--- title: Brittany Maynard Oregon Woman: Explaining Decision To Die description: A 29-year-old terminally ill woman defended her decision to pass on aggressive cancer treatment in her first TV interview. canonical: https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-14T16:35:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:46:36.798Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Brittany Maynard Oregon Woman: Explaining Decision To Die og:description: A 29-year-old terminally ill woman defended her decision to pass on aggressive cancer treatment in her first TV interview. og:url: https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80998bbbb9dd025/698760bb2dce01f1a79daeb9/brittany-maynard.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Assisted Suicide Advocate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brittany Maynard Oregon Woman: Explaining Decision To Die twitter:description: A 29-year-old terminally ill woman defended her decision to pass on aggressive cancer treatment in her first TV interview. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80998bbbb9dd025/698760bb2dce01f1a79daeb9/brittany-maynard.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Terminally Ill Woman Explains Her Decision to Die  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 14, 2014 4:35 PM CUT  This undated photo provided by the Maynard family shows Brittany Maynard. The terminally ill California woman moved to Portland, Ore., to take advantage of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, which was established in the 1990s. This undated photo provided by the Maynard family shows Brittany Maynard. The terminally ill California woman moved to Portland, Ore., to take advantage of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, which was established in the 1990s.Maynard Family—AP  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 14, 2014 4:35 PM CUT A 29-year-old [terminally-ill woman in Oregon](http://time.com/3481599/brittany-maynard-death-with-dignity-oregon-right-to-die-law/ "undefined") defended in [a new interview](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brittany-maynard-dying-with-dignity-before-cancer-takes-her-life/ "undefined") Tuesday her decision to forgo aggressive cancer treatment in favor of physician-assisted suicide. “I don’t want to die,” [Brittany Maynard](http://time.com/3481599/brittany-maynard-death-with-dignity-oregon-right-to-die-law/ "undefined") said on CBS.”If anyone wants to hand me, like, a magical cure and save my life so that I can have children with my husband, you know, I will take them up on it.” In the interview, Maynard’s husband and mother explain how they came to terms with Brittany’s decision. “The idea of wanting my wife at my side forever—that was the original plan, right?” said Dan Diaz, Maynard’s husband “But the reality that I guess that feeds into the argument of quality of life versus just quantity.” Maynard said her goal is to make it to Nov. 1 before allowing herself to die. She moved to Oregon because it allows certain types of physician assisted-suicide. \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brittany-maynard-dying-with-dignity-before-cancer-takes-her-life/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/"},"headline":"Terminally Ill Woman Explains Her Decision to Die","datePublished":"2014-10-14T16:35:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:46:36.798Z","description":"\"I don't want to die\"","url":"https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/","keywords":["Health Care","tragedy","Neuroscience","Brittany Maynard","right to die"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80998bbbb9dd025/698760bb2dce01f1a79daeb9/brittany-maynard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc80998bbbb9dd025/698760bb2dce01f1a79daeb9/brittany-maynard.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Assisted Suicide Advocate","caption":"Assisted Suicide Advocate","creditText":"Maynard Family—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3506524/brittany-maynard-oregon-right-to-die/","name":"Terminally Ill Woman Explains Her Decision to Die"}}]}] ```