I spoke to my brother today as he is settling into his new life in CA and he had quite an experience to say the least. He went to the Doctors for a skin rash that had been bothering him and it turned out that his previous doctor had misdiagnosed his condition. No Worries he gets a cream and the rash should be gone in 48 hours if not come back get some more. My brother as you can imagine was a little upset about his previous Doctors mistake and that he had to deal with a month of irritation due to incompetence. As he sat brooding waiting on his cream he got a good dose of perspective because in the same room he overheard a young man about his age (early 20’s) getting diagnosed with HIV. Which he received when he was raped in Jail a few months prior. (sentenced for violation of probation) The young man pled with the doctor to give him Drugs so that he could die.

“Ill never have kids.”
“My life is over.”
“People die everyday please just give me something so I can die.”

On Nov 2nd a young lady named Brittany Maynard decided to take her own life because she was diagnosed with terminal Brain Cancer. Brittany did not want her quality of life to slowly wane down and her final days to be spent in embarrassment and agony. Her final act of living was to “die with dignity” at her own hand by drugs given to her by her doctor.

I recognize the situation is not the same and people can take anti-virals and make life choices that will allow them to live very long and healthy lives. #MagicJohnson Where as Brittany had a much shorter timeline but one could make the argument that the psychologic damage is a suffering that cant be compared. With that said I have a friend who has been living with HIV for 10 years and is healthy and happy but that is his choice on how he wants to live and see the world. Since this other young man choices to see the world differently should he have the right to “Die with Dignity.”

I now would like to pose a couple questions. Would you support this young man and his desire to end his life with Doctor/Drug assisted suicide? Do you feel Mrs. Maynard had people like this young man in mind when she decided to fight for the right to “Die with Dignity”?

In closing I would like to pray for peace and comfort for all people who are facing untold suffering and feel hopeless or lost.