One further thought about assisted suicide and the case of Brittany Maynard: In Oregon’s annual report on its so-called Death with Dignity suicide program, a figure jumped out at me: In 2012, the most recent year for which figures have been published, 115 people received prescriptions for suicide drugs, but only 77 followed through with killing themselves. In 2011, it was 114 to 71, and the ratio holds more or less steady throughout the years. (Report here.)
Which is to say, about a third of the people who go through the process of getting approved to end their own lives with medical assistance in the end choose not to do so. I am not sure what that says about the Oregon screening process, but I think it does say something interesting about people, that even those in anguish are less willing to embrace finality than is sometimes assumed.