'Extraordinary' 50-Year-Old Woman Fights For Right To Die Because She Doesn't Want To Lose Her 'Sparkle'
Last year, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard fought for a right to take her own life after she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Knowing there was no cure, and that the last few months would be painful, she wanted to be allowed to die the way she wanted: at peace, at home, surrounded by loved ones.
Now, another woman is making an appearance in the media fighting for her right to die — though she’s known simply as the initial “C.” Dubbed “the extraordinary C,” the 50-year-old woman fought a court in Britain for her right to die, citing the fact that she didn’t want to lose her “sparkle.”
C wasn’t shy about her intentions. She noted she had lived her life glamorously and wildly, been through four marriages and several affairs, and “spent the money of her husbands and lovers recklessly before moving on when things got difficult or the money ran out,” the court’s judgment stated. Her life had revolved around “her looks, men, material possessions and living the high life,” a dazzling whirlwind of enjoying herself.
When C was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, she dreaded the notion of undergoing chemotherapy and getting "fat," losing her glamorous lifestyle. She attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on paracetamol tablets, washed down with nothing better than Veuve Clicquot champagne. By this time, another long-term relationship had failed, and she had also fallen into debt.
“She understands that other people have failed relationships, feel sad and continue living, but for her, as she has said, she doesn’t want to ‘live in a council flat,’ ‘be poor,’ or ‘be ugly,’ which she equates with being old,” C’s daughter told the court.
Despite initial beliefs, C’s case isn’t one of assisted suicide; rather, it is one of a mentally fit patient refusing medical treatment. After her suicide attempt, C had been taken to the hospital with liver damage, but she refused dialysis. The hospital, King’s College Hospital in London, applied for a ruling from the Court of Protection to force her to go on dialysis, but the judge ultimately ruled that she had no mental incapacity and had an “absolute right to choose whether to consent to medical treatment, to refuse it or to choose one rather than another of the treatments being offered,” the judge stated.
According to the NHS, patients must give their consent before receiving any type of treatment, even as simple as blood tests. The U.S. also allows patients the right to refuse medical treatment if they so choose. Assisted suicide, however, is an entirely different story — only certain states (Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, and California) offer options for those who are both terminally ill and mentally competent.
Of course, it all depends on how the patient views recovery, too. “‘Recovery’ to her does not just relate to her kidney function, but to regaining her ‘sparkle’ (her expensive, material and looks-oriented social life), which she believes she is too old to regain,” C’s daughters wrote in a statement.