The Dark Side of Euthanasia: Did Brittany Know?

Brittany Maynard became the poster girl for Compassion and Choices in the last months of her life. Did she know the dark side of this evil group that sprouted from the Hemlock Society founded by Derek Humphrey? Probably not. Here's just one piece of the puzzle about the suicide of Ann Humphrey, Derek's second wife. His first wife, Jean, killed herself (with a little push). Ann also killed herself after Derek abandoned her following her diagnosis of breast cancer, an ugly divorce, and his marriage to third wife Gretchen Crocker. Ann left a suicide note that revealed the truth about the death of Derek's first wife, Jean. He also assisted the double suicide of Ann's parents which led to her own depression and sense that they were murderers. Ann exposed the truth about Jean's death in her suicide note:

What a Difference Faith Makes: The Story of Two Dying Women

Brittany Maynard (29) is dying of inoperable brain cancer. One can only grieve for this young woman's ordeal and the fear that must accompany it. She's scheduled her check-out day for November 1st because she wants to celebrate her husband's birthday on October 26th. And she's made her final days a crusade to promote physician-assisted suicide in every state in the nation. She's working with Compassion and Choices, a group with roots in The Hemlock Society. Rita Marker, an expert on the history of the euthanasia movement often points out that the movement to legalize "mercy killing" isn't about the right to die, but the right to kill. And it grew out of The Hemlock Society whose founder, Derek Humphry smothered his first wife, Jean, when drugs failed to kill her. He then drove his second wife Ann (who participated in the killing) when she developed breast cancer years later. (See here.) Brittany, no doubt, hasn't got a clue about the history of this group making her the poster girl for their deadly agenda. What a coup!

Kara Tippetts is dying as well - of metastasized breast cancer. But she is facing her ordeal with faith. She recently wrote a book, The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard.  She continues to blog her story of life at Mundane Faithfulness. Instead of turning to death, Kara turns her face to life -- to live every minute trusting in God and seeing suffering, not as a curse, but a grace, In a letter to Brittany she wrote, "Suffering is not the absence of goodness, it is not the absence of beauty, but perhaps it can be the place where true beauty can be known....Knowing Jesus, knowing that He understands my hard goodbye, He walks with me in my dying." She expresses a deep compassion for Brittany's suffering saying,  "My heart longs for you to know Him in your dying. Because in His dying, He protected my living. My living beyond this place."

These two women are putting faces on another battle in the war between the culture of life and the culture of death. One is the champion of death and despair; the other is the champion of life and hope. Which way will our culture go? With the courts so often having the final word, I fear we can expect the same result as the battles over abortion and same-sex "marriage." Nevertheless, we must continue to fight and witness to life!

It's ironic that Brittany plans All Saints Day to commit an act that can only be described as a blasphemy against God. Let's beg all the saints to intercede for her that the grace of God reaches her heart and saves her from walking through the gate with the sign, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." Even if she goes through with her suicide continue to pray. Remember Jean Vianney telling the grieving widow of a man who jumped from a bridge to his death that her husband repented between the time he jumped and the moment of his death. We cannot know the final end of anyone, even those who commit suicide. I'm praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Brittany today. Will you join me?

Should Adults Encourage Teen Suicide?

The Hemlock Society wants to kill you. Oh...it uses compassionate sounding rhetoric to plant its poison, but the fact is encouraging death is its passion. One of its founders, Derek Humphrey, killed his first wife, Jean, who had cancer (smothered her with a pillow) with the help of Ann, the woman who became his second wife. Then when Ann got cancer, he pressured her to kill herself which she finally did leaving behind a note saying, "You win." She also left behind a note for Rita Marker, a euthanasia opponent who had befriended her. Rita told Ann's story in Deadly Compassion.

And now this evil organization is urging young people to consider suicide with an essay contest for high school students that is even popping up in Catholic schools (Are they nuts?).

Hemlock Society Targets Teens:

Encouraging young people to reflect on suicide is a bad idea. According to suicide.org, drawing on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, while suicide as a whole has dropped from 13.2 per 100,000 persons in 1950 to 10.8 in 2003, suicide among those aged 5-14 has tripled from 0.2 to 0.6 per 100,000. In the same time period suicide among those aged 15-19 has more than tripled, rising from 2.7 per 100,000 to 7.3 per 100,000. In 2007, the CDC reported that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for Americans age 10-14, the third leading cause of death for Americans aged 15-24, and the second leading cause of death for Americans aged 25-34.

The Hemlock Society may have changed its name to Compassion in Dying (which then became Compassion & Choices), but, as Derek Humphry's behavior shows, it's not about "compassion" for the dying, but convenience for the living. The only suffering Humphry was trying to alleviate was his own. And brainwashing kids to accept murder of the dying as "compassionate" smells of satanic sulphur!