'Not her story to tell': Rights to tell-all book divides grieving family
A US widower has hit out at his mother-in-law’s ‘inaccurate’ tell-all book about his late wife’s assisted suicide.
Dubbed America’s right-to-die sweetheart Brittany Maynard made headlines in 2014 when she became a prominent advocate for euthanasia following her diagnosis of terminal brain cancer.
In the wake of Brittany’s much publicised death, an equally public rift has emerged between her husband, Dan Diaz, and mother, Deborah Ziegler, over an upcoming book ‘Wild and Precious Life’.
“She woke up and said, ‘Let’s go for a walk,” Ms Ziegler told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric in an exclusive interview.
“It was just a beautiful day and I couldn’t help myself. I asked, ‘Are you sure today is the day?’ A mom always has to do that. And she said, ‘Yeah, Mom, today is the day.”
This emotional conversation was to be one of the 29-year-olds last, but as beautiful as it may have been, it was one that never should have been shared according to her widower.
“No one else can tell my story Dan, except for you,” Mr Diaz says his late wife told him. “I love my mother very much, but I don’t want her to be a storyteller about me."
“She’s been a great mom and I wouldn’t be here without her but I don’t want her to write about me. It’s not her place to do so.”
Mr Diaz said he did not want to detract from Brittany’s legacy but said the tell-all book did not appropriately tell her story saying: “Deborah’s book does not speak for Brittany and there are numerous passages that are inaccurate."
Despite Mr Diaz’s requests for privacy, Deborah Ziegler spoke at length about her new book and her daughter’s final days in an exclusive interview Katie Couric.
“When you’re talking about a terminally ill patient, you have to realize that each death takes its own journey. Brittany was having some very difficult symptoms,” Ms Ziegler said.
“She had terrible neck pain. The seizures were terrifying. They were coming closer together. They were more severe. Each seizure was worse than the one before. Sometimes she would just talk gibberish when she came out of the seizure, and we would wonder, ‘Oh my gosh, is she going be able to speak again?’”
Joined by family in what was described as the “circle of love, Brittany returned to her bedroom to say her final goodbyes.
She took her medicine and her last breath as Ziegler read her favorite poem, “The Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver.
“She said, ‘Mom, instead of grandkids, this is what I’m giving you. I can’t give you grandbabies, but I can give you this, to champion the cause of the terminally ill,” Ziegler told Couric.
Brittany Maynard became a symbol of the right to die movement following her decision to end her own life before her brain cancer took it from her.
She passed away on November 1, 2015.
Despite his disdain towards the tell-all book, Brittany's widower finished his Facebook post by insiting he was not trying to cause a family rift.
“The purpose of this post is simply to convey Brittany’s instructions; it is not to create angst or division. Kindness and Love are what we need more of in this world.”