transformed the conversation about death with dignity after she learned that she had terminal brain cancer and bravely decided to share her story with the world through the organizationCompassion Choices. Since Brittany's passing on Nov 1, 2014, her husband Dan has been working to fulfill his promise to Brittany to advocate for Medical Aid and Dying and Death with Dignity and have legislation passed in various states.“I won't live to see the death-with-dignity movement reach critical mass, but I call on you to carry it forward.” – Brittany Maynard (http://thebrittanyfund.org/)

In the United States, the majority of states have made it illegal for terminally ill patients enduring great suffering to end their own lives on their terms. Most of the opposition is fueled by religion. In this broadcast, we explore Death With Dignity issues, we talk about various organizations assisting those who wish to take some control over their life and death, and we finish the show with special guest Dan Diaz, husband of the late Brittany Maynard, who's story (and partnership with http://www.compassionandchoices.org) gained international attention.Support our sponsors:Get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus via http://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/sethGet a free 7-day Blinkist trial via http://www.blinkist.com/sethOther resources and links:http://www.deathwithdignity.orghttp://www.finalexitnetwork.org

Guest Bios Show Transcript Is Assisted Suicide a compassionate means of ushering the terminally ill into the next life? Or is it simply a way of pressuring those we consider a burden to take their own lives?  This week on The Roys Report, I'll be talking about this issue with Wesley Smith, one the world's foremost critics of euthanasia. Also joining me will be Kimberly Kuo—who has a powerful story of how her husband's battle with cancer transformed her thinking on this issue.  I really hope you can join us for The Roys Report, this Saturday morning at 11 on AM 1160 Hope for Your Life and on Sunday night at 7 on AM 560 The Answer! This Weeks Guests Wesley J. Smith ...is among the world's foremost critics of assisted suicide and utilitarian bioethics. In 2004 he was named by the National Journal as one of the nation's top expert thinkers in bioengineering for his work in bioethics. In 2008, the Human Life Foundation named him a Great Defender of Life. And just a few weeks ago, he was named to Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network Board of Directors. His Human Exceptionalism blog, hosted by National Review Online, is one of the premier blogs dealing with human life and dignity. His latest book (2016) is the newly updated and revised edition of Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers of the modern bioethics movement. When first published it was named one of the Ten Outstanding Books of the Year and Best Health Book of the Year for 2001 (Independent Publisher Book Awards). Smith has published hundreds of articles and opinion columns nationally and internationally, including in Newsweek, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, the Weekly Standard, National Review, The Age (Australia), The Telegraph (United Kingdom), Western Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Bioethics. Throughout his career in public and consumer advocacy, Smith has appeared on thousands of television and radio programs including such national shows as ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, CNN World Report, CBS Evening News, EWTN, C-SPAN, Fox News Network, as well as nationally syndicated radio programs, including Coast to Coast, Dennis Miller, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and EWTN. Kimberly Kuo ...has over 25 years experience as a Communications and Marketing professional in national politics, federal government, corporations and start-ups. Her experience in politics includes time as Press Secretary for Senate Majority Leader and then presidential candidate Bob Dole and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. She currently serves as Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Communications and Communities at Coca-Cola Consolidated. In addition to opinion pieces, she also writes music, poetry and children's fiction. She loves writing for and teaching young kids at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, N.C., and her greatest joy is adventuring with her two children. Show Transcript Note: This transcript has been edited slightly for continuity. Segment 1 Welcome to The Roys Report, brought to you in part by Judson University.  I am Julie Roys.  And I'm so glad that you've joined me to talk about, what is admittedly a very sobering but important subject—euthanasia and assisted suicide. So what do you think about euthanasia or assisted suicide?  Is this a humane way to usher those with terminal illnesses into the next life?  Or, is it simply a way to pressure those that we consider a burden to take their own life? Over the past 25 years, the move to legalize assisted suicide has accelerated rapidly.  In 1997, Oregon became the first state to legalize euthanasia.  Today, eight states and the District of Columbia have joined Oregon's ranks.  A ninth state will be added in September when a new law goes into effect in Maine.  Over the years, nearly 1,500 people in Oregon have died from ingesting drugs legally prescribed by a doctor.  In the state of Washington, nearly 1,400 people have done the same.  But that's nothing compared to the numbers of people euthanized worldwide.  In the Netherlands, for example, where assisted suicide was first made legal, more than 6,000 people die by euthanasia and assisted suicide every single year.  And just about a month ago, a 17-year-old Dutch rape victim, who suffered from depression, starved herself to death after requesting euthanasia. It's unclear if the doctors played any role in her death, though my guest today argues that it really doesn't matter.  He writes: “A teenager, with a terrible psychiatric condition, was allowed to make herself dead instead of receiving continued and robust treatment efforts.  That's abandonment as surely as providing a lethal injection.  This is where all assisted suicide or euthanasia legalization laws eventually lead.  Once a society accepts killing as an acceptable way to eliminate human suffering, there is no limit as to the categories of suffering that will eventually justify eliminating the sufferer.”  Well, my guest today is Wesley J. Smith, one of the world's foremost critics of assisted suicide and utilitarian bioethics. Wesley is an author and a senior fellow at The Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism.  And his Human Exceptionalism blog, which is hosted by National Review Online, is one of the premier blogs dealing with human life and dignity. His latest book is the newly updated and revised edition of Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine. So Wesley, welcome to The Roys Report.  I'm so glad you could join me.   WESLEY J. SMITH:  Well, thank you for having me and hello to your listeners. JULIE ROYS:  So Wesley, you know, let's talk a little bit about this Dutch teenager who committed suicide.  By all accounts, she didn't die by injection or prescribed drugs.  I think it is a little bit unclear. But can you explain more why you feel that her suicide is actually the result of sort of this culture of death that assisted suicide and euthanasia contributes to?   WESLEY J. SMITH:  Well, absolutely. I call that an abetted suicide.  And this is what I mean.  Starving oneself to death is known in euthanasia parlance as VSED for Voluntary Stop Eating and Drinking. It is pushed by euthanasia and assisted suicide groups such as Compassion and Choices, which used to be more honestly named The Hemlock Society.  And in fact, in the Compassion and Choices, they promote aggressively and teach people how to do it for elderly people who may not qualify for legal assisted suicide in states where it's legal, but are tired of life or just feel that their life is over and it's time to move on.  So, what happened, is this teenage woman, a young woman, or late, you know, teenager, had been sexually molested when she was 11.  And had been gang raped by two men when she was 14.  Obviously, that caused a terrible upset in this poor thing, poor girl.  But she had actually managed to make something positive out of it.  She wrote a best-selling book, just as an example, to show the vitality of her life force, that tried to make something positive out of this awful experience, which she was suffering from depression, anorexia, PTSD and so forth.  And at the end, she asked for the mental health officials to provide her with electro-shock therapy, which can help in treating depression.  She was refused on the basis that she was too young. So she then decided I'm going to just starve myself to death, obviously having been told about this VSED situation. Now in VSED, people don't just starve and dehydrate themselves to death, generally, without a doctor's help because of the symptoms you would experience. If you don't eat, the pain and don't take water, the pain and suffering can be quite intense. So what often happens is that a doctor will palliate those symptoms – give you drugs to make, so that you don't feel them so well that actually helps you then continue on with this suicide effort, which is suicide in slow motion.  What I suspect happened, and I don't know, is that doctors in the Netherlands probably put her, may have, let's put it, instead of probably, may have because there's an investigation ongoing, may have put her into an artificial coma to allow her to complete this process of ten days dehydration.  That is something called “terminal sedation.”  And terminal sedation isn't intended to just palliate symptoms. It is intended to make it so the person dies.  And it must be distinguished—I hate to be (inaudible) but we have to be nuanced—from what is known as palliative sedation.  In a situation where someone is actively dying and perhaps, they're suffering from anxiety or the pain is difficult to control, doctors' palliative experts can put patients into a sedated state that can actually be titrated up and down. The point of that isn't to kill people. The point of that, is to make it so that they live as fully as possible considering their circumstances.  The point of terminal sedation isn't when somebody's dying but is to make them so that they don't eat or drink. In fact, in the Netherlands, more people die by terminal sedation than die by active euthanasia.  To the point that in an article I wrote a couple of years ago, it seems that about 24% of all Dutch deaths, may be induced by doctors when you include euthanasia, assisted suicide, (euthanasia being lethal injection, assisted suicide being lethal prescription) terminal sedation and so forth.  So I think if we ever learn the full truth of what happened to this 17 year old girl, we will find that doctors were certainly a part of her suicide by self-starvation and dehydration.    JULIE ROYS:  This is, I mean, I'm trying to wrap my head around this.  I mean, one, you have a girl who is 17 years old.  She's not old enough to get the treatment that she so desires but she is old enough to be killed. WESLEY J. SMITH:  Julie she's not old enough to consent to a tattoo! JULIE ROYS:  It's just mind boggling to me.  And then you're telling me that 24% of deaths may be caused, in the Netherlands, to doctors?  I mean that's like a complete violation of the Hippocratic Oath, right, is to do no harm? WESLEY J. SMITH:  Oh yeah, right, of course it is. But doctors don't take the Hippocratic Oath anymore.  And again emphasizing, 24% isn't the number of people lethally injected.  24% includes people who might be sedated so that they die over 2 weeks and this kind of thing.  And in fact, there have been stories out of the Netherlands, the reason that doctors are turning more frequently to terminal sedation, is under the euthanasia law of the Netherlands, the doctors actually have to be present when the patient is killed.  And that's what they're talking about, you know, euthanasia, you're killing the patient—you're giving them a lethal injection.  But in terminal sedation, the doctor doesn't have to be present. And there have been stories out of the Netherlands about how anxiety-causing euthanasia is for the doctor, which one would expect and one would hope when you're killing people that that would be something you'd never get used to. So, when you include all of the types of induced death that can exist and I'm speaking off the top of my head, but it was about 24%.   JULIE ROYS:  Wow, wow.  And this is supposed to be, I mean, this is what the advocates of assisted suicide and euthanasia say, they say this is the compassionate alternative. And yet, we're seeing this being used to really create a society, where if you're not, you know, deemed worthy of living, then we can encourage you, you know, maybe pressure you, maybe just not offer you the help that you need. So that you just going to usher, you know, into that next life. Not very compassionate, Wesley.  WESLEY J. SMITH:  Well, the Netherlands has always had a stunted hospice sector and palliative care sector because they've been allowing euthanasia since the 70's. It was formally legalized in 2002 but before that, it was decriminalized so that if a doctor followed the supposed guidelines, that are intended to protect against abuse, they would not, and they reported it to the coroner, they would not be prosecuted. But I hope your listeners understand that these supposed guidelines, to protect against abuse, are just there to assuage people's fears.  They're really not designed to protect anyone.  For example . . . JULIE ROYS:  One second, Wesley, we have to go to break so I hate to cut you off. But we'll come back to it.  We just have to take a short break.  Again, Dr. Wesley Smith, a critic of assisted suicide and a senior fellow at The Discovery Institute is joining me.  When I come back, I'll have another guest for whom this subject is very personal.  Stay tuned. SEGMENT 2 JULIE ROYS:  Well, euthanasia is increasingly becoming accepted around the world and here in the U.S.  Welcome back to The Roys Report.  I'm Julie Roys.  And today we're talking about assisted suicide and euthanasia and the sanctity of human life. Our show today is recorded, so I can't take your calls. However, I encourage you, you can join the live conversation online by going to Facebook.com/ReachJulieRoys. Or to get to me on Twitter, use my handle @ReachJulieRoys. Also, I want to let you know that today I am giving away copies of Wesley Smith's most recent book: Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine. This is a warning about the dangers of the modern bioethics movement. Great book. Great resource. So if you'd like to enter to win that book, just go to Julie.Roys.com/giveaway. Again, joining me today is Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism. And I have another guest waiting to tell a really compelling story about how this has personally impacted her life.  But Wesley, I wanted to give you a chance to sort of finish your thought, that you didn't get a chance to finish at the end of the last segment, about how these laws—they're supposed to be about compassion, they're supposed to be a last resort for suicide and euthanasia.  Yet, that's really not how they're written, is it?  WESLEY J. SMITH:  That's correct and with regard to the 24% of Dutch deaths being induced, it's actually, as I added it up, 25%.   And the people want to see how it came to that conclusion, they can go to National Review online, the corner, my article of January 21st, 2019.  It will be easy to find if people are interested in how I determined that figure.  In terms of, I was going to get into domestic assisted suicide advocacy. It is always sold as an issue of to be a kind of a safety valve, a last resort to prevent an agonizing death when nothing else can be done to alleviate suffering. But that's not how the laws read at all.  There is no objective requirement that there be nothing else done, that can be done to alleviate suffering. In fact, if there was it would be a zero rate because there's always something that can be done to alleviate suffering. Even if it means that cognitive sedation that I discussed. So what happens is these laws say, as cited by the patient, so the patient may not have any actual symptoms at all. But if they have the diagnosis of a terminal illness, likely to cause death within 6 months, they're able to get the legal prescription. So all of the advocacy that you hear about requiring suffering isn't true because the laws are not written to so require it.  JULIE ROYS:  Well, thank you for that distinction. That's really helpful. I want to introduce us now to Kimberly Kuo. She's someone I became familiar with because I heard her speak at a conference and her story was so compelling that I was like man, I want people to hear this story of how through her experience. Her husband was David Kuo. He was the former Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush. Kimberly says watching her husband live his life to the fullest, while suffering from this terminal illness, led her to advocate against assisted suicide. So Kimberly, I'm just thrilled to have you join me. Thank you so much for taking the time. KIMBERELY KUO:  Oh, thank you so much, Julie. I appreciate the opportunity to share.   JULIE ROYS:  Yeah, well, so tell, I mean, I know your story but our listeners have never heard about it. Tell me a little bit about David and his terminal illness and how that impacted your view of this issue. KIMBERELY KUO:  Sure, well, I had no view of the issue honestly before David and I's experience. So, we were in Washington D.C. many years ago. Both of us working in politics.  David was 34 years old when we were driving home from a big Washington party. He was working in the White House at the time and he had a grand mal seizure while driving home. So if you don't know what that is, his eyes just rolled back in his head and his foot launched on to the gas pedal and we went flying out of control. And so, at about 4:00 in the morning, in the ER, we survived the car crash thankfully. He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer—Glioblastoma—and that was the first time that he was given 6 months to live. As Wesley mentioned, that's about all it requires, at that moment. He could have been given lethal drugs to kill himself, saying, you know what, you only have 6 months to live. It's going to be a terrible, painful illness and way to die. And we certainly didn't take that path. Although, about 2 years after David actually died, a woman named Brittany Maynard, who I'm sure you've heard of, in California, started this whole debate, was diagnosed with the same exact same brain tumor and did set out to take the drug 6 months later. Thankfully, our story continued.  David and I had only been married for 3 years at this point and so David had seizures. He had trouble walking because his left side was impaired after that point. You know, having 5 brain surgeries over the time. But about 2 years after David was given 6 months to live, we had our daughter Olivia. And because we decided we were going to live. And that's a tough decision to make in these circumstances. But you really have to decide whether you're going to wait to die or you're going to live. And 4 years after David was given that 6 months, we had my son, Aiden. So we built a family and we lived, in about, as I mentioned, David had 2 years of chemo after the kids were born. And about 6 years in, the tumor is growing again and he was given 6 months to live again. He had had radiation at this point. It looked on the MRI's like it had just blown up. They had several doctors look at it—6 months to live.  And we decided to continue using new weapons at our disposal:  medicine, and prayer and fasting and everything we could do.  And then he, of course, lived another few years. Nine years after his first 6 months diagnosis, he was given a third diagnosis of 6 months to live. So he ended up living about 10 years which kind of proves what Wesley was saying, you know. We went through hospice for example for the last 10-11 days of David's life. And I could tell you story after story of our friends and family who came, flew in across the country over the years of taking us to doctor's appointments. And seeing miracles of David actually getting another year to live, another 2 years, another 3 years to live. We had people fasting for us around the world. And the faith that was built in our community over this time was enormous. Including the last 10 days of Aiden, Aiden that's my son, of David's life when, you know, some people would say, “okay well end it then because it's painful.”  Honestly, the hospice system in America – the last 10 or 11 days of David's life were some of the least painful, the least suffering.  However, he continued to influence people incredibly. He was witnessing to his ICU resident and telling him to read Mere Christianity. In the last two weeks when he was in ICU, he challenged his oncologist to start a ministry for homeless cancer patients. Because in their discussions, they realized homeless people don't have health care, how does a person with cancer be served? So she did so after his death. And so, my message to people, first of all, is this whole debate is predicated on suffering and doctors trying to predict how long you can live or how long you can suffer and what not. And no doctor we every talked to, which were the best doctors in the world: National Institutes for Health, Duke, UCLA, whatever. None of them could predict with any degree of reliability how long David would live, what his suffering would be like, any of those things. And the second thing that I found so interesting is Brittany Maynard, the poster child for this whole compassion and choices argument is that there was purpose in every day that David lived. He would speak to people; he would influence people. And there is no purposeless suffering. And you'll always having the opportunity to live fully and to influence other people. And so that's the short version of our story and I'm happy to talk about it more. But I never imagined even being in this debate until I heard some of the arguments for this. And then, of course, as a caretaker, who struggled for 10 years to take care of David, I can tell you that if you had a caretaker who was not, didn't have the best intentions or just couldn't do it anymore. It scares me greatly that caretakers can now make that decision for the patient. There's numerous examples where the patient has not given their own consent. But a caretaker who's just tired or a caretaker who might inherit money or something could make that decision for a patient. JULIE ROYS:  Wow.  Well we're going to have to go to break.  When we come back—Kimberly, thank you so much for that story—but when we come back, let's talk about the laws in the United States.  What is sort of on the front lines in this assisted suicide and euthanasia debate?   Again, you're listening to The Roys Report.  I'm Julie Roys.  Joining me today Kimberly Kuo also Wesley Smith.  We will be right back after a short break. 3rd Segment JULIE ROYS: Welcome back to The Roys Report, brought to you in part by Judson University.  I'm Julie Roys.  And today, we're discussing euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Is this something that we should support as a compassionate solution to suffering? Or is it kind of a Trojan Horse, which really ushers in this culture of death and justifies killing anyone that we deem a burden?  Our show today is recorded, so I can't take your calls. However, I encourage you to join the conversation live online right now at Facebook.com/ReachJulieRoys. Or to get to me on Twitter, use my handle @ReachJulieRoys. Also, I want to remind you that today I am giving away copies of Wesley Smith's most recent book: Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, which is a warning about the dangers of this modern bioethics movement. If you'd like to enter to win that book, just go to JulieRoys.com/giveaway. Again, joining me today is Wesley Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism. Also joining me is Kimberly Kuo, an outspoken advocate against assisted suicide and euthanasia. And Wesley and Kimberly, I just looked this up recently, 2018 Gallup poll found that 72% of Americans support euthanasia or assisted suicide. So the view that you bring to the table is becoming more and more a minority view in this country. Wesley, why don't you speak to what's happening with these laws and kinda where the front lines is here in the United States when it comes to euthanasia and assisted suicide. And maybe, can you distinguish what's the difference between assisted suicide and euthanasia? WESLEY J. SMITH: As used in this issue's parlance, assisted suicide is when a doctor gives you a lethal prescription so that you can take an overdose of pills to kill yourself. So the last act that causes death is taken by the person who dies. In Euthanasia, as generally used, the doctor administers a lethal injection, so the last act to cause death is from the doctor. So in Netherlands, Belgium and Canada, this is three examples, that permits euthanasia, they call it “medical aid and dying,” because they love their euphemisms. They don't want people to think about what's really happening. But in those three countries you have doctors literally killing people with a lethal injection. And I always find it ironic that these are countries that are against the death penalty by lethal injection. In Belgium and the Netherlands and in Canada, sometimes euthanasia is conjoined with organ harvesting. And so that a person who would not be dead, except for being killed by a doctor, will then have their organs harvested within minutes of succumbing. In Belgium and the Netherlands, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because it shows you once you decide there are killable people, then you decide there are exploitable people. So in Belgium and the Netherlands, not yet in Canada, although it may happen someday, people who are euthanized are sometimes mentally ill. And it does not require in any of those countries a terminal illness. But in Canada, I'm sorry, in Belgium and the Netherlands, mentally ill people are euthanized. That is people who are not physically ill are experiencing the terrible anguish of mental illness, go to a hospital, are killed, they're wheeled into a surgical suite, and their organs are harvested. And then these experiences have been written up in organ transplant medical journals without an ounce or an iota of criticism. It's just stunning to consider what we're doing. And in fact in one of those cases, one of the articles, I looked it up and read it extensively, I looked deep into the heart of the data, you know what the person who was killed and harvested, you know what their mental illness was? Self-harming. So the quote treatment to self-harming was to kill and then harvested. I can't think of anything more cruel than letting people believe, who are having a terrible time getting through the night, that their deaths have greater value than their lives. JULIE ROYS: Well this is the slippery slope, isn't it? I mean it's . . . WESLEY J. SMITH: Well yes.  JULIE ROYS:  . . . one where you let it in, this is where it heads. WESLEY J. SMITH: It's not just a slippery slope. What I'm discussing are facts on the ground. And this is not what I project will happen. It is what is happening today. And this happens not because the Dutch or the Belgians or the Canadians, and the Canadians are our closest cultural cousins, it's not because they're worse human beings than Americans. It's because they have excepted the premise that underlies euthanasia. That killing is, that we can eliminate suffering by eliminating the sufferer. And once you accept that logical, that premise, logic will take you to places where we've gone. Some go slower than others. The United States is going much slower than the Netherlands did because there's still a robust pushback here in this country. And by the way, one of the reasons why 72% of the people told Gallup that is because they never hear the reasons for opposing it. The media has gone all-in on supporting assisted suicide. They turned Brittany Maynard into a heroine because she committed assisted suicide.  CNN named her one of their “Extraordinary People” of, I think it was, 2015, because she killed herself. JULIE ROYS: Yeah, it's unbelievable. Let me . . . WESLEY J. SMITH: Yet Kimberly's husband didn't get the notice that Brittany Maynard received. And there was another young woman, named Lauren Hill, who had the same illness. She fought for life with dignity instead of quote death with dignity.  And she got a little bit of notice in People Magazine because she raised money for cancer research and continued to play basketball, college basketball.  189 page, word, I'm sorry, word obituary in People.  Brittany Maynard got 1,000 words in People. KIMBERLY KUO:  Front cover. JULIE ROYS:  Yeah.  Let me throw this to Kimberly because I want to give you a chance to weigh in on this as well.  I mean, we talked, you, I had you on a radio show that I had on a different network a couple years ago, you know.  And we talked about that, you know.  Since we've talked about this issue, New Jersey has passed assisted suicide law. Maine just passed it.  It's going to go into effect in September.  Are you surprised to see how rapidly this is beginning?  I mean, like you said Wesley, it's a little bit slower than in Europe but are you surprised to see how it's getting root here in the United States. KIMBERLY KUO:  Not really because as I said, I never thought about it and when you talk to people about it, it's not sort of a happy issue.  It's not like cutting your taxes.  And the arguments against it are complex.  So I try to raise simple things to people, like someone has to decide who's going to die.  And basically, the governments are deciding who can die now.  Is that a good thing?  You know, people just don't think through that and certainly I believe Christians don't because it's the exact argument that they use for abortion.  The language is pro-choice.  It's about women's health and freedom and doing what you want, but very similar mirrored issues.  No one talks about the fact, to add on to what Wesley was saying about organ harvesting, insurance companies have huge monetary incentives not to treat cancer but to give people $50 worth of lethal drugs.  And I'm a political person so if you look at the California law, what that did was help them fill a 60 million-dollar hole in health care for poor people. JULIE ROYS:  All right, pause on that.  We need to go to break.  When we come back—I love that you brought up, Kimberly, you know, as Christians how should we think about this?  You know, the arguments for abortion very similar.  We're going to talk about that when we come back from break.  Again, you're listening to The Roys Report.  We will be right back after a short break.  Segment 4 JULIE ROYS:  Well, is euthanasia the answer to chronic suffering or simply a means of ushering in a culture of death?  Welcome back to The Roys Report. I am Julie Roys and today we are tackling this difficult topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide.  As you may know, assisted suicide is legal now in 8 states and the District of Columbia.  In September, it will be legal in 9 states when a new law goes into effect in Maine. Here in Illinois, assisted suicide is not legal however in Illinois, it is legal to withhold food and fluids from a patient who is not dying otherwise. And now that Democrats have a super majority, I just wonder if this is going to be another push here in this state, to do something that is absolutely shocking. So, we'll be jumping back into that discussion in just a second. But I do want to let you know that next week, we're going to be talking about just an incredible move of God that's going on right now in Iran. Joining me will be Joel Richardson, a New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker, and an internationally recognized expert on Biblical prophecy and Islam. Joel has just produced a film on Iran telling the story of how the Iranian regime is actually losing control of the Iranian people. And it's in large part due to this sweeping movement, interestingly of women, who are following Jesus as their Messiah.  I'm so excited about this show, and to have Joel who will be getting back from the Middle East shortly before the program and can report to the seeing this first hand and what's going on there.  So, I really hope you'll make a point to join me next week as I talk to Joel Richardson about that. But returning to our topic today.  Joining me is Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute and Kimberly Kuo, an advocate against euthanasia. And Kimberly I know, for you, Scripture played this huge role in what you said.  You know, initially, you didn't really have a view on euthanasia and assisted suicide but as you and your husband walked through his terminal illness, you really relied on Scripture and God began to speak to you through it. So, tell me how Scripture informed your view of this topic. KIMBERLY KUO: Well, let me run through a couple of things on that. First of all, just searching the character of God. So we definitely leaned on specific verses. But I would challenge everybody to understand the character of God because I think sometimes you can pull specific verses out of context. But one of the ones I always use in explaining the issue is Job 2. It's the first time assisted suicide, that I could find, was mentioned. And that's when Job had already lost his family, he lost his herds, and his wife came to him and says, you know what, give up just die. Now you're afflicted physically and there's something especially hard about that. So just curse God and die.  And what Job says to her is, “don't be foolish.”  “Don't be foolish,” you know, “we can do this, God gives us good, God will carry us through this.”  So that's the first thing I would say.  And then if you jump to Job 28 when God finally fires back, “You know what? Where were you when . . .?” And he goes through, “where were you when I hung the stars?” Right?  We have to trust in a God that Isaiah said is far above our ways.  If he gave us breath, there's purpose in the breath.  If he gives you a breath today, it means you can live with that, right?  And certainly 1 Cor 6:19 where he says, “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  You were bought with a price.  Honor God with your bodies.”  To me, that doesn't mean until we feel like we can't anymore.  You know, like I said, David's body was broken.  He lost his ability to walk, he lost his ability to turn over in a bed and he still honored God as much as he could in every way that he could.  And so I don't think that charge to us, to honor God with our bodies, ends.  I think, you know, Julie I mentioned this in the conference, I get asked a lot this Catholic view that, you know, suicide in any way, shape or form is just an unforgiveable sin.  But to me, it's the original sin to say, “you know what, I will handle this, that and the other but man when it comes to suffering physically and dying, I'm taking over. God must have made a mistake. I'm going to control this, right? I'm not going to honor God anymore. I'm just going to control this whole thing.” And I think that the fundamental, you know, unfaithful position, if we believe God is the good Father and perfect in all of His ways, then He's perfect in all of His ways and we have to submit to that.  JULIE ROYS: And our suffering happens under his sovereignty.  And I think interestingly, we follow a Savior who endured suffering to the end. Who said, you know, I want, Father, take this cup from me and yet He didn't bow out at that point he said okay, “this is legitimate suffering. This redemptive suffering. I'm going to do it in faithfulness to the Father.” And so what an example Jesus gave us. KIMBERLY KUO:  Exactly, and he says in the end, “I will honor you, God. Right? I see what suffering is coming before me, and I hate it, please no, but, in the end, not me but you, God and I will honor you no matter what.”  JULIE ROYS: Amen, it's so powerful, the example of Christ.  And it helps us, you know, as we face these things. Wesley, you were saying as we were talking in the break, that this issue, you know, a lot of us think, well okay, so when our state is going to, you know, if there's a law that we're going to be considering, then we'll think about this issue. You're saying this could hit you very personally. You need to think about it now and think about what you're going to do. Tell me about that. WESLEY J. SMITH:  Right and I would also point out based on what Kimberly said “compassion,” the root meaning is to suffer with. Assisted suicide isn't suffering with anybody, it's discarding. And it certainly does not reflect—and the Hippocratic oath, 500 years before Christ, understood that—it prohibits doctors from participation. But I want your listeners to consider. They may think, well, this will never affect me, will only happen if I get sick or somebody in my life gets sick and I won't have to think about it otherwise. I don't think that's true. You see in the media today a lot of promotion of what are called suicide parties. That is people who are going to commit assisted suicide or euthanasia, for example in Canada, have a party which culminates, either at the end of the party with the killing, or the party ends and then the person commits assisted suicide. It is being normalized in the popular culture. And your listeners could receive a call one day from, let's say, sister Sue.  Sister Sue calls and says, “you know, Grandma has cancer.  She's expected to die within six months. But she's decided it's next Tuesday.  She wants you come. She wants you to be here when she takes the pills.”  What do you do?  If you say, “yes,” you are complicit in Grandma's suicide. You are validating Grandma that she perhaps is a burden. Maybe her fear is she's a burden. Or she's worried that she will be loved less if people see her go through the decline that can be experienced in a terminal illness. Brittany Maynard said that one of her two reasons for committing assisted suicide was she didn't want her family to have the bad memory of her going through the decline caused by the brain cancer. In other words, she put herself out of her family's misery. This is really frightening. So, if you say yes, you're complicit. You're validating and it may be the thing that pushes Grandma over the final ledge. “Well, I guess if my family says I should do it, I should do it,” right?  But if you say, “no,” you could end up losing your family. For example, you say, “no.”  Sister Sue says, “how dare you impose your Christianity on Grandma, on us.  If you don't come and if you're not part of her—she helped put you through college, you're out of the family.”  And don't think that won't happen. Christians are now facing increasing persecution for being faithful to their faith. Doctors are actually in Canada being forced to choose between euthanizing patients or getting out of health care. A court ruled in Ontario, Canada that a Christian doctor who refuses to euthanize, and refuses to procure a euthanasia doctor who will euthanize, can actually face professional discipline because of that decision not to kill. So, there's going to be—any one of your listeners could end up facing this situation. And I think pastors, if you have pastors listening to your show, they need to bone up on this so that if somebody comes into their study and says, “Pastor I've got a problem. You know they want me to come out and participate in a suicide party.”  The pastors' need to be able to counsel those parishioners in order to do what's right both by Grandma and by the parishioner. JULIE ROYS:  Kimberly, I am curious in your advocacy, have you talked to many pastors and, you know, if so, how did they respond about getting involved on this issue and speaking out about it? KIMBERLY KUO:  Almost all said to me, even at the conference I was at where you attended Julie, is, “oh my gosh, I never thought about this.” And that's kind of what happens in these social issues and you know that. And I hate to say this but it is, you know several Republican governors and legislatures defeated these and then a Democrat came in and they were approved. So this is more of a liberal agenda item. They're organized, they are pushing this, and we're just not even paying attention. And so almost all of them have either asked me to come speak, or “what do you say?” or, “are there resources?” Nobody is thinking about this. I'm thrilled to read Wesley's book. But even among my friends, no churches or pastors are talking about this at all. And if I could just play on one thing he said there, about the word compassion. One thing I always bring up for Christians to look at. Look at Mother Teresa. She's like this icon of compassion. Even the Pope said, you know, this assisted suicide is misdirected compassion. Let's own what compassion is. She's not killing off people suffering in Calcutta. She's comforting them, staying with them, loving with them. And people like that, they understand that that's good. Well then that's the model we should be following, right? We need to understand and claim what compassion is because David and I experienced compassion. We experienced the Body of Christ. And it was certainly not anyone sleeping in a hospital bedroom with us saying you know, just get this over with, end this. It was someone sitting there, you know, bringing supplies or holding his hand. I once stayed up for 36 hours clicking a morphine clicker every 5 minutes to keep his pain under control, right? That's compassion. JULIE ROYS:  And it changes you, doesn't it?  KIMBERLY KUO:  Oh, forever, yes and everyone around you. Yes. JULIE ROYS:  The character that's formed in us, I think, as we walk with people in their suffering; it develops something in us. And yet I think we don't want to suffer even though as Christians we know, part of being a Christian is taking up your cross, following Christ, imitating him, you know. Following His example. And yet we want to just sort of get out of that process.  And who likes suffering?  It's tough, it's really, really tough.  WESLEY J. SMITH: Obligation, if people weren't suffering, how would anybody ever provide the succor that people do?  You know, when you're receiving care, you're allowing other people to plant seeds of love. If nobody was willing to receive care, how would those seeds of love ever be planted? And if you take a look back at the early church, why did the church become popular among the poor? Because the people of the early church picked up the children that were exposed on hills, took care of the elderly who were being abandoned and so forth. So, when you show that—I'll bet that the incredible love you gave your husband, Kimberly, touched more people than you will ever know on this side of eternity. Because, you know, when people claim to be Christians, I'm a little stepping outside my parameter here, but people watch to see how you act.  JULIE ROYS:  Yeah, they do.  I hate to do this.  We're running out of time. I'm going to have to bring this to a close. But Wesley I so appreciate what you said. And Kimberly, I so appreciate what you said. And I'd love to have you both back and talk about this again sometime because I feel like it's much larger than we're able to deal with in this time. But you're absolutely right, Wesley, people are watching us. And I think it's very clear in Scripture.  Deuteronomy 32:39, says, “There is no god besides Me.  I put to death and I bring to life.  I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of My hand.”  The right to life and to death is God's.  That's not just my view, that's Scripture's view.  Thanks so much for joining me for The Roys Report.  Have a great weekend and God bless. Read more

John & Heidi share funny stories of people doing weird things... plus John chats with filmmakers Jay and Sofia Lyons about their new film “THE LONG GOODBYE: The Kara Tippetts Story” The DVD features Kara, her family and friends, as well as Joanna Gaines and others. Kara was thrust into the spotlight when her letter to Brittany Maynard went viral. Brittany made headlines when, after a brain tumor diagnosis, she chose to move to Oregon to die via assisted suicide. Kara’s viral letter was a message of grace, begging Brittany to reconsider and live out her life - as long as she is given. AVAILABLE NOW - https://amzn.to/2XKk38B Learn more about our radio program, podcast & blog at www.JohnAndHeidiShow.com

This season, our stories have centered mostly around criminal justice — people caught up in violence, courts and prison. But in Episode Six, we explore how the law intersects with what can be the most intimate and difficult decision a person ever makes — if they get the chance: choosing how to die. Death is […]Episode 06: Unless death wants to fight was first posted on March 13, 2019 at 11:38 pm.©2017 "Voices of Monterey Bay". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at julie@voicesofmontereybay.org

Today, we are going to take a look at the stories of Terri Schiavo, Brittany Maynard, and Karen Ann Quinlan, and is not meant to be a lesson in right and wrong, but rather choices ... and making the tough decisions. The post #71 The Tale of Death with Dignity appeared first on Orbital Jigsaw.

Debbie Ziegler's daughter, Brittany Maynard at the age of 29 was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor she chose to end her life. Her story was controversial and painful. Debbie shares her daughter's journey in life and how she ended hers. Photo credit: Simon & Schuster Contact Debbie Ziegler website – Get a copy of her book, Wild and Precious Life Note: A Life and Death Conversation is produced for the ear. The optimal experience will come from listening to it. We provide the transcript as a way to easily navigate to a particular section and for those who would like to follow along using the text. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio which allows you to hear the full emotional impact of the show. A combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers generates transcripts which may contain errors. The corresponding audio should be checked before quoting in print. Transcript Dr. Bob: Well, Debbie, thank you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming and spending time. We've had a number of conversations over, since we met, which was probably a year or two ago. Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: I think each time we talk, we get a little bit deeper into the conversations, and I think we both are very aligned in what we're trying to do with our time here. Debbie Ziegler: Absolutely. Dr. Bob: Yeah. I would love to use this time for you to share a bit about Brittany so people can really know who Brittany was. I think a lot of people know the name, Brittany Maynard. It's become, in many areas, a household name, and I think certainly in California, and a lot of people think of her as groundbreaking, but they don't really know Brittany. Hopefully, after this, after people hear this, they'll get your book, and they'll learn a lot about Brittany and about her journey, but I'm hoping that you can share a bit about that, because I think it would be really valuable for people to understand who Brittany was, what she did, and then what you've been doing to carry on her legacy and honor her, so ... Debbie Ziegler: Well, thank you for asking me to speak with you today. Brittany is remembered for the last act of her life, and those last minutes of her life are relived over and over again and spoken of over and over again. She knew they would be, and before she died, she asked me ... She said, "Mama, make sure people remember me for how I lived as much as they remember me for how I died." That is something that I try to honor her by doing, and one of the ways that I honored her was by writing a book about the way she lived, and I titled it Wild and Precious Life because Brittany did live a wild and precious life. She was very much in love with this world, and when she was terminally ill, she would say to me, "The world is so beautiful, Mom. It's just so beautiful, and I'm going to miss it so much." She did not want to leave this earth. Nothing inside of her desired that, but the fact was that she was terminally ill, and she had a terrible and gigantic brain tumor that had been growing for over a decade. When I look back at Brittany's life, I try to focus on the brain and how marvelous and plastic it was to tolerate the growth of a tumor for 10 years and to, as that tumor slowly grew, her plastic, resilient brain transferred function. I try to remember that. Even when I first find out she was sick, she had already lived a miracle, and it's important to focus that. The miracle I wanted to happen, which, of course, was that she wouldn't die, didn't happen, but a miracle had already happened in that she had lived 10 years with the brain tumor growing. Dr. Bob: What a beautiful awareness and a gift. It's so interesting because many people don't have that. Many people have a, are diagnosed relatively quickly after something that starts developing because it's created issues that can't be ignored or- Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: ... their plasticity won't happen, and so everything changes from that moment on. Right? They're thrown into the health care system and start having procedures and treatments, and so ... You know that this is a fatal illness, even when it's caught early. Debbie Ziegler: Yes. I think that one thing that Brittany and I talked about quite frequently is that every person's disease is different, and it annoyed Brittany that people felt that just because their uncle, cousin, niece, had had a brain tumor, that they somehow knew her journey. The same thing happens to, I think, cancer patients with any kind of cancer. We have to remember, as we interface and speak with and try to love these people through their illness, that every body's illness is different. Just as our bodies are different, our cancer is different. It can be very, very frustrating for a patient to be told, "Oh, well, my aunt did this," or, "My uncle did that." Let's just try to take each patient alone and single and look at their disease and look at their illness separately and try not to bring in all these other judgments based on other stories. Brittany's illness, she had been living with, and the tumor had been growing very slowly, and so that allowed for that plasticity. If a tumor grows in your brain in a quick fashion, a much, much smaller tumor could kill you. Dr. Bob: Yeah, or in a different position, a different location in the brain. Debbie Ziegler: This would be the same for other cancers. It would be the same for people with any kind of cancer. Depending on how that cancer, how that tumor's growing, it takes its own cruel path, and so one of my big hot buttons is that we stop and remember that everybody's journey is different, and everybody faces their illness in a different way. The way my daughter faced it was by getting all the information she could get. She was almost an encyclopedia about brain tumors, about the types of cells that make brain tumors, about how those tumors progress in people of certain age groups. She read white papers. She had a good education, so she was lucky enough to be able to read that kind of paper that might put some of us to sleep. She was able to read it and really extract information for it, so when she entered a doctor's office, she was speaking their terminology, and she was very well read, so that is a different kind of patient. Dr. Bob: Yeah. I would imagine that for certain doctors, that would be a little bit ... I'm not sure if "intimidating" would be the right word, but they're not used to that. They're used to having, to doing the education and kind of doing it on their own terms. Debbie Ziegler: Yes. There is, and there is this paternal mold of medicine that's been in the United States for a long time where, for many years, we looked at our doctors as sort of an extra father in the family that what he said was how it went. We had this paternal model where we never even asked the doctor, "Well, what are my options," and we didn't have the internet, and we didn't have this quick way to get information. In the case of my daughter, she was actually checking out medical documents online and reading medical documents. We're in a different place, and we're in a different time. We're struggling with this old, paternal medical model, which isn't working for us well anymore. Then you add on top of that that if a doctor got a scan of Brittany's brain, one doctor said, "I expected her to be wheeled in on a gurney and unable to speak," because the tumor was in that portion of her brain that allows you to speak and vocalize, and it looked like that must, those skill sets must be gone, but because it had grown so slowly, those skillsets had moved, and she was able not only to speak but to speak very articulately. I do think it was a shock, and a little bit more difficult to deal with, with a patient who's very well read and very outspoken. My daughter was, even from a young child, a very purpose-filled person. I remember they observed her playing when they were analyzing whether she was ready for kindergarten, and they wrote in the report that her playing was purpose-filled. That came back to me as I watched her negotiate her illness, and I thought, "Okay, well, those things that made it difficult to mother her, that purpose-filled, stubborn, willful sort of way, was a wonderful asset to her when she was ill and needed to navigate her illness." People ask me all the time about how Brittany could make a decision like this so confidently, and my answer is that she had the innate personality to question and to, and she also had the educational background that she could absorb the scientific information and accept it on a factual level. The emotional part, matching her ability to be emotionally strong, matching her background to be able to understand the information that is terribly frightening, and which, honestly, I mean, I taught science. I couldn't read it in the beginning. It took me about a month to be able to read about brain tumors. I just couldn't do it. [inaudible 00:11:20]. Dr. Bob: You mean you couldn't do it because it was too difficult emotionally or because it was too, the information was too- Debbie Ziegler: It was emotionally. Dr. Bob: Okay. Debbie Ziegler: I also have a science background, and I taught science, so I could read it, and I could interpret it, but as her mother, having just heard that she had a terminal diagnosis with a brain tumor, emotionally I was unable to read about brain tumors for well over a month. This is a part of what happens to the family of the terminally ill person. Sometimes, they're knocked back into a period of denial where they're unable to look at the truths; they're unable to look at the facts. I think that makes it more difficult in some ways, and yet I'm told by psychologists that denial is something that helps us deal with crisis and eventually move on, as long as we move through it and don't stay in that place. I can testify to the strength of denial, and I can certainly say, from my experience, that it is very important to overcome it if you're going to help your loved one. It's something you must battle through and get to the other side. Dr. Bob: I think that's so powerful, and, I guess, recognizing that it's happening, being open to recognizing that, and that it's normal, and you don't have to rush yourself through it, because it is a process, but if you're not aware that that's what's happening, then it seems like it's the reality and it's appropriate, and would be much more difficult to get through it and be of support as you ultimately want and need to be, so ... Debbie Ziegler: Particularly if the patient gets to the point where they are out of denial. Many terminally ill people quietly, but firmly, believe that they have a pretty good handle on how much time they have. Something inside them says it's not going to be more than a few months, but they, if they're surrounded by people who are in denial, they have no one to discuss that with. They have no one to say, "Look, I'm dying." My daughter, because of her youth and because of who she was, said to me in the hospital one night, she was in her bed, and I was climbing on to a gurney next to her, and she said to me, "Mama, you get that I'm dying, don't you? I need you to get this." It just ripped my heart out, but at the same time, I realized, "Oh, my goodness. I have to look at this. I have to turn around. I have to stop running and pretending that I can find some miraculous doctor in some other country," which is what I was dreaming of at that point. "I have to turn around and look at my child who is telling me, 'I'm dying.' I have to be with her in that moment." I'm telling you, it's hard, and I'm also telling you it's really important for the patient, really important for the patient to be able to say, "The people that love me get it. They get it. I'm dying, and they get it." Dr. Bob: "And stop wasting my time." Right? "I'm-" Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: "Be here with me, because we don't have a lot of time for what we need to do." Debbie Ziegler: In her case, she wanted us to listen to what her desire was for the rest of her life, what it was going to look like, because being told that she had about six months to live, Brittany immediately sprang into her list of, she had a bucket list of places she wanted to visit. She had a list of people she wanted to talk to before she died. She had a list of accomplishments that she wanted to be able to be a part of, which included, in the beginning, she wanted to write some articles. She decided she wanted to write articles because the medication she was on to keep the pressure in her cranium down from this gigantic tumor causing this pressure, she was taking a lot of steroids, strong steroid medication, and steroid medication at that level has some pretty gnarly side effects. It makes you get this round, very full face, which they refer to in medicine as a moon face. Brittany thought, "All right, because I don't want anybody taking pictures of my moon face, and that way, I can write an article and still have an impact and advocate for other terminally ill patients, but I won't be seen." Then as it turned out, and as many people know, that is not the path that it took, and she was asked to have her photograph taken, and then she was asked to be filmed, and then she was asked to be interviewed. All of this was done when Brittany didn't look like Brittany anymore, and she cried, and she said, "I just see cancer in that face. That doesn't look like my face. That looks like the face of cancer." I know what a sacrifice she made to do this for people. We talked about how it was normal at 29 to feel feelings of vanity, yeah, a little bit, as you're a woman and you don't want to look bad, and how she was going to overcome that. Of course, as her mother, I kept saying, "You're so beautiful, Brittany. You are still beautiful. It's just a different beautiful." She would be like, "Oh, Mama, you're my mom," but I just want people who are ill to know that those last six months that my daughter had were some of the most productive month of her life. She had a sense of urgency and joy. In between sadness and terror, there were these moments of great joy and satisfaction, as we walked through a particular place in nature that spoke to her. She'd call me, "Mama, come and look. Come and look at the banana slug. Come and look at the starfish. Come and ... " We shared those moments of joy because she faced her illness, and she was not going to waste that time. That required decision-making. That required saying, "No," to some treatments that she felt, after reading about them, we're not going to buy her any significant amount of time, and while she did those treatments and did not receive significant time, the treatment itself was going to deteriorate her lifestyle. Her quality of life was very important to her, and she said, "If I'm not getting any measurable upside here in the way of extended life, then I need to be looking at the quality of the little life that I have left," and so she remained focused on that, and she remained strong in the face of some pretty persuasive and, in some cases, almost bullying that went on in the medical system of, "You must do chemotherapy. You must start it on Monday." Even her oncologist, after doing DNA testing, told Brittany, "You aren't a good candidate for chemo." She said, "Your DNA, your markers, are indicating that you're not a good candidate. There's a very, very small percentage of chance that chemo would do you any good, and there is some chance that chemo could actually make your tumor grow faster because you have a glioblastoma now." Dr. Bob: Certainly, it would deteriorate her quality of life, which she knew, and yet still there were physicians who were part of her team who were pushing her. Debbie Ziegler: Definitely pushing that. She stayed with her oncologist, who she felt understood chemo the best more than the surgeon, and she said, "Your own hospital just wrote a paper about chemo not always being the right answer for the brain tumor patient, and so I'm saying, 'No.' I know that you know this within these halls, and I'm not going to do it. It doesn't have enough of a possibility of upside for me, and it has a definite downside that's very well known. The symptoms that will take away my ability to do some things that are very important to me," one of being that she wanted to travel to Alaska, and she wanted to ride in a helicopter in Alaska and land on a glacier. She wanted to go on a dog sled and cross a glacier. She wanted to move in a dog sled on a glacier that was moving on a planet that was moving in a solar system that was moving. We wanted to be moving in time and space, and we did it. Dr. Bob: That's wonderful. That's awesome. Debbie, at what point, at what point after the diagnosis, did the whole concept of medical aid in dying come into her awareness and start becoming a bit of a focus? Debbie Ziegler: For Brittany, her focus on aid and dying came much more quickly than anyone else in her family, because, at Berkeley, she had been in a psychology class where they had had a discussion about end-of-life options. Her class had heatedly argued about end-of-life options, and so Brittany had already thought about this, discussed it, and, quite frankly, been a participant in a conversation at a high level. As soon as she was told, and she did ask directly, none of her family could or would, because we were all in denial, she's the one that forced the conversation and said, "Is this brain tumor going to kill me? Is this a terminal brain tumor?" She was told, "Yes, it is terminal. At this point, until we have tested this cell structure, we don't know how long, but we do know this is what you will die of." As soon as they told her that, she began discussing end-of-life options. She did not know how long her life would be, but she did know that the tumor was going to take her life, and she knew enough from her science background of the course of action that a brain tumor takes that she knew she wanted to be looking into other options rather than just following a natural course. Dr. Bob: How fortuitous for her, not maybe fortuitous at all, but that she had had, been exposed to it. Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: Not a lot of 28, 29-year-olds are- Debbie Ziegler: No. Dr. Bob: ... and so it could have been a very different process, and path had that not happened. Debbie Ziegler: The way she introduced the topic into conversation was, I think she was trying to spare us until she could discuss it with her parents, but she said to the doctor, "How can I get transferred into the Oregon medical system?" That, of course, to everyone in the room, seemed like an odd question, and in the back of my mind, because I am a science teacher and, of course, had read articles, I thought, "Oregon. Oh, my goodness. I know why she's talking about Oregon." I couldn't have told you the details, but I knew that it had to do with the right to die, and I knew what she was talking about the very first time she mentioned it. I knew where she was going. Within seconds, there were two people in the room. I'm sure the doctor knew what she was talking about, although he chose, at that moment in time, to not recognize it, to say, "Well, why would you want to do that? You're in a fine medical system here in California." It wasn't until days later that we had open conversations about why she was interested in Oregon. Of course, since that time, California has passed an End of Life Option bill. I feel that that is my daughter's legacy. I believe that it was her story of having to move out of California in order to die, in order to die peacefully, that touched a lot of hearts and made history in California. I smile when I think of our End of Life Option Act because, in my heart, it's Brittany's act. Dr. Bob: Well, it was Brittany's act, but she couldn't have done it without you. Right? You- Debbie Ziegler: She- Dr. Bob: You were her partner in that. Debbie Ziegler: She had help, and she had many, many volunteers who loved her, who loved her spunk, her feistiness, her story, who immediately gravitated towards supporting her. I have had letters written from all over the world, from all over the world. I now speak with people in an ongoing relationship, some of whom I have met face to face now, and some of whom I haven't, from countries all over the world about Brittany, and some of these faithful people write me every time it's her birthday, every anniversary of her death, every anniversary of the bill being passed, and they tell me how much my daughter means to them, and that they live in a place where there is no law, and that she stands for hope to them, that she stands for hope that one day, all of humanity will treat each other with love and kindness and will not be so afraid of death. It's such a beautiful legacy that it helps me accept that she's gone. She's gone physically from me. Those first few years, grief was so difficult, and I've met so many grieving people, and as I was grieving, I would literally be knocked down to my knees sometimes. I'd be crying on my knees in the hall, or in the living room, or in the kitchen, or one time in a park, another time in a store, like a T.J. Maxx. Here's this lady down on her knees, crying. I would always smile through my tears and know that Brittany would be saying, "Get up. Get up, right now, because you're on your knees crying. It means there's something that needs to be done. Look around. See what needs to be done." The first time, I got up, and I thought, "Oh, my goodness. I just opened an email about how dire the blood shortage was," so I went and donated blood, and now I try to donate blood twice a year in Brittany's name. I pick times of the year when that is hardest for me. I pick the times of year when I know the grief is going to wash over me again. Times, holidays, her birthday, the day of her death, the beginning of the year. I pick times to do the donations when I know that giving blood is going to be this beautiful gift that's going to lift me out of my sorrow. Then I look around and see other things that need to be done. I see an elderly person that needs a visitor or flowers. I see a friend who needs a visit who is fighting breast cancer. When I go into my worst grief, I always hear her saying, "Get up and look around. There must be something you need to do." That is one of the ways I've dealt with grief is by getting up and looking around. Dr. Bob: And doing what, and doing what is- Debbie Ziegler: And doing something- Dr. Bob: ... right there, immediate, in your awareness. Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: I'm going to, so can we stay with this for a moment? Debbie Ziegler: Yes. Dr. Bob: I know that I've been with you, and you've shared some of your other tools, tips, ways of working through the grief. Debbie Ziegler: Grief, yes. Dr. Bob: I think I would love for you to share if you're up for it, a couple more, just a little bit more about how you've managed to work through your grief or work with your grief as a guide here for some of our listeners. Debbie Ziegler: Well, in the beginning, I have to admit that grief was like, it was a black ocean sucking me under, and I thought, "If I don't do something, I'm not going to make it." I really, first of all, I admitted this to the people I loved who began searching for things that might help me. My sister came to me with a treatment that's called ... I don't know the letters for it. I think it's PTSD, but it's an eye treatment. Dr. Bob: Oh, EMDR? Debbie Ziegler: EMDR. Dr. Bob: Emotional freedom release, yeah. Debbie Ziegler: It is EMDR, and it's rapid eye movement treatment. Because I told people, "I can't talk my way through this. Talk therapy is not going to be enough. I can't do this." This is a scientific treatment where you are asked to follow a light with your eyes. I was probably the most skeptical person on earth that it would help me, but it did, and rather rapidly. It took me out of this circular, negative thinking that I had. I had a few broken records that revolved around Brittany's illness and Brittany's death, and those records would come on and play over and over again, and this treatment of causing my eyes to move while I thought about this, or while I thought about a very stressful day or the actual day of her death, while I thought or discussed about that, my eyes were moving, and it causes your brain to use both sides, the right and left, and your own brain helps you heal and stop that broken record from playing. That is one treatment that I feel very strongly about. I also used the treatment of touch, of various therapies that have to do with massage and different types of massage, to kind of work the tightness that was in my muscles. After being with Brittany and anticipating her death for six months, there was a lot of muscle difficulty, and so I used that. I also have a sister-in-law who sent me ... I also have a sister-in-law who sent me various scents, an aromatherapist, and she sent me a mister. She sent this to us before Brittany died, and Brittany used it all the time to help her try to sleep. That was a difficult part of the last month of her life was getting any sleep, so both she and I used aromatherapy, which is another thing that I sort of, as a scientist, was sort of like, "How can I possibly help?" Yet- Dr. Bob: It did. Debbie Ziegler: It did. In fact- Dr. Bob: Undeniably. Debbie Ziegler: ... my daughter said the two therapies that helped her the most, she said, "Look at all the doctors we've been to, Mom. Look at all the specialists, the high-paid brain surgeons, neurologists, oncologists," and she said, "Look what I'm down to in the last weeks of my life. I'm down to massage and aromatherapy, and these are the two things that soothe me and help me." She used them right up to the end, and she developed a relationship with her masseuse, and she developed a relationship with my sister-in-law, who sent the aromatherapy. Along with these treatments came this human touch and caring that's so important. Dr. Bob: You're singing my tune. I mean, those are the things, of course, that we try to, and it's just, I didn't know that about Brittany's- Debbie Ziegler: [inaudible 00:35:07]. Dr. Bob: ... about what brought her comfort, so it was really, it's, I guess, confirmation, more confirmation about how incredibly valuable these therapies and are ... Not to throw out every other treatment that is being offered through the traditional medical system, because sometimes those are very important, but the value of some of these- Debbie Ziegler: Simpler- Dr. Bob: ... high-touch- Debbie Ziegler: ... natural- Dr. Bob: Yeah. No side effects. What are the side effects of massage therapy? I'm so happy to hear that that was comforting for her, and also for you, afterward. Debbie Ziegler: It was, and we would go together, and friends would send her massage gift certificates. It was a way for them to reach out to her and to give her some solace. We had a special place that we went to and a special group of women who knew her and knew our story, and so it was a safe place that felt safe to go to, and ... Dr. Bob: And that connection. Right? The connection that she made, which was not, didn't revolve around her illness. Debbie Ziegler: No. Dr. Bob: It wasn't going to get a treatment or for someone to check and see how she's progressing. It was a human connection, which people at all stages need, and when we can provide that, it normalizes things. It enhances the feelings of well-being, so this is another pretty powerful reminder of that. Debbie Ziegler: The people that worked in the area that we went to, which was Portland, Oregon, we went to a place there, they never questioned her. They never argued with her. They just said, "How are you today? Where do you feel that ... Do you have places that we need to concentrate on? Do you have places where you have some knots in your shoulders, you just want ... How much pressure?" It was all about, "What feels good to you, Brittany, today? Because we just want to send you out of here feeling a little bit better than you came in." There was no lofty goal to cure cancer. There was no lofty goal to fix this girl who had this gigantic brain tumor. It was just, "From where you start to where you leave, we promise you're going to feel a little bit better." Dr. Bob: In that moment. Debbie Ziegler: And she did. Dr. Bob: Yeah. Debbie Ziegler: And she did. Dr. Bob: That's wonderful. Debbie Ziegler: Yeah. That's a beautiful thing. Dr. Bob: We talked a bit about some of the ways that you moved through grief, which I'm sure part of that was what you, basically what's become your life's work as well. Debbie Ziegler: That was very fulfilling. To be able to testify was very fulfilling, and I felt that my testimony came from a place that was a little bit extraordinary in that, as Brittany's mother, this was not my first choice. This was not; I did not readily gravitate to this end-of-life option idea. I stayed in denial for a period of time. I had to work through this in my head. I had to analyze some childhood beliefs that I grew up with in Texas, so when I spoke with senators face to face, or representatives face to face, and they were reticent, or they had some childhood religious beliefs that were kind of interfering with their ability to even hear Brittany's story, I could relate to them, and I told them that. I told them, "I was you. I was you. The look on your face, my poor daughter had to see. I see you avoiding this subject. I see you turning away from death. I see you turning away from this idea. My daughter had to watch me do that, and that must have been so hard for her to have her own mother not be able to discuss it, to be in denial for a period of time." I felt that my testimony was from a place of, a commonplace that we had, and I felt that in some cases, minds were able to change, or people were able to look inside and say, "Hey, maybe I do need to look at this a little, from a little bit of a different angle." I felt that that was an important truth that I could share was that I didn't start out all gung-ho about this. I knew what she was talking about, and it scared me to death. It really did. It's an important common ground that we had. Then as I went on and spoke in different environments and different countries, I recently came back from Africa, where I spoke at a conference there where people from 23 different countries met in Africa to discuss our human right worldwide to die peacefully when we are terminally ill, to seek a peaceful death. It was very empowering to meet these people who are; literally, you could almost feel the room vibrating with the love and excitement that these people have about making the end of someone's life more tolerable. Coming back from something like that is just, infuses me more with energy and confidence, and inspires me that this is important work, and that I believe that sharing the hardest parts of how it happened and the hardest parts of what we went through in the public eye and as a family who really didn't have very much of a help and assistance ... In fact, we kind of had to claw our way into a situation where my daughter could use the law. I feel like telling those hard parts and just kind of opening my kimono and letting people see the pain, that maybe they will have confidence when, and if, something happens in their own family, that they can say, "Oh, I read about this one time, and you know what? She was in denial, too. That's what I'm in. I'm in denial. I recognize this." Maybe it will help someone get out of denial. Maybe it will help someone not feel so alone. Maybe it will help someone support a patient and say, "What do you think? You are the one who's dying. Let's make a plan, your plan, your plan, because this is your life, and I want to hear what you want to do." Maybe it will help someone look into the patient's eyes instead of running out of the room and making phone calls to try to make something that can never happen. I just, I think that if we don't tell our story and share the humanness of dying, that we're not going to move forward. The more we keep hiding and not talking about it, the less likely we are to be able to face the end of life, which should be a beautiful time. My daughter showed me that. She showed me that, "Yeah, Mom, it's not always beautiful, because I'm 29, and I'm pissed off that I'm dying, but in between being pissed off, I want to live, and I want to experience joy, and I want to go places, and I want to meet people that I haven't seen in a while, and I want to finish things. I want to feel that I've finished some jobs and some relationships and before I go." She wanted a plan, and I think a dying person's plan, no matter what it is, because it may not be what you, as their relative, want it to be, but their plan is really all they have, and so let's support that plan. Let's talk about that plan and what it's going to look like, and how are we going to get it put in place. I think people don't plan. They wait too late. A hospice is called, sometimes, too late. People end up saying, "Oh, I want to use the End of Life Option Act," but it's too late. They haven't left themselves enough time to get the prescription, to write the letters, to wait for the waiting period. The more we can normalize this and discuss this with our families, with our loved ones, with our friends, the more they can plan and make a good plan, and we can help them put that plan into place, but it's not our job to make the plan for them. It's not our job to get in there and say, "Oh, you need to do this, and you need to do that." We need to stop. After they've been told, "You have a terminal illness," we need to slow down a little minute, and we need to absorb that information with them, and then we need to listen. "What do you want to do? How do you want to live these last months?" It can be beautiful. Dr. Bob: And, "How do you want to die?" Debbie Ziegler: Yes. "How do you want to die?" Dr. Bob: "How do you want to die?" Wow. Okay. I think we came to a beautiful place to pause. You and I are not done with our conversations. Debbie Ziegler: No. Dr. Bob: By a long shot. Debbie Ziegler: California's not finished with this conversation, and I think we're committed to- Dr. Bob: Co-create it. Debbie Ziegler: ... making the best of this that we can. Dr. Bob: Yeah. There's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of lives to support, and so we will have, you and I will have more conversations, and I would love ... I know we talked a bit about what came out of this conference in South Africa. Another podcast devoted to that would be wonderful- Debbie Ziegler: That would be great. Dr. Bob: ... because that would be very educational for people to see what's going on in the rest of the world and what we have to aspire to. Can you share how people can read more about the story and get more information about you and Brittany? Debbie Ziegler: Oh, the book I wrote about Brittany was published by Simon & Schuster, and it is available on all the major online vehicles that you can buy books, I mean, every single one. Amazon, all the bookstores. The title is Wild and Precious Life. I hope that when you read it, it will make you want to live a wild and precious life, because we just have this little bit of time, and we might as well make it wild and precious. I'm Deborah Ziegler, Brittany Maynard's mother. My greatest achievement in my life, my daughter, who I love dearly, was a great model of living a wild and precious life. I would urge you to read her story and benefit from it. Dr. Bob: Yeah. I agree. I second that wholeheartedly. It's a wonderful story. It's hard to read, at times, for sure, but it is a, it's well worth it, and I think you'll gain some really great insights. Thank you for writing it. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for being here. It's an honor. Debbie Ziegler: Thank you.

In October of 2014, 29-year old newlywed, Brittany Maynard, became international news when her story went public. She was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of brain cancer—a glioblastoma. Knowing her death would involve relentless pain and suffering, Brittany took control of her own dying process by moving from California to Oregon, which is one of eight states with authorized medical-aid-in-dying. Brittany’s final wish was that people in all 50 states could have this option. She spent the final weeks of her life advocating for this, and her husband, Dan Diaz, continues her fight. Dan works with an organization called, Compassion & Choices, advocating for the expansion of end-of-life options for all terminally ill people. This compelling story may change how you think about both life and death.

Thirty-third Sunday 2014

The post Episode 44: Dan Diaz, The Brittany Maynard Story appeared first on Death By Design, End Of Life Planning, Pallative, Hospice. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you want to die? We're willing to bet the answer isn't, "Very painfully, please!" Brittany Maynard was 29 when she died of brain cancer. Aaron Purmort was 35 when he died of the same thing. But their paths to death were very different. Nearly three years later, Brittany's husband Dan and Aaron's wife Nora reflect on their spouses decisions on how to spend the end of their lives.

In 2014, Brittany Maynard exercised her right to an assisted death under Oregon's Death With Dignity Act. She'd been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer less than a year earlier. Her death at age 29 — and her advocacy work for the legalization of assisted death — made headlines. Nora's husband also died in 2014, also from brain cancer. But his and Brittany's deaths were very different. In this episode, Nora and Dan, Brittany's late husband, reflect on their partners' decisions about how to spend the end of their lives. Can't get enough TTFA? Sign up for TTFA Premium for $7.99 a month. You'll get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes, extended guest interviews and more! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com.

How do you want to die? We’re willing to bet the answer isn’t, “Very painfully, please!” Brittany Maynard was 29 when she died of brain cancer. Aaron Purmort was 35 when he died of the same thing. But their paths to death were very different. Nearly three years later, Brittany’s husband, Dan, and Aaron’s wife, Nora, reflect on their spouses' decisions on how to spend the end of their lives.

Barbara Mancini is an ER nurse from Pennsylvania. In 2013, she was arrested and prosecuted on charges of trying to help her terminally ill 93-year-old father take his own life. She is now an advocate for medical aid in dying. We spoke with Barbara about her heartbreaking personal story, the connection between assisted suicide and abortion rights, and her correspondence with Brittany Maynard.

MORBID PODCAST EP 3 (1,2) SHOW NOTES Co-hosts Produced & Written by: Quills Rodriguez Edited & Written by: Penn Aragon Morbid Curiosity is podcast about the darker side of life. Brought to you by ThoughtPress Network. Sources and Content: Original Content: "End in Sight" Loop ©2016 Penn Aragon [Recap] "The movie is over... Fades to black" — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7TTsPMsCY (5:15) Death & Dying bit from "On the Road" (1977) by George Carlin Published on Jul 27, 2012 On the Road is the seventh comedy album released by comedian George Carlin. It was recorded on October 3, 1976 at the Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The album was released in April 1977. — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFIc7XEVyM0 The Lighter Side of Death TEDxTalk by: Zara Swindells-Grose [TEDxDocklands] Published on Jun 9, 2015 Zara Swindells-Grose suggests that there is a lighter side to death and that learning to pivot between the heavier emotions and a lighter response can protect our vital energy. Zara is a multi-talented and much sought-after speaker, presenter and entertainer. She is a member of the International Positive Psychology Association and a Director of Humour Australia (HA!) working with organisations all over the world, sharing the message that “Good Humour is Good Business”. — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYVnraY8ZDs Louis C.K. Published on Aug 3, 2015 Louis C.K. one of the best stand-up comedians ever. This is a part of Louis C.K. TV special stand-up full comedy show "Live at the Comedy Store (2015)". Louis C.K. 2015 - Everybody dies! Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QwAJnCtPZM 30 Scary and Interesting Death Facts You Didn't Know Published on Feb 4, 2015 Top List Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js3m_ocZMoA The Virgin Suicides Paramount Movies Published on May 7, 2012 A dark comedy punctuated by moments of drama, The Virgin Suicides explores the emotional underpinnings of a family starting to come apart at the seams in 1970's Midwestern America. 2000 Directors: Sofia Coppola Jeffrey Eugenides Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEULUv1OWNY Life After Suicide BBC Documentary DocuTime Channel 11 years ago Angela Samata was an ordinary mother of two living in Birkenhead. Then her partner Mark took his own life. In this film, Angela goes on a journey around Britain to meet others who have suffered a similar loss and explores why, when suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, we are still so afraid of talking about it. Published on Feb 10, 2016 Standard YouTube License — Recorded Interview [Telephone] Tiffany Ellis Recorded with her permission. — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfq2nypodS4 Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (Clip) "Atheist" HBOSTORE 2006 Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B21ctQBADNQ Big Hero Six The Funeral (Clip) 2014 DisneyMoviesOnline Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEULUv1OWNY Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close "Oskar's Monologue" Published on Apr 1, 2012 Oskar tells The Renter his story. One of the best scenes in the movie, and of course a great performance by Thomas Horn. Standard Youtube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7b-yTgYm7w The Trouble With Dying (Assisted Suicide Documentary, 2013 Clip) Medical Shows and Documentaries on YouTube Published on Mar 3, 2015 The Trouble with Dying examines the current debate on euthanasia from the perspective of individuals who are personally affected by the political decisions society will make on this issue. Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEegcz_QDMc Chilean girl, 14, who begged the government to let her die as she struggles with cystic fibrosis MediaMac Channel Published on March 23, 2015 Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6QJsV60_k Brittany's choice: 29-year-old reignites debate about aid in dying CBS This Morning Channel Published on Oct 14, 2014 Recently married, Brittany Maynard had hopes of starting a family with her husband. Now she is planning her death, choosing to end her life before brain cancer can destroy her. Jan Crawford reports. Standard YouTube License — http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/suicidetourist/ The Suicide Tourist Airdate: March 2, 2010 DIRECTED BY John Zaritsky ©2010 WGBH Educational Foundation — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb0cKhG3Uvk Deaf Twin Brothers Voluntarily Euthanized The Young Turks Channel Published on Jan 15, 2013 "Identical twins were killed by Belgian doctors last month in a unique mercy killing under Belgium's euthanasia laws. Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEjEIFbbnsE Belgium Grants Euthanasia to Convicted Rapist, Murderer TheLipTV Published on Sep 19, 2014 Belgium has granted euthanasia to convicted rapist and murderer, Frank Van Den Bleeken rather than making him serve out his life sentence in prison. Standard YouTube License — http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/paralyzed-indiana-deer-hunter-ends-life/ Paralyzed after falling from tree, hunter and dad-to-be opts to end life (Timothy) Updated 9:40 AM ET, Thu November 7, 2013 CNN — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pik-JtJ5WlM Nathan/Natalie Published on Oct 7, 2013 A 44-year-old man in Belgium chose to end his life via euthanasia on Monday after a series of failed gender reassignment surgeries. "I was the girl no one wanted," Nathan Verhelst told the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, mere hours before his death. Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHhOv-4KCyQ French Woman's Death Revives Euthanasia Debate Associated Press Uploaded on Mar 20, 2008 Chantal Sebire, a French woman with a rare facial tumor who had sought doctor-assisted suicide, was found dead at her home Wednesday. Her case has revived a national debate about the right to die. Standard YouTube License — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-rQ3tIabvM Terri Schiavo Documentary: The Case's Enduring Legacy Retro Report The New York Times Published on Apr 21, 2014 The controversy over Terri Schiavo's case elevated a family matter into a political battle that continues to frame end-of-life issues today. Standard YouTube License — Outro Song: On and On Jack White Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 — Clips are used solely as information and for documentation of this episode. Morbid Curiosity and ThoughtPress Network do not claim the rights to any media used unless marked Original Content. All clips can be found on YouTube and used with the Standard YouTube License.

The success of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act – at 18 years, the world’s longest-running law of this kind – puts two things into sharp relief. Firstly, the increasingly desperate attempts of opponents to discredit it. Secondly, the truth they don’t want you to see – that this law works, and exactly as intended. How that law came to pass in such a religiously conservative country stands as a masterclass in public policy, and one that set the template other US states have since followed. Brittany Maynard: 'I would like all Americans to have access to the same healthcare rights' — Source: YouTube The most significant of these was California, which in 2015 adopted Oregon’s law – thanks in no small part to a woman named Brittany Maynard. Brittany was just 29, and dying of brain cancer, when she left her home in California to go and live in Oregon, where the law offered her a choice about how she died. Her decision to use her dying days to campaign publicly for a similar law in California made her a household name, with her videos attracting over 16 million views on YouTube. As he signed California’s End of Life Option Act into law, Governor Jerry Brown – a Catholic – said: ‘I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.’ 'I think we do a much better job because of this law. It’s done exactly what it’s supposed to, and more.' Leigh Dolin, former president of the Oregon Medical Association Please note: this podcast is not about suicide. If you are interested in increasing your understanding of suicide and how to support someone experiencing suicidal ideation, visit the Conversations Matter or beyondblue websites.If you (or someone you know) require immediate assistance, contact one of the following 24/7 crisis support services: Lifeline (13 11 14), Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467), MensLine (1300 78 99 78), beyondblue (1300 22 4636), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) or eheadspace (1800 650 890). Hear more Embed player Listen Better Off Dead: Interview with Peg Sandeen Peg Sandeen is the executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center in Portland, Oregon. Here, she describes how Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act works, and the campaign to take it to other states in America. Know more Article: 'Twenty Years of Living with the Oregon Death with Dignity Act', by Eli Stutsman – GP Solo vol. 30 no. 4, 2013 Report: 'Oregon's Death with Dignity Act – 2014' – Oregon Public Health Division, 2015 Radio: 'California: Euthanasia' – The Law Report, ABC RN, 27 October 2015 Video: 'Brittany Maynard Legislative Testimony' – Brittany Maynard/CompassionChoices (YouTube), 31 March 2015 Article: 'Terminally Ill Woman Brittany Maynard Has Ended Her Own Life', by Nicole Weisensee Egan – People, 2 November 2014 Video: 'Brittany Maynard's mother: Help me carry out her legacy' – The Telegraph (YouTube), 22 January 2015 Article: 'California's governor has signed a bill legalising doctor-assisted dying' – Economist, 6 October 2015 In this episode Eli Stutsman Derek Humphry Leigh Dolin Kevin Yuill Alex Schadenberg Nancy Elliott Catherine Glenn Foster Katrina Hedberg Daniel E. Lee Our theme music was composed by Zig Zag Lane for Zapruder's Other Films, and edited by Jon Tjhia. Music used in this episode includes 'Haust' (Ólafur Arnalds), 'Dead Radio' (Rowland S. Howard), 'The Puritan' (This Will Destroy You), 'Petiatil Cx Htdui' (Aphex Twin), 'LSD' (ASAP Rocky), 'I Might be Wrong' (Radiohead), 'Between Stones' (Blue Dot Sessions) and 'Forty-Eight Angels' (Paul Kelly). Your stories If you're suffering, or someone you love has died badly – in a hospital, in palliative care, in a nursing home, or at home – add your voice and tell your story here. Further information Better Off Dead is produced by Thought Fox and the Wheeler Centre. Executive producers Andrew Denton and Michael Williams. Producer and researcher Bronwen Reid. For Better Off Dead, the Wheeler Centre team includes Director Michael Williams, Head of Programming Emily Sexton, Head of Marketing and Communications Emily Harms, Projects Producer Amita Kirpalani and Digital Manager Jon Tjhia. Editing, sound design and mix on this episode is by Martin Peralta. Additional editing by Jon Tjhia. Thank you Thanks to Paul Kelly and Sony ATV for the use of his song ‘Forty Eight Angels’. The series Subscribe in iTunes, or your favourite podcast app. #betteroffdeadpod Better Off Dead is produced by Thought Fox in partnership with the Wheeler Centre. It is written and created by Andrew Denton for Thought Fox.

In November 2014 Brittany Maynard made the news when at 29 years old, after being diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer, she evoked Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” which allows those with a terminal illness to voluntarily end their own life.  This sparked a lot of controversy about assisted suicide, euthanasia and who, if anyone has the right to end … Read more about this episode...

How can our medical and social systems support or hinder dying? Do we have the right to bend the arc of our own death, or that of a loved one? How can we approach the final passage with grace? Dan Diaz (the husband of Brittany Maynard, who died in November 2014 from a brain tumor) discusses the matter with BJ Miller (executive director of Zen Hospice Project and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UC San Francisco), Samuel Kargbo (director of policy and planning at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone) and journalist and author Courtney E. Martin.

HB 391, the “Utah Death with Dignity Act,” would allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill persons, under certain circumstances. Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City says she sponsored the bill in response to the recent plight of Brittany Maynard, a California woman with a terminal brain tumor who moved to Oregon (which has had such a law in place since 1994) so she could die on her own terms. A poll by www.utahpolicy.com shows that 63% of Utahns support such legislation. On Wednesday's AU we'll ask you what you think.

Join us today as we raise the question : Looking back to move forward: New Year 2015 what gives you reason to hope or reason for concern? To share with us an event, issue or news story that got your attention in 2014 that caused you to hope or be concern call 718-508-9533 press #1 to add your voice to the show or click below to listen. Visit us online we talked about it all in 2014, go to the radio tab: How to find us and how to participate is simply like our page and share your ideas and opinion. You never can tell how what you share with the world will impact what it becomes…..   Remember this story….. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/04/30/naacp-nba-cliven-bundy-donald-sterling-clippers-racism-column/8509011/ Remember this.... http://sandrarose.com/2014/01/gabrielle-union-blames-herself-for-dwyane-wades-cheating-ways/ How about this…. http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/ www.m-tas.org  

The men of MEN WHO GOSSIP are back for their next episode.  So grab a glass, fill it up and sip on that gossip as the men bring about conversations of the week in entertainment, hot topics, pop culture, LGBT, personal stories and whatever else they can fit in their....glass....and better yet, who said men can't gossip? Tonight, we will be discussing a wide variety of hot topics including Brittany Maynard's passing, One World Trade Center opening, Chris Rock's SNL monologue, Alex from Target phenom, Diva Brendan Jordan, Angelina Jolie vs. Politics?, 50 Shades of No Penis, TOP 10 countries that watch gay , Taylor Swiftly Opts out of Spotify and more!http://www.twitter.com/menwhogossip (this show account)http://www.menwhogossip.com (official website)http://www.twitter.com/onairwithdoug (show)http://www.twitter.com/InBedWithRed (host)http://www.twitter.com/PurpleDayArt (co-host)

The men of MEN WHO GOSSIP are back for their next episode.  So grab a glass, fill it up and sip on that gossip as the men bring about conversations of the week in entertainment, hot topics, pop culture, LGBT, personal stories and whatever else they can fit in their....glass....and better yet, who said men can't gossip? Tonight, we will be discussing a wide variety of hot topics including Brittany Maynard's passing, One World Trade Center opening, Chris Rock's SNL monologue, Alex from Target phenom, Diva Brendan Jordan, Angelina Jolie vs. Politics?, 50 Shades of No Penis, TOP 10 countries that watch gay , Taylor Swiftly Opts out of Spotify and more!http://www.twitter.com/menwhogossip (this show account)http://www.menwhogossip.com (official website)http://www.twitter.com/onairwithdoug (show)http://www.twitter.com/InBedWithRed (host)http://www.twitter.com/PurpleDayArt (co-host)

This week's episode is a little heavier than most. This week I invite John Seago of Texas Right to Life on to discuss Brittany Maynard's suicide that was celebrated in the media. I took this case rather hard because it reminded me of watching my grandmother die of cancer. Every time someone said that she "died with dignity" I could only think of what a slap in the face it was to those that fought until the end. It is a difficult topic and overlaps with other end of life issues that we must discuss. I hope you'll take the time to listen to this episode and consider your views on such instances.

In Life at The Village, Matt and Josh wrap up our A Beautiful Design sermon series and discuss the season of Advent and how to make the most of the holidays this year. For our Culture and Theology segment, they talk about the Brittany Maynard story, Matt's battle with cancer and the sanctity of human life.

Packers have been kicking ass.Wisconsin politics and election results.Dan's issue with Brittany Maynard ending life at age of 29.Fact or Crap: 50% For both of us.Mail Bag:Several from Al:1) Negative People.2) Liberal Logic 101.3) Will I live to be 85?4) A damn fine explanation.One from Damon on death with dignity.One from Bill: Madison teachers: New discipline policies not working.The Rest of the Show:Happened before and during email.

On this edition of The Virtual Bible Study we discussed recent items in the news. The Pope claims the Big Bang and evolution occurred and that God is not a divine being. The Catholic church is doing more exorcisms these days and Brittany Maynard commits suicide instead of dying of her terminal illness. What does the Bible say about these topics?

Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer who chose to end her own life with a lethal dose of medication, sparked a renewed discussion of so-called death with dignity laws. Maynard had become visible on social and traditional media in her final weeks as she campaigned for legislation now pending in several states. We spoke to Alan Meisel, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh and founder and director of the university's Center for Bioethics and Health Law, about the Maynard case, the state of existing and pending legislation, and whether Americans are becoming more willing to discuss the need to balance technological interventions with quality of life issues when considering their own deaths.

This week! Genevieve and Will freeze their asses off on a cold bench outside the New Mexican Veterans Memorial. We talk more about Brittany Maynard, Dia De Los Muertos, and how Wll and Gen's lives were affected by veterans. HAPPY VETERANS DAY PEOPLE! Wait, is this a somber holiday or a happy one? Gen?

This week, Shauna, Shelley, and Whitney tackle everything from elections & Halloween to Taylor Swift & Ebola. Whitney has the secret to being the most popular home around for Halloween candy, Shauna has the story of a different kind of ‘Mile High Club,’ and Shelley weighs in on the tragic story of Brittany Maynard. Plus […] The post The Girlfriends – Fall Into The Season appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Sorry PETA, we love to beat a dead horse -- the tipping horse, that is. We also discuss Brittany Maynard, the woman who chooses to die on her own terms.

Footprints in the Sand So last week, my family, we were on vacation and our church has a beautiful cottage in Ridgecrest, Rand Cottage, and over one of those beds, there is one of the most famous poems in the Christian experience. It's called "Footprints in the Sand." Have any of you ever seen that? All you have to do is walk into a Christian bookstore, and you'll see it. "Footprints in the Sand". It goes something like this, there are different versions, but it says this: One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?” The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” Now, that image of the Lord carrying us through the hardest, the most bitter times of trial in our lives is extremely comforting and encouraging. And that, I think, explains the appeal of that poem and how much we yearn to have the Lord sustain us and carry us. I just don't think it goes far enough. I think there should just be one set of footprints all the time and they belong to Jesus, and He's carrying you all the time. Amen? It's not like, "God, I got this now, I'm good. Uh-oh, I've got some trouble now, please pick me up. Okay, I'm fine, you can put me back down again." We heard from John 15, what Daniel read to us, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." We rely on Him for everything. As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 17, "In Him, we live and move and have our being." But yet the comforting aspect of that poem is taught in Isaiah 46. Isn't it marvelous? The idea of a God who carries you through life, who sustains you, who nourishes you, who protects you, who gives you everything you need, is taught in Isaiah 46. He is the God who carries us. As the hymn writer put it so beautifully, "I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord," not just some of the hours of my life, but I need Him. I think it's what happens during those trials, we are most aware of God carrying us, we're most aware. When we think we've got it, that's actually where we're probably in greatest danger of being tempted, because we can become arrogant and we think that we can have some kind of existence apart from Christ, and we really can't. The Main Idea: Idols are Crushing Burdens, The True God Carries His People So as we come to Isaiah 46, we're coming to a contrast between the true and living God of the Bible and how He has promised to carry us through our lives, versus the gods of the nations who must be carried. We have the gods of Babylon, Bel and Nebo, we're going to get introduced to them and get to know them briefly. You don't need to study much about Bel and Nebo because they're obsolete. We're going to talk about that, but they represent the gods of the nations, the idols of the nations who must be carried, and they are burdensome. They have to be carried. And so God is continuing here in this chapter, through Isaiah, His assault on the foolish wickedness of idols and idolatry. He directly contrast gods that you must carry, you've got to put them on a cart and they are burdensome to the oxen that dragged the cart, and they are burdensome to those that seek to carry them in their hearts, versus the God of the Bible who carries Israel and carries individuals, even to their old age and gray hairs. So, in Isaiah 46, just to get a bit of a context here, Isaiah the prophet lived about seven centuries before Christ was born. And he was a prophet, which means he had a special gift from God to be able to hear the Word of God and the messages of God, and those messages could cover any topic. They could cover things in the past, things in the present, things in the future. But it's especially God's ability to predict the future that he has been highlighting again and again, and again in this chapter too. He's the God who declares the end from the beginning. This God raised up in history, in space and time, a nation, the Jews. And He focused His redemptive plan on that nation. He called them out of a barren couple, Abraham and Sarah. Abraham 100 years old when the miracle baby was born, Isaac, and Sarah, who was barren her whole life and well beyond the years of bearing children, God gave them a miracle baby, and from that miracle baby, Isaac, came Jacob, and from Jacob came the 12 patriarchs, and from them, came the nation of Israel. And God raised up that nation and worked through them in a very powerful and sovereign way. He brought them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm out of Egypt, out of bondage and slavery. He endured their conduct for 40 years in the desert and brought them across the Jordan River through Joshua, to conquer the Promised Land and Canaan, in the very land He had told Abraham He was going to give to his descendants. But God warned them as they crossed that Jordan River that they were going there on condition that they keep His covenant. And if they didn't keep His covenant, if they especially worshipped the gods of the nations, if they followed the idols of the Canaanites, if they went after those false gods, God was going to evict them from the Promised Land. And sadly, they disobeyed. Though God warned them again and again through the prophets, they disobeyed. And so God had to evict the northern kingdom of the Jews, the 10 tribes, under the Assyrians and then a century-and-a-quarter later did the same with the rest of the Jews under Babylon. And so the Babylonians came in under Nebuchadnezzar, and they destroyed the temple, razed it and slaughtered just about everybody and a tiny group, a tiny remnant of Jews, about 4600 according to Jeremiah, went, a small remnant, went off into exile into Babylon. The rest died by the sword, famine, and plague. And so a large number of the Jewish nation were slaughtered at a time by the Babylonians. Now, Isaiah the prophet is writing Isaiah 46, before that has happened before the Babylonian invasion has even happened, it's far off, a century away. And so, he's warning them but not only that, he's saying beyond the Babylonian invasion, God is going to work out a retribution and a judgment on Babylon and he's going to destroy Babylon by Cyrus the Great, leading the Medo-Persian army. They're going to come in and they're going to destroy Babylon and a small remnant of Jews is going to be permitted to go back to the promised land and resume Jewish history there, rebuild the city of Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and continue redemptive history which eventually led to the coming of Christ, our Savior. And so God is working out this vast, this amazing plan, but He stops in the middle, here in Isaiah 46, to talk about the gods of the nations, and specifically the Babylonian gods. Now the way it worked back then in the ancient Near East, the way an invading army would think, is that they came in the power of their gods and they really did believe in this, they were polytheists and they thought that their gods would prove themselves to be more powerful than the gods of the nation they were defeating. And so Sennacherib, when he came with the Assyrians said that, "Who of all the gods of any of the nations that we've defeated has been able to stop us?" And so, they think this way. And so the military battle on earth, shows a greater battle in the heavens and it shows proof that their gods were more powerful than the other gods. Well that's true, I guess in the polytheistic way of thinking, if you believe in that, you just look at what's happening on the earth. But we know there is only one God, and God is orchestrating His purpose. And when Israel was defeated it wasn't because God was defeated by Bel and Nebo, the Babylonian gods. And so before any of that even happens, God says, there's going to come a time that Bel and Nebo, the gods of the Babylonians, are going to be destroyed. They themselves are going to go off into exile. Now, the word "Bel" is related to Baal, there's a similar mythology between Bel of the Babylonians and Baal of the Canaanites, they're similar. He's also called Marduk, sometimes, his son is Nebo in the mythology. You get "Bel" in the names like Belshazzar, and Belteshazzar in the Book of Daniel, you get Nebo in Nebuchadnezzar, his father Nabopolassar, these are the gods of the Babylonians. And so what God is saying here is that He is more powerful than any of the gods of the Babylonians, He's going to prove that in space and time, by orchestrating their defeat and their destruction. That's what He's saying, and He predicts it ahead of time, so that when it comes, they will say, "Okay this is the very thing you said was going to happen. But beyond that, He's looking at Bel and Nebo, these idols, these gods, as crushing burdens. Idols that crush us. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about that. I've already mentioned it in space and time, how the Babylonians worship these things, but I'm going to go and apply it to us as we've been doing to talk about our idols and our struggle with idolatry. And how Christ alone can set us free, so that's where we're going. I. The “gods” of Babylon a Crushing Burden, Crushed in the End (vs. 1-2) So let's look, verse by verse, and start up at this section here in Isaiah 46:1,2. The gods of Babylon are a crushing burden, and they are themselves crushed in the end. Look at verse 1 and 2, "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low. Their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, they are burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together, unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity." So Bel and Nebo, these gods represented by their idols made of stone, probably covered with silver or gold, are depicted as crushing burdens for their weary worshipers. I think Isaiah sees a kind of procession here, maybe a religious procession or maybe it's just the Babylonians, fleeing for their lives, like refugees. And so they're going to put Bel and Nebo on a cart and that cart becomes very heavy with these idols. They're covered with very heavy, precious metals. Silver and gold are dense, they're heavy. And the idols are big and it's heavy, and so there's this procession. They're called burdensome, they're called a burden for the weary. And the weight of these idols is wearying to the beasts of burden, perhaps the oxen or other beasts of burden that are carrying these things out of Babylon. It's wearying work and isn't it amazing that their gods, the gods of Babylon, need to be carried at all? Our God is omnipresent. Wherever you go, He's already there and has been there since the beginning of time. There is no place where God is more than He is in another place, that's what the doctrine is of omnipresence. He is everywhere. I've likened it to... And He's not like an AM radio station. You guys probably, many of you don't even know what that is. When was the last time any of you listened to AM? But you know the signal's strong or weak, or you go under a bridge and it's gone, and then you come back out, forget it. But that's what AM used to be like, that's what it still is like. But the idea is, there's a stronger, weaker sense of the signal. That's not what God is like, God is equally strong everywhere, He is fully everywhere in the universe. And so He doesn't need to be transported, and so a number of these images, prophetic images of God show Him as, in Daniel 7, having a chariot with wheels. A chariot with fire, with wheels. Ezekiel even has wheels within wheels going in every direction, He moves, He is everywhere, and their gods need to be carried and even worse for their worshippers, their gods Bel and Nebo can't do anything to help them. They're completely discredited by this military defeat, by the crushing defeat of the Babylonian army and by the defeat of the walls of Babylon. Bel and Nebo are exposed as unable to save their people from Cyrus the Great and the Medo-Persian army, and so off they go into captivity, verse 2, whatever remnant is left of the Babylonians, will carry whatever idols of Bel and Nebo that are left after the conquest into captivity. Bel and Nebo could not save their people in the end. They couldn't save them at all, and like all idols in the end they fail their worshippers. Like all idols in the end they fail their worshippers. II. The Incomparable God Carries His People from Birth to Old Age (vs. 3- 5) The next section in verses 3-5, the incomparable God carries His people from birth, even to their old age. Look at verses 3-5, "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the House of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth, even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you, I have made you, and I will carry you, I will sustain you and I will rescue you. To whom will you compare Me or count Me equal? To whom will you liken Me that we may be compared?" So the prophet Isaiah here is calling across a century and a half, to the remnant of the Jews that will be alive at the time of Cyrus the Great's invasion. And he's calling to that remnant what's left of the house of Jacob, what remains of the House of Israel, He's calling to that remnant. The Jews, as I said, had been sent into exile by the punishment of God because they had worshipped idols, because they had followed the gods of the nations and they violated God's covenant, so He punished them and sent them. But this remnant was sent and He protected them, and He would not allow them to be assimilated into Babylonian culture, they maintained a Jewish identity like Daniel himself and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, we know as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They maintained their Jewish identity, protected them as a Jewish nation there. And He says that He is the God who upheld them since they were conceived, who carried them since their birth and who promises to continue to do this for them even to their old age and gray hairs. And so it was God that conceived the Jewish nation through Abraham and Sarah. When Abraham's body was as good as dead and Sarah's womb was dead, and God created a miracle baby Isaac and he raised up out of nothing a Jewish nation, He conceived them and He has been watching over the nation as a whole every day, and not only the big picture of the nation, but every individual member of it, every individual Jew, and we can extend that to us. It was God that knit you together in your mother's womb, that carefully put you together. And in Him, you live and move and have your being, it was God, it is God who has sustained your existence every day, you have no existence apart from God, whether you believe in Jesus or not, you have no existence apart from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, apart from the God and Father of Jesus Christ. No existence apart from, He has been sustaining your existence. And He promises to continue to do that even to your old age and gray hairs. And for us, as believers in Christ, how precious is it to know that the same God who has not only caused you to be born but now through the gospel has caused you to be born again and He has given you a faith, and He will sustain that faith through all of your trials, even to your old age and gray hairs, He's going to watch over you and how marvelous is that? And He will rescue you even to the very end. So who then is like God? Who can you compare this God to? Certainly no idol, certainly not to Bel or Nebo, not at all. III. The Idols Cannot Move, Neither Can They Save (vs. 6-7) There is no one like him. Verses 6 and 7, The idols cannot move, neither can they save, it says there in verse 6-7. "Some pour out gold from their bags, they weigh out silver on the scales, they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it, they lift it to their shoulders and carry it, they set it up in its place, and there it stands. And from that spot, it cannot move. And though one cries out to it, it does not answer. It cannot save him from his troubles." So Isaiah 44, we've already seen the trip into the idol maker's shop, the workshop, you remember that guy, the guy who took the chunk of wood cut it in half; and half of it he used to cook his dinner and the other half he used to make a god and bowed down and said, "Save me, you're my god." So we get just a very brief trip into the craftsman's shop this time. Maybe a wealthy individual comes and says, "I'd like you to make me an idol," and some gold and silver are weighed out. And so, the idol maker crafts it. What's amazing to us in all of this is the Bible teaches it was God that crafted the craftsman. It was God that made that man, it was God that made the men and women that are worshipping these idols, and this god that has been contracted to be constructed, this god is a motionless god. Wherever you put him that's where he stays. And if you're running from your life as a Babylonian and you're going into exile, you better bring him with you because he's not coming unless you get him. He's a burden. Wherever he goes, he's a crushing burden, he's weighing you down. You got to carry him wherever you go. And though you cry out to Bel or Nebo they cannot save you, that's what he's saying. IV. Remember the God Who Plans and Orchestrates History (vs. 8-10) Now, in verses 8-10, God calls on His people to remember Him. He says, "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago. I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please. Praise God. So this is a call on God's people. Not just that generation but every generation to remember God. To remember Him, and to repent. He calls on these rebels, He calls them rebels there in verse in verse 8, "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart you rebels." Remember and repent. Our God is a God who has acted in history. Remember how He called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, remember how He gave him that baby, that miracle baby when he was 100 years old. Remember how he gave to Isaac, Jacob when his wife was also barren, Jacob and Esau, and He chose Jacob and remember how He gave Jacob the 12 patriarchs and remember how God caused the nation of the Jews to be greatly multiplied, even in bondage in Egypt to the point where there were several million people, they were as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand in the seashore, as God had promised Abraham they would be. And remember how God intervened through Moses, to bring them out of that nation with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm. Remember the plague on the Nile River, remember how God turned all the freshwater in Egypt into blood, even the water that was in the pitcher on the table, turned it into blood. And remember how He brought the plague of the frogs and the gnats and the flies, and all of that, the plague of hail and boils and darkness and all of these plagues, God brought, judging the gods of Egypt and working on Pharaoh's heart, so that God would do all 10 plagues, including the dreadful final plague, the plague on the firstborn, which the firstborn of the Jews were only spared by the blood of the Passover lamb, which had been painted on the doorpost. Remember all of that, don't you remember what God has done for you? And then how God led you by a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud and how He brought you to the edge of the Red Sea and how Pharaoh came in his chariots and his soldiers, the most powerful military force on earth at the time, and how they trapped you against the Red Sea, and you cried out to the Lord; and the Lord said, "You don't need to do anything, just stand still, and see the salvation of your God." And so God went between the Pharaoh and his mighty army and these defenseless Jews with a pillar of cloud and fire and He gave light to the one side to the Jews, and darkness to the other all night; and they crossed and He opened up a way in the Red Sea, and they crossed as on dry ground. But when Pharaoh tried to follow, they couldn't, and they were destroyed by the same waters. Remember all of that, and remember how God endured your rebellion in the desert and remember how God descended in fire on Mount Sinai and God spoke to you, and you heard Him speak, you heard the voice of God. Not through a prophet, directly you heard Him speak the 10 Commandments and God gave you His covenant. And remember how 40 years later, after your rebellion God opened a way through the Jordan River and remember how you crossed that river, remember Jericho and the walls fell down, and God gave you the promised land. Remember that and all the things God's done since then. Remember these things. Fix it in your minds and hearts. Our God is a God who does these great works in history, the lifeless idols Bel and Nebo haven't done any of those things. But the Jews were rebels, he says, Who are lured by these idols, who are bowing down to them. God is the God who alone declares the end from the beginning, He's the one who predicts the future, He says what's going to happen. And He says in verse 10, "My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please." This dear friends is one of the greatest clearest statements of the sovereignty of God in the Bible. Look at it again, look at verse 10, at the end. "I say 'My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.'" The sovereignty of God is a doctrine that God rules like a king over everything that happens on the face of the earth, He is sovereign over everything that happens on the face of the earth, and that's precisely why He can predict the future because He's ordained it from before the foundation of the world, and He is omnipotent, no one can stop Him from doing what He wants to do. And so what God pleases, what He thinks is best, what He thinks is wise, that He will do, and no one can stop Him. And what He pleases, is He pleases to save a remnant of people from every tribe and language and people and nation, out of their wickedness and their idolatry and their sin through the shed blood of his son Jesus Christ and through the resurrection of Christ and by the gift of the Holy Spirit to save them out of their wickedness and their rebellion into an eternal state of glory where they'll be in resurrection bodies in a beautiful, perfect world, worshipping Him clearly forever. That's what He pleases to do. And all of these details of history, they're just part of that grand overarching plan. God is going to achieve every detail. Look at Verse 10 again. I say my purpose will stand and I will do 70% of what I please. Is that what it says? I will do... I'm working up toward 90%, I'm hoping to get 90% down of my plans today. No, God does all that He pleases, 100% of it. And nothing can stop it. V. God’s Plan: Bringing Salvation Near to Those Far Away (vs. 11-13) And so in verse 11-13, we have God's wise plan, and that is bringing salvation near to those who are far away. Verse 11, He says, "From the East, I summon a bird of prey from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about. What I have planned that will I do. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness. I am bringing my salvation near, it is not far away. My salvation will not be delayed, I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel." Now we look at that through the narrow lens of the immediate historical context. The bird of prey that's coming is Cyrus the Great. We've already met him earlier, he's coming from a distant land, and he's going to destroy Bel and Nebo, he's going to destroy Babylon. But look what He says, "From that distant land, from the East, I will summon this bird of prey." So you think about someone who trains a hawk or a falcon. You see them wearing like a leather glove. I've read about this, I've never seen it, but they take this bird of prey, and they put a hood on it. And they keep it from seeing and they feed it little bits of meat and they've got a leash on its talons and it's got its sharp talons and it's digging into the leather glove, not into the wrist of the falconer. And he's training it how to come back to him and what to do, and train little by little, and he is in charge of this bird of prey. And God is doing that with this great military conqueror the Cyrus the Great, He raises him up from nothing, trains and prepares him within his own nation and brings him against Babylon. You're like, "Can God do that?" Yes, He can, that's what He can do. He is the sovereign King of every nation. And from these, verse 11, He's going to summon this bird of prey to do His will, what He has purposed, that will He bring about, He says it very plainly. But the purpose of all of this isn't ultimately to do these little tricks in history, that's not it. What is He doing here? What is the purpose of all of this? It is salvation. He says it again and again, My purpose is to bring salvation. "Listen to me," He says, "You stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness." Now just stop there just for a moment and understand what's being said that, you're far from Me, God is saying. I'm a righteous God and if you're far from righteousness, you're far from Me, and you're stubborn-hearted and you're rebellious and you're idolaters. So listen to Me, faith comes by hearing, I'm communicating to you. And you're far from righteousness, so I'm going to bring righteousness near to you. The Bible says in Romans 3, "There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one." We were all naturally far from righteousness. And so what God is doing in history is bringing salvation near to us, who are far away, not just the Gentiles, but the Jews also, who are far from righteousness. And so by the birth of Jesus Christ and by the life of Christ and the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, He is bringing righteousness near to us, who are rebels. Righteousness close to us who are far away, and for what? So that He can shine, radiantly in Zion, that's what it says at the very end. Zion as that city where God will dwell together with His people. Physically Jerusalem over and over in the Old Testament, Zion equals Jerusalem. But bigger picture, it's the new Jerusalem, the city where God will dwell with His people forever. VI. Applications Alright, so that's the chapter. What applications can we take from this? Well, first I just want to ask, as you walked in here today, what did you drag in here with you? What idols are dragging behind you? What are you chained to that is dragging you down? And we've been looking at this for weeks now and I think it's still something each of us underestimates. What Bel and Nebo are you chained to? Now, you're like, Bel and Nebo who worships them? Nobody does. That's the point. All of the idols are going to be discredited in the end, all of them. Everything you live for. Any created thing, anything that captures your heart, that becomes the focus of your life, that isn't the God of the Bible is an idol. So it could be gods, could be the gods of the Hindus or the Buddhists, which are crafted from human imagination induced by satanic influences. The gods of the Hindus or the Buddhists, Allah of the Muslims. It's not the God of the Bible, it's not the true God, but it's more than that. We have our heart idols as we've been talking about. So, what's yours, what did you struggle in here with? Perhaps it's money, perhaps you're living for money. So it's a very powerful idol. You're living for a greater income, a more comfortable lifestyle? Staggering under the weight. I want you to picture yourself, you who struggle with the idolatry of money, swimming from a sinking ship, trying to make it to shore. And you've got a small box of gold coins. It's not huge, so it's manageable, so you think. And it's under one arm and you're swimming with one arm. But you're not making it, and you're getting tired and you're getting sunk by the weight of this idol. That's what it's like, it sinks you, these idols drown your soul. Paul specifically warned against the love of money. Says in 1 Timothy 6, "…godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." So because of a love of money, some of you may be working far too many hours in your job seeking to please your supervisor. Because you're not content with a simple lifestyle perhaps you have a high credit card debt and you're paying a good chunk of your money in interest to Chase Manhattan or to Discover, so you're working on their plantation, you're indentured servant to them and they're getting wealthy on you. And why? Because you couldn't be content with a simple lifestyle. Because you're not content with a simple house, you're tempted to overreach yourself on a mortgage and you're paying too much every month on a mortgage, it's weighing you down. Because you're not content with simple meals, you eat out too much and the root at the root of all of this discontent is idolatry. Perhaps your idol is work, it's achievement and accomplishment. You're a beast of burden to relentless ambition to achieve things. Maybe you're a workaholic you're a driven person and you're addicted to the good feeling that comes from the checklist, and getting all of those things checked off. Or maybe it's society's checklist or it's an institution, a university's checklist, and you get that checked off, you feel good about yourself. Maybe you're just a neat freak and you just like to have everything in perfect order. I'm not that way, I'm not totally the other way, but... But to some people, it just... Everything has to be perfect. And so, you derive your sense of worth from achievements and accomplishments. These are idols on a cart that you're dragging behind you. But there are others of you that are exactly the opposite way, you don't actually achieve a lot in your life. Your idol is pleasure, comfort, ease and perhaps sleep. The Bible describes the sluggard in the Book of Proverbs, and you just live for that, you live for ease and pleasure and comfort and you just enjoy that kind of lifestyle. You're the sluggard who can never sleep enough, you need to have somebody move your hand from the dish up to your mouth and help you eat like your mama did, it's held you back all your life because you love ease and comfort, the taking the path of least resistance. You're an under-achiever and you fail to meet the normal expectations of life because of this idolatry that in which you're preferring yourself and comfort and ease. A subset of that is just the love that we Americans have for food, it's just amazing how many restaurants there are in any city or any within... How many are there within five miles of this place? And they're growing popping up all the time. Now, again, there's nothing wrong with loving food or loving good food, the issue is, is it what you live for? Overeating, over-indulging. Perhaps your idol is power and control, you just enjoy dominating the people around you, or perhaps you live for the approval of other people, you just every day someone else has the keys of your heart and you have to please them and make them happy and you live for approval and you're frustrated when you don't get it. You'll do things, serving things, whatever, and if the people don't notice it, you get frustrated and angry and irritable, and prickly about it. Some people make an idol of their bodies, they live for physical fitness, alright, they go to the workout gym and achieve personal goals all the time. They have mirrors up on the walls. Have you seen it? The mirrors and people pose in front of them, I've been told. I've not been to a gym, I don't, I don't do the... I do more cardio stuff, but you can tell... Just never mind, I'm not going into all of that, but... "Yes, pastor, we know you're not into physical fitness." But no, they just live for being able to see their ribs or the washboard, the six-pack, something like that, or on the other side, just looking for, looking at physical beauty, the hair, the face, the makeup, the jewelry, the look, the fashion, all of that, and that's an idol, and you're dragging it behind you like a heavy weight all the time. And it gets even worse as you age, and some people will fight with cosmetic surgery or Botox or all that, but they're fighting the aging. The Scripture says, "Even to your old age and gray hairs… I will sustain you." But they're fighting that. Or perhaps your idol is something more secret, more shameful, something you haven't told anyone else about. There could be people here that are struggling with addictions to pornography or to alcohol or to drugs and these idols are like 100-pound weights and they're dragging your soul down, perhaps even toward hell. And you don't know how to be free from all these burdens that you dragged in here today. Christ can set you free. Praise God. Jesus says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin… But if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed." Hallelujah. Christ came to take the guilt for all of your idolatries, up to this very moment, and to the end of your life on Himself. He isn't a burden, He carries your burdens. He takes all of your guilt and your sin and your disease and suffering on Himself and He went to the cross, and He died in your place that you might have eternal life. So trust in Him. Put your trust fully in Christ. And for you who are already Christians, continue to trust in Christ crucified and resurrected for the severing of the chains of these idols you've been dragging your whole life, your whole life, trust in Him. And trust in Him for the rest of your lives. Look again at Verse 4, "Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He. I am He who will sustain you, I have made you, and I will carry you, I will sustain you, and I will rescue you." Do not fear the future. God will carry you every day of your life, until at last, He takes you into glory. He's going to save you and rescue you. And when you are the most burdensome, when you are the most dead weight, when your corpse is in the grave, He will come to your grave and He will call you from the grave and you will come to life in a resurrection body and you will live forever. He will lift you up out of death and give you eternal life. As He said very, very plainly, and I love this, "My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." This past week Brittany Maynard took her life, you know that story about her, public suicide, and she was doing it in the name of death with dignity. Can I just submit to you that Christians alone know how to die with dignity. Because Jesus showed us how. The grave isn't the end, it is appointed to each one of us to die once and after that, to face judgment. We are freed from wrath and judgment. Amen, hallelujah. We're freed from that, and God is going to raise us up. We can get old age, gray hair, all of that with dignity because God is going to raise us up in a resurrection body so glorious we're going to shine like the sun forever and ever. Close with me in prayer.

Catholic Church in Norway commits fraud, 44 people arrested in Pakistan for murder of Christian couple, Alabama electorate attempts to block sharia law, churches electioneer, triumph in federal court, Christian teen slays Satanist teen, and death with dignity.

BHL: Justice Is Served -- In this episode Black Hollywood Live hosts Sara Azari, Loni Coombs discuss legal cases for the week of November 7th, 2014. In today's show the hosts discuss the Adrian Peterson case as the "Case of the Week". The "On the Docket" they discuss Brittany Maynard and Brooklyn Judge Michael Gray.

The post I Doubt It #070 – “ELECTION DAY!, Pope Francis on Exorcisms, Brittany Maynard – Brave and Criticized, Egyptians Jailed for Gay Marriage Video, Navy SEAL Identifies Himself As Osama bin Laden Killer, Robin Thicke Stole From Marvin Gaye, Catcalling Video Is A Problem, Bad News for Short Dudes, and Takin' Care of Biz!” appeared first on I Doubt It Podcast.

Official English translation of the report on the Extraordinary Synod on the Family released, two Christians burned alive in Pakistan, euthanasia lobby group attacks Catholic priest over comments on Brittany Maynard’s death + more The post 5 Headlines You May Have Missed (7 November) appeared first on Cradio.

 Recently, 29 year old Brittany Maynard, who went on social media discussing her plans to end her own life because of her terminal illness, reopened the discussion of assisted suicide. Several years ago, some evangelical clergy and politicians fought to keep Terri Schiavo alive on life support for over a decade. Many churches have clear stances on issues regarding life, but there is still some unclarity on where the church stands regarding assisted death. Does the Bible address the issue of assisted death? How should churches approach dying with dignity without creating more fear and distress for individuals and families of those struggling with terminal illness and the desire to die? Join Pastor Neal for this empowering and enlightening topic.

Fr. Lawrence Farley argues that Brittany Maynard took only this life—and not the life to come—into consideration when deciding to commit suicide.

Na chuva, na fazenda ou numa casinha de sapê, aqui vai mais um Conversa Fiada! Essas eleições parecem não ter mais fim, né? A gente tenta deixar esse assunto de lado, mas como, depois dos protestos de sábado que pediam até mesmo a volta da Ditadura Militar(???) Por isso a gente não vai ficar calado. Nem mesmo com a história do juiz do Rio de Janeiro que processou a policial que o parou numa blitz da Operação Lei Seca. Vê se pode! Mas vamos falar de coisa boa? Vamos de Victoria's Secret, a marca que, em tempos de “caras limpas” e beleza natural na internet, celebra os padrões de beleza de outrora, que valorizam apenas a mulher “perfeita”. E refletindo sobre o caso da americana Brittany Maynard que marcou o dia de sua morte, listamos para o nosso Top 10 dez frases para dizer antes de morrer! Ficou curioso? Ouça o programa! Ah, e aproveite para conhecer a nossa nova integrante, Vitória Piton! Quer participar do nosso programa ou dar um simples pitaco? É muito fácil! Deixe seu comentário abaixo ou mande um e-mail para conversafiada@bestradiobrasil.com. Se preferir, pode deixar um recadinho na nossa fanpage!

In this episode, we talk about Brittany Maynard and assisted suicide!

The TBM Whisperer tackles the top three stories from today on his Facebook “Trending News” feed.  Listen in to understand the news around Lena Dunham, Brittany Maynard, and the upcoming Grumpy Cat Christmas Movie from the TBM point of view.

Brittany Maynard skróciła sobie życie. Co wywołało na nowo dyskusję o eutanazji. Jedni za, drudzy przeciw, a mnie interesuje jak Biblia widzi eutanazję i śmierć.

This week on The A.I. Show, catch discussions about: Halloween, The Kardashian's, Jessa Duggar, Flex Alexander, Brittany Maynard, Keisha Cole, Love & HipHop ATL and Justin Timberlake.

7 AM - 1 - SacBee's Dan Walters column: Controller John Chiang drops bombshell on California public pensions. 2 - Texts; Brittany Maynard (the Right-To-Die woman in WA) ended her life. 3 - Marshall's News. 4 - Joe talks about America, freedom, and liberty

The real Adam's Family! A pumpkin carving contest, Halloween, and trick or treating with the kids. All Hallows and All Souls Day in the liturgical calendar. Ethan's confirmation class, retreat, and the Dynamic Catholic ministry. We discuss Brittany Maynard's death and the Catechism's teaching on suicide. Part 2 of Christine's interview. Matthew Kelly, Dynamic Catholic – Confirmation Material Subscribe to… Read more The post AFFL #010 All Hallows, All Souls, and the REAL Adam's Family! Part 2 of our Interview with Christine appeared first on A Faith-Full Life.

Brittany Maynard made headlines when she revealed that she has an aggressive form of brain cancer and that she would end her life on her own terms. We welcome Mrs. Maggie Karner, Director of Life and Health Ministries for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, to respond to Ms. Maynard’s plight. Maggie suffers from the very same … Continue reading Brain Cancer and Suicide →

1 - Gerusalemme o Israele. Le insidie della cittadinanza. 2 - Una nuova vittima del regime degli ayatollah iraniani. Groncheh Ghavami, condannata a un anno di carcere per aver assistito a una partita di pallavolo. 3 - Iraq. Pronta l'offensiva anti-Isis. 4 - Brittany Maynard, il volto della battaglia per il diritto alla morte. Ospiti: Farian Sabahi, saggista, ed Emilio Coveri, presidente dell'associazione Exit-Italia.

Technology awes Dan.Greenbay Packers disappointed Dan last week.Hopefully they won't when we take off next week.An eavestrough installation story from Dan.SNOW? Are you kidding me!Fact or Crap: One for John, none for Dan.Elections on November 4th.Mail Bag:One from Damon: Ebola in Texas.One from Bill: Cancer sufferer Brittany Maynard ends life at age of 29.The Rest of the Show:Happened before email.

1 - Gerusalemme o Israele. Le insidie della cittadinanza. 2 - Una nuova vittima del regime degli ayatollah iraniani. Groncheh Ghavami, condannata a un anno di carcere per aver assistito a una partita di pallavolo. 3 - Iraq. Pronta l'offensiva anti-Isis. 4 - Brittany Maynard, il volto della battaglia per il diritto alla morte. Ospiti: Farian Sabahi, saggista, ed Emilio Coveri, presidente dell'associazione Exit-Italia.

Podcasting, two days after Halloween, from The Old Oak Street Burial Ground (also known as the “Old and Indian Cemetery”) in Grafton, MA, my cohort, Matthew Piazza, and I, speak with author and old-time consigliere, Roberta Grimes, about her new book “The Fun of Staying in Touch: How Our Loved Ones Contact Us and How We Can Contact Them”. Grimes’ previous work “The Fun of Dying: Find Out What Really Happens Next!” shapes most of our discussion, which spans such topics as, death and the afterlife, Jesus without Christianity, Brittany Maynard and her decision to die with dignity, if Albert Einstein was an atheist or not, and why Piazza will most likely be reincarnated as a cockroach. Roberta also hosts the talk-radio podcast, Seek Reality with Roberta Grimes, which can be downloaded for free on iTunes.   RobertaGrimes.com

Brittany Maynard, la joven  enferma de cáncer terminal que conmocionó a EE.UU. al anunciar que tenía planificada su muerte para el 1 de noviembre,... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Giovanna Botteri, corrispondente Rai da New York; Gianpiero Gamaleri, preside della Facoltà di Scienze della Comunicazione dell'Università telematica Uninettuno; Demetrio Neri, docente di bioetica all'Università di Messina

Brittany Maynard, una joven estadounidense de 29 años enferma terminal de cáncer de cerebro que ha planificado su muerte para el 1 de noviembre, decidió... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the podcast Scott and Jeff finish their conversation on how death can motivate us toward a more meaningful life, why you can’t have a viking funeral, and what is the most macho way to die. The The Yoga Show Podcast is a weekly recorded conversation with Scott Anderson, Jeff Suskin and occasional guests when they get sick of just talking to each other. Each week they pick a matter of the heart or the head that is present in their life and roll tape. Mentioned during this episode is Henry Rollins controversial article on suicide, Robin Williams, the Death With Dignity law, Brittany Maynard, David Foster Wallace and the three thoughts that trouble people on their death bed. (Regret, forgiveness and meaning)

Oregon's Brittany Maynard has a very touching, yet tragic, tale to tell about her terminal brain cancer and her plans to take her own life—something she will do next month in her own bed as she is surrounded by her immediate family.

On the show we talk forest fires, support from our community and friends, and going dress shopping for the Homecoming dance. We review Transformers Age of Extinction and add a phone line to allow you to call and leave audio feedback! We also discuss Brittany Maynard, dying with dignity, and the choice to die. Links: On the So-Called “Choice-in-Dying” Trent Horn The Joy… Read more The post AFFL #008 Wildfire Central and the Choice to Die appeared first on A Faith-Full Life.

While Dallas celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving David, Doug, & Kyle will be discussing Brittany Maynard's "suicide," David's win with E!News, more states approving Gay Marriage, Lea Michele being dissed by Jessica Lange on the red carpet, high school experiences, Amanda Bynes, and more. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at: @TheSpilledTea @Doquinn76 @Odaat_webseries @OnAirWithDoug @KylieSF