When I say ‘people are living too long and it’s costing us money’…

This is what I mean.

What Brittany Maynard is confronting is what we will all face at some point: the fear of death. To simplify her choice as “suicide” is to be ignorant of the unique circumstances she faces as a 29-year-old woman who thought she’d be bringing life into this world instead of preparing to depart from it. Moreover, to depict her as a spokeswoman for a “Culture of Death” is to be blind to the intrinsic fear motivating her actions. Jennifer Worth was right, there is no dignity in dying. But to understand that, you must first understand that there is no fear in death.

Were we still allowing patients to die naturally, instead of pumping them full of drugs, hooking them up to machines, and spending tens of thousands of dollars demanding that they live another day, would we be so afraid of death?

Perhaps that is why Maynard’s case is so controversial. Not because she is advocating for “dying with dignity,” but because her desire to die without grotesque medical intervention is an acknowledgement of the inevitable.

In cases like Maynard’s, “Dying with Dignity” is nothing more than prescribing a do-it-yourself Brompton Cocktail to those who don’t wish to drain their bank accounts in pursuit of a painful, prolonged death. Which means that, in a world where medicine is governed by greed, compassionate and respectful end-of-life care is now being left to the realm of D.I.Y.

I’d add that everyone has “the right to die.” People have been committing suicide since Day One.

I’m most troubled by people for whom this becomes a cause and a campaign, who want to be acknowledged by society as a kind of Rosa Parks of death.

They want legal and social sanction for their personal decision.

It’s a kind of passive aggressive, show-offy bullying disguised as enlightenment and compassion.

Spend your money, not mine — be it on staying alive or killing yourself.