Terminally Ill 'Death With Dignity' Advocate Dies

STEVEN DUBOIS, Associated Press
TERRENCE PETTY, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A spokesman for a terminally ill Oregon woman says she has taken lethal medication prescribed by a doctor and died.

Sean Crowley, spokesman from the group Compassion & Choices, said late Sunday that Brittany Maynard was surrounded by family Saturday when she took the medication. She was weeks shy of her 30th birthday.

Maynard had incurable brain cancer. She said she wasn't suicidal but wanted to die on her own terms. She moved to Portland from California, a state that does not have aid-in-dying laws.

She became an advocate for Compassion & Choices, which seeks to expand the laws beyond a handful of states.

More than 750 people in Oregon have died using the law since 1998. The state does not track how many of them moved from another state.