Physician Assisted Suicide: Film Analysis

In 2014, a 29-year old woman named Brittany Maynard, publicly announced she was going to legally take her own life. She was suffering from brain cancer and chose to move to Oregon to utilize their Death with Dignity Law (Maynard, 2014). Because of her age, assisted suicide was thrust into the media and became a huge talking point. Assisted suicide existed in the media prior to 2014. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, dubbed “Dr. Death”, was an active proponent for physician-assisted suicide. In 1999, he was convicted of second-degree murder for his role in over 130 assisted suicides and hailed as a champion by other right to die activists (James, 2011). In 2010, the television film, You Don’t Know Jack aired on HBO. The film showed a humanistic side to the man people called, ‘Dr. Death’. This
The woman who fought to get the act legalized in Washington tells her and her husband’s story. A woman living with terminal liver cancer likens her situation to the horses on her childhood farm that would be put down to ease their suffering and asks “Why shouldn’t we have the same opportunity?” This documentary placed a strong emphasis on the choice aspect of the Death with Dignity law. The 2016 film adaptation of the 2012 novel, “Me Before You”, is pointedly different in its fictitious roots. The film is a romantic drama between a quadriplegic man, Will Traynor, and his caregiver, Louisa Clark. In the beginning of the film Will suffers an accident that leaves him paralyzed and depressed. After losing his spirit, his significant other to his best friend, and subsequently his will to live, he attempts suicide. Unable to complete his suicide, he promises his parents he will live for 6 more months before traveling to Switzerland for assisted suicide and the chance to die with dignity. Louisa is hired by his mother in a hopeful attempt to bring some joy to her son and convince him to reconsider. When Louisa finds out about his six-month plan, she vows to make his