Dan Diaz advocates for expanding the availability of end-of-life options for terminally ill individuals. He is the husband of Brittany Maynard, who died from a brain tumor in 2014 at age 29 after they moved from California to Oregon for Brittany to secure the option of a gentle dying process. When she died, only four states allowed the option of medical aid in dying; there are now 11. Diaz’s efforts were instrumental in securing legislation in California, Colorado, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Keeping his promise to Brittany, his legislative work continues, and he speaks at palliative care conferences, universities, bio-ethics symposiums, and in media interviews. Experiencing a good death is merely the extension of having lived a good life; a terminal disease should never take that from an individual.
Previously
Despite knowing that death is the common thread that unites us all, we tend to keep the topic at arm’s length. Yet acknowledging the inevitability of death, contemplating what...