Brittany Maynard died peacefully surrounded by her family and friends after she took a lethal dose of barbiturates prescribed by a doctor under Oregon's right-to-die law.

She didn't suffer, nor did she lose her faculties and subject her family to the dreadful decline brain cancer causes as it consumes more and more space in her skull. Most importantly, she made her choice out of compassion for her family. Lawrence O'Donnell's report above is a powerful testimony of the pathway to such a decision and the thought that goes into it.

People Magazine reported her passage:

"Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more," she wrote on Facebook. "The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"

May she rest in peace, and for a few days at least, may the fundamentalist judgmental so-called Christians leave her family alone.