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We Wonder, How Could She Do That? Well, it is No Wonder She Changed Her Mind. 

While Some Debate the Question of Whether Physician-Assisted Suicide Should Be Legal, I Emphatically State That There is No Dignity in Suicide.

[Righteous-Indignation] 29-year-old Brittany Maynard is the famous woman with terminal cancer who announced on YouTube her own suicide and quickly was heralded as a hero for her noble and sweet demeanor. Now, on Suicide's eve (ironically Hollow’s eve,) she announced fortunately for all of us who are sick of hearing about her choosing to kill herself that she has postponed the physician-assisted death. This week decided to wait. Maynard’s YouTube video sparked nationwide outrage, debate, and had so many on both sides that it has many of us thinking about something we dare not think about...how our own life would look if we were faced with an imminent death at a year much earlier than we would have expected. These kind of choices are serious, and the role of doctors should not allow for such activity because they are healers by nature and the creed does not allow them to harm their patients. Killing a patient, or providing means whereby a patient may murder them self is certainly harming a patient. Laws that support this are very shaky, and people claim that this thwarts an individual's choice to quicken their death.

Although it is unclear what she will do, Maynard appears to have postponed or at least may postpone her own demise that was to happen later today. The controversial Kevorkian the killer who was a doctor convicted of doing harm to patients comes to mind. Investigation by the Detroit free press maintained that as much as 60% of his 130 patients were not terminally ill at all. This current debate centers on the question of whether collectively as a society, do we want medicine in its application by physicians to allow and, in fact, include death. Wherever you stand on the issue, it is maintained by the author of this article that our spirits have been endowed with gifts that cause us to yearn to live. When, at the end of a life, there is any option to stay alive, people choose life. They want to believe in a life after this one, and not only that, they cling to life, seeking to spend as much time with those they love. If you are a normal person, you will want with all your heart to spend every dear and waking moment with the ones you live. You will not want to cut that time short. Every moment, every breath that we take is a gift from God and is a gift that we can enjoy with those around us. 

I won't go into all the details of the debate, but I will say this: I am a strong and ardent supporter of life. Life is beautiful. As women, we enjoy many miracles in this world. Some of us are blessed to be mothers. All of us a blessed with the gift of life. In the legal profession we are blessed with the gift to help clients receive the best possible legal outcomes for their situations. Some of our clients come to us with very powerful emotions. Some are seeking divorce and protection from a violent spouse. Some are seeking custody of a child they love dearly. Others are seeking bankruptcy refuge from powerful financial forces and lawsuits which have come about due to difficult financial situations. 

In all of these situations, as an attorney, we have a duty to protect the interests of our clients. We do not divulge secret information of our clients. We do not seek to put them in harm’s way. We do not disclose information to the opposing counsel that would hurt the case of our client. We do not even have the ability to stop representing them simply because they cannot pay us (at least that is not necessarily the case.) Just like a physician, we do not have the ability to turn a client into a grave-site. We are not allowed to harm them. If we make a huge legal mistake, we get sued by our client. We want to put them in a good situation, not in harm's way.