At just twenty-nine years of age, Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given a mere six months to live. The cancer caused Maynard to suffer from debilitating seizures, head and neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms. In November 2014, after exhausting all available medical options and treatments, Maynard decided to end her life by drinking a lethal mixture of water, sedatives, and respiratory-system depressants prescribed by her physician. Maynard stated, “I’m not killing myself. Cancer is killing me.” According to Maynard, she chose “to go in a way that is less suffering and less pain.” Maynard’s death reignited a decades-long national debate about the right of terminally ill patients to access medical aid in dying.
This Note focuses on five related areas. First, this Note provides an overview of medical aid in dying. Then, it discusses two landmark Supreme Court cases on the topic. The Note next analyzes the practice in the eight United States jurisdictions where it is permitted, by both statute and common law, and advocates for the legalization of medical aid in dying in Minnesota. Next, the Note discusses the practice internationally. Finally, the Note examines two recent cases involving Final Exit Network, a controversial non-profit that provides guidance to patients with terminal illnesses on how to end their lives on their own terms.